Organisational Development Manager Kerry-Anne McKay achieved a distinction. Here she reflects on her MSc experience.
Being selected for SSE’s Project Management Academy was exciting and felt like a real achievement as there was a robust evaluation process and a lot of competition from colleagues. It was a great opportunity as I was relatively new to the business and had been brought in with no previous experience to assist in the early stage design and development of onshore wind farms.
The customised course content was really valuable as we were able to directly compare our academic learning and other industry approaches to SSE practice. The final year dissertation was hard work, a concerted six month effort on top of the day job, but I believe this has yielded value and it represents a real opportunity for SSE to reap the benefits of their investment in our academic development.
Completing a three year course while working full-time was tough and I remember many weekends and evenings spent in the office, either completing course work or just trying to keep up with the day job! While it was great that SSE gave us time out to attend Strathclyde University, I found that didn't mean the day job would stop, so there was pressure to keep the ball rolling on all items and sacrifices had to be made in my personal life in order to achieve this.
Having said all that, the the sense of achievement in completing the course has made it all worthwhile. I now have a really good understanding of project delivery and how the actions of a project manager can impact the entire business, from decisions made at project level through to their impact on capital investment decisions, profitability, dividends and company reputation within the market. In addition, my business network has grown substantially and I have made many contacts who I can now call upon to support my day to day role in Renewables Development.
Being one of the first to complete the course and achieving a distinction has made me very proud, and I have to thank the company for giving me this fantastic opportunity.