Charmin Ekanayake

What's your job about?

My employer Cenitex is a shared ICT services provider to the Victorian government and I am part of their 2-year graduate rotation program.

As a graduate at Cenitex I rotate to different teams every 3 to 6 months based on the different business functions I’m keen to learn more about or the skills that I’m interested in developing further. I started with Cenitex in Feb 2023 and currently in my 3rd rotation. 

My first rotation was with the Application Development team, where I got the opportunity to work and grow as a business analyst. I had one on one coaching support from my Senior BA as well as the Delivery Managers, Service Leaders and Development Teams. 

• A typical day in that team involved me attending daily stand-ups to share with colleagues what I worked on the day before, my plans for the day and an opportunity to raise any roadblocks I was facing. 
• Then I would start working on tasks assigned to me. If I feel like I needed more guidance to complete any given task, I could reach out to anyone in the team via Teams chat or a call depending on the complexity of my inquiry.
• Some days, I attended planning meetings with internal teams and requirement gathering meetings with the client.
• Some highlights to me while I was in the AppDev team was successfully completing two product demonstrations to customers which was a very big step and out of my comfort zone. I also facilitated user story estimation sessions with the developers so we could provide accurate budget estimates to clients.

My second rotation was with the Innovation and Improvement team which was a great opportunity for me to develop a wide range of skills. It was like working on a startup within Cenitex. I collaborated with the I&I team on various innovation and improvement initiatives including: planning corporate events; experimenting with new technologies and tools; doing research on our innovation ecosystem; engaging with cross divisional stakeholders to launch new service ideas and attending client partnership meetings to name a few.

My current rotation is with the billing and reporting team where I’m learning some data analytics skills including PowerBI.

Apart from my specific rotation related work, I attend weekly Grad buddy catch-ups, my weekly one-on-one catch-ups with our Grad Rotation Manager and social club events. I have also been reaching out to different team leaders to understand what they are doing and looking out for potential future opportunities within the business. I am also making best use of my time undertaking LinkedIn Learning courses or other online training courses which are available to us free as a way to continue my personal development and upskilling.

What's your background?

I grew up in Sri Lanka and moved to Australia as an international student to study Master of Information Systems. During university days in Australia, I figured out that a business analyst career path would be better suited to my personality strengths and is aligned with my passion. After the completion of my higher studies in Australia, I unfortunately had to move back to Sri Lanka due to the Covid 19 pandemic. There, I started working as a business analyst and came back to Australia on my graduate working visa. After moving back to Australia for the 2nd time, I started applying for jobs. That’s how I came across the Cenitex Graduate Program. I liked the job advertisement as it mentioned serving the Victorian Public Sector and I went through the recruitment process which went smoothly. I’ve been at Cenitex for over a year now and I’m grateful for this opportunity. It’s a great way for someone like me to enter the Australian job market as the working culture and values seem to be little different to my home country. I am also expanding my professional network while developing industry sought after skills under the guidance of experienced supervisors and mentors.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, the Cenitex Graduate Program provides us with the flexibility to try out different teams and explore different attributes that you think you would like to develop further. If you are curious and willing to learn, and if you come with an open mind, you’ll have access to plenty of resources and support to help you grow. I’ve observed fellow graduates from non-technical backgrounds trying rotations in technical teams and ending up shifting to a technical career path after realising how much they loved it. In my opinion, the Rotation Program offers individuals a great way to explore and uncover their true strengths and interests. 

What's the coolest thing about your job?

• I love the ability to move to different rotations every 3 to 6 months, which allows me to learn from different team dynamics, leadership styles and personalities. Most importantly, I enjoy creating new work relationships and expanding my professional network.
• I also love the various different fun and interesting events organised at Cenitex such as the annual hackathons and exhibitions.

What are the limitations of your job?

Depending on the nature of the business function and due to you spending limited time in each team, you might not be able to handle a lot of responsibility as if you were to be in a team on a full time ongoing basis as your stay is shorter.  

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

1. Get maximum use out of the career guidance resources available to you via the university. I found them to be very helpful and relevant.
2. Do some soul searching while at university to figure out potential career paths you might be interested in following (eg: taking some personality / career tests might be helpful and will provide further insight and perspective; seek support from mentors)
3. Keep an eye on the employers in your interested industry/s, follow them on LinkedIn and attend meetups / networking events, etc.