Brandon Lyes
Trainee SAP Developer
Howden’s Joinery
NAME OF VISITING TUTOR
DATE OF SUBMISSION
Table of Contents
Professionalism at a Personal and Organisational Level 2
What is Professionalism? 2
Professional Practice at Howdens 2
Issues with Professionalism in my Experience 3
Professionalism as a SAP Developer 3
Professionalism at a Personal and Organisational Level
What is Professionalism?
Professionalism is the act of having skill, good judgment and being what is expected of someone who is trained to do a specific job. In IT, this will be someone having a specialised knowledge in the area and often their skills backed up by a computing degree. It’s professional to keep the knowledge acquired up to date and to always keep learning new things so that the professional can always deliver to the highest quality. A professional will always be on time to work, and wont waste a minute during the day to gossip at the coffee maker to avoid doing work.
You can count on a professional, and in IT, this may be that you can always count on a certain person to be reliable, or to get something done efficiently. A true professional will always be prepared and will always deliver what they said they would – not look for excuses. Acting with professionalism means always being honest, being upfront with any issues that they have, even if it could land them in some trouble.
In some businesses, it may be that being a professional means they have great self-control. They don’t get easily angered by customers or clients, and in IT, it may be that an employee doesn’t lose his temper when something doesn’t quite go their way.
Professional Practice at Howdens
First of all, I would personally say that Howdens is a very professional company. Most people dress very smart, shoes, trousers and a shirt, if not a full suit. This gives the theme of a professional company and it really helps you settle in to that professional mind set from the start. Once employees are dressing well, they often act the same too. Having good manners around the workplace really helps because it grows the feeling of appreciation for what someone does. Howdens push for new employees to make friends, as having a good friendly environment in office, as well as out of office, really does help employees thrive – and another upside of this is that conflict is minimised. If you get on with the people you work with, you’re more likely to work much more efficiently and to a better standard.
The company holds a yearly course for all employees to attend that helps combat any issues from happening in the workplace. We are required to attend a 2-hour cultural and diversity awareness course and then have to pass a series of questions based on the content of the course.
Even when some of this fails, we have a specific path that must be followed to guarantee no sloppy work gets through to our customers, we make sure that any work is tested thoroughly by designated testing teams, and then it goes up through the hierarchy of our team before being released to the depots/public. To make a good name for yourself at the company, it means that you do things properly and efficiently to avoid being pulled up on it.
We also try to make things calm and enjoyable. Howdens will often organise team days out, or pay for a lunch for everyone to ensure people can let their shoulders down. This guarantees everyone gets time away from the office without having to waste their own time. If someone on your team sees that you are struggling, or something isn’t quite right, and that’s stopping you from putting in one hundred per cent effort, they will speak to you about it and offer you the chance to go home and rest to avoid unprofessional behaviour.
Issues with Professionalism in my Experience
The issues with professional that affect me are mainly are knowledge and ‘being the new guy’. I feel like sometimes, because I’m new, I’m often undermined. This gradually got better throughout the year but it felt like at times my skill was doubted and I wasn’t given the room to roam that I would have liked. I tried to be professional about it and nod my head and agree, but eventually it became too much and I got frustrated. I spoke to my line manager about it and resolved the issue. Acting professionally actually made me unprofessional. There were no consequences to anyone, only less crossover between the individuals I had issues with. From this I have learnt that sometimes you need to not be the perfect professional and stand up for yourself and say things that might not be what was expected. I was told to lead by example; act the way I think that everyone in the business should act.
Management at Howdens make it easy to speak about your concerns, I have no issues pulling the head of SAP Development to one side and talking to him about any issues I have because I know he will listen and will help me with any problems I have. I had an issue with a colleague taking credit for my work when I first joined, he instructed me to keep a detailed log of all the work I do, and to publicise my progress via email to him and my line manager. This made me feel a lot better about the situation because I then knew that the people who really matter know that I’m doing the work and not someone else.
Professionalism as a SAP Developer
Acting and operating as a professional in my team means that you show up for meetings, you keep Project Managers updated on all of your progress, learning all of the new software from SAP and not being sloppy. SAP is a huge system, and nobody is ever expected to know even ten per cent about it – whereas in some jobs, working with other languages and systems, this could be a must.
In Sec 1. I said that having a specialised knowledge is a characteristic of a true professional, however working with SAP having a broad knowledge is better than having a specialised knowledge. I was given so much more opportunity than the previous placement student because I had a broader knowledge. He had worked with SAP/ABAP before, but because I had knowledge of more components (such as Web, C++, C# and Java) I was allowed to work on more projects and learn more from those projects to help boost my own repertoire.
My job isn’t fixed by hours, I can come in at 10am and work through until 6pm, or I can leave at 4pm and come in at 8am. It’s very lenient as long as you get the work done on time for release. Some would say that this is very unprofessional, but I think it helps keep a professional atmosphere in the office because people are working at their best and aren’t tired because of an early start, or rushed to finish things by 5pm so they can leave. Howdens give you the opportunity to work in several different locations, in the UK and in Europe and often pay for you to go on midweek holidays with colleagues without taking your holiday time. It’s all seen as investment in you and it seems to work. Seeing employees turning up to work at 10am, then leaving midweek for a 3-day holiday in The Netherlands sounds extremely unprofessional, but this is something that is acceptable at the company. Other than the occasional incentive, everything else is pretty much as I said in Sec 1. You are still expected to take pride in yourself and your work, meet deadlines, and be reliable.
Conclusion
Being a professional varies in every company, some companies are huge and have a very detailed code of ethics, dress codes, ….