Ashima Tandon – Implementation Lead, SP Energy Networks Operations

I joined ScottishPower in November last year as part of the company’s Returner Programme. I’d taken a career break to focus on my family, and restarting as a Technical Process Lead in the SP Energy Networks team offered the perfect chance for me to re-enter the STEM industry.

My background is in tech and my experience ranges from the travel sector to cloud computing and data storage. The ‘future thinking’ aspect of the role drives and excites me – we’re responsible for creating technology that is quite literally ahead of its time and will be used for years to come.

I’ve always loved the speed the tech industry develops at - we’re constantly innovating, and nothing ever stays the same for long. It’s one of the main things that first attracted me to the field, although it does create certain challenges when returning to work after a break.

The robust training, offered as part of ScottishPower’s Returners programme, definitely helped overcome any challenges. It was essential in equipping me with the confidence, knowledge and refreshed skillset needed to step back into a tech role.

From my first day, the team were incredibly supportive and offered feedback and support, along with the opportunity to take on more responsibility as I developed.

As a result, I stayed in my first position for around four months then successfully applied for a permanent role as Implementation Lead at the beginning of this year. In this new role I head up the development and operation of business-critical processes, examining how we as an organisation can improve our current processes and build resilient, future-proof solutions.

With every project we undertake, we’re constantly reflecting on how this links into the sustainability aims of the business, as well as the UK’s net zero emissions targets. It’s inspiring to work for an organisation that has such a strong commitment to decarbonisation, and I feel grateful my role enables me to use my technological background to help create solutions that will benefit society.  

It’s a very exciting time to be working in the energy sector as we accelerate towards achieving net zero emissions. A key part of my role involves managing the new starters joining our team through the graduate recruitment scheme, and I find it really inspiring to hear this next generation of the workforce talk passionately about their personal environmental motivations and how they’ll incorporate this into a tech role at ScottishPower.