Name: Hughie Tiernan
Job Title: Software Account Manager
How long have you worked with us? I have had this role in the Sales team for 5 years in Viatel and spent some time as a QA and a Project Manager before that.
Tell us a little bit about your role please
My main role is to guide our customers through our software development process (from an initial conversation through to project completion and beyond) and act as an escalation point for any issues if they arise. The role affords me the chance to meet with people and companies with lots of interesting challenges and opportunities across a wide range of industries.
Give us the highlights tour of your career to date
After I graduated from college I took a job in the banking sector. I always had entrepreneurial ambitions and at the time the best way to fund a business was through a bank so thought I would learn how they worked. I had a few great years working in a bank in Dublin before taking a year out to travel around the world – only to return at the end of 2008 to a completely different country following the banking crisis. To say that the banks were no longer a good source for funding at that time is an understatement!
Following a Masters in Entrepreneurship I was fortunate to be offered a job as managing director of a small educational software company. I spent five great years there during which we developed and maintained the Springboard application system which is still in use for non-traditional learners applying for places in 3rd-level colleges.
Following that I realized that my lack of technical skills needed to be addressed so once again I embarked on further education and completed a one-year degree in software development (using Springboard 😊). A requirement of the course was a 6-week placement with a software company so I reached out to John Savage in ActionPoint (who I worked with in my previous company) to see if I could spend some time there. The 6 weeks as a QA tester morphed into a scrum master role which then evolved into my position now as a Sales / Account Manager. It has been a long but interesting placement!
What do you love most about working with Viatel?
I really like my role within Viatel. The team and culture that has been curated here is dynamic, friendly and enthusiastic. I am constantly learning from my colleagues and the customers I have met along the way. It’s a unique role in that I get to generate relationships with customers and learn about new industries on a weekly basis which is incredibly energising.
Describe yourself in three words
Inquisitive, easy going, sports mad.
Tell us something we don’t know about you
Growing up I had a stammer which, at the time, I thought was the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. As I continue to work on it (it is an ongoing process) I realise the help I have received in overcoming it has afforded me the opportunity to gain greater communication skills and self-awareness which I otherwise would have been oblivious to.
