Players. Perfect.

Welcome to the Asos tech podcast, where we're going to be sharing what it's like to work in an online destination for fashion loving 20 somethings around the world.

You may have bought some clothes from us, but have you ever wondered what happens behind the screens?

You. My name is Leonard. My pronouns are he, him, and I'm a quality assurance engineer at AsoS. With me today is Pearl. Would you like to introduce yourself, Pearl?

Hi, I'm Pearl Himphon. My pronouns are she, her.

I'm a business analyst on the customer care tech platform at Asos, and I've been here for seven, oh, seven years.

Wow, that's a long time. Now, how we like to start these is with a bit of an icebreaker. So, Pearl, I've got a question for you. If you weren't at Asos right now, where would you love to be working and or what would you love to be doing?

So I think if I wasn't at Asos, I think I'd probably be running my own business.

I've always enjoyed sort of business kind of related stuff, and my family have.

Always run their own business as well. And I'd probably want to do something as well with sort of traveling.

One of my biggest passions is traveling.

Going to visit new countries. I was lucky enough earlier this year, actually, to do a four month spectacle with Asos, which was a really amazing experience. So, yeah, I'd love to try and.

Be able to combine the two.

Wow, that's really interesting. So a self run traveling business, what would that look like? Would that be a travel planning firm? Tell us a bit about that.

It's funny. If I hadn't put too much thought into it, we'll see if I make it to ten years asos, and then.

I'll give it some more thought.

Hey, that's really interesting. Speaking of Asos, tell us a bit about how you got into Asos. More specifically, what was your journey like before you finally landed at Asos? Front.

Yeah, so I went to college in London, studying fashion. Once I finished college, I actually went to go work for my dad. So my dad has a family business, so I went to work for him.

For two years, which was really good.

Obviously, getting to work with family and getting unlimited time off, that was pretty good. And then whilst I was there, one.

Of my friends actually worked at asos.

And she said they needed some help.

For a couple of weeks.

I think this was when they used.

To do quite a lot of temp work.

So, yeah, I did two weeks of.

Temping and then after that I applied for a job in retail. I got the job.

I worked in a retail sort of assistant sort of job role for a year. After that, I then applied to go into buying, which was what I studied at college. And then strangely enough, once I actually started working within the buying industry, I just kind of realized it wasn't really for me. I realized that I wasn't that fashionable.

When I started working with all these fashionable people at asos.

And yeah, there was just parts of.

The role that I didn't really enjoy.

So basically whilst I was in buying.

I then applied for a role within tech. So I was a super user within.

TGR, truly global retail.

So I was doing that for a.

Couple of months and I was starting.

To do quite a lot of user acceptance testing.

I was working with other bas and that kind of opened my eyes to.

Other roles that were in tech that.

I could potentially do.

I reached out to a few people.

Did some shadowing, and eventually a job.

Role came up and applied for it.

And I got the job.

And yeah, that was my sort of way into tech, really.

Wow. So that's really a very dynamic pathway into tech, going from studying fashion to working in a space more tailored around the fashion industry to finding yourself in the tech space and working as a ba. So what do you enjoy most about being a ba compared to when you were working in the fashion side of the business?

Yeah, I think what I love the.

Most is how different every day is within tech.

I find that there's always sort of new challenges.

You're always learning something new. And every day is different. Every week is different. We get to work on a large variety of different projects and yeah, every project that you're working on, it really is completely different. You have new challenges and yeah, I really enjoy that part of it.

Tell us a bit about a week in the life of an Asos BA in tech.

Sure. Yeah.

As said, every week is so different.

Sort of in my job role.

And it really depends on the project.

That you've picked up and how many projects you might have on at one time or where you are within that project.

But I guess at the very start of a project, you could be organizing, facilitating meetings and workshops, finding out about your stakeholders sort of job role, the tech that they use, and what kind of improvements that they might want to make their job a lot easier.

When we get sort of further within the project where we're working with the.

Stakeholders, sort of gathering requirements on what those improvements could be, and then again, the next stage would be kind of.

Looking at what those solution options could.

Be with our solution architects, and then the next stage would be sort of like the development stage, working with our.

Development teams to actually build out those.

Stories in refinement meetings and gathering that.

Feedback from stakeholders and actually delivering those solutions.

So, yeah, it really depends on what.

Stage of the project that you're actually.

In and the projects that you've picked up. But, yeah, that's kind of what I love is that every day is so different.

Yeah. And as you've sort of touched on there, a lot of your role involves interacting with a lot of people around the business. So would you say you get to see a really holistic view of the entire process, from product requirements to deliverables?

Yeah, for sure.

Whenever people ask me, what is it that you do as a BA?

I always say I'm the middle person.

Between the business stakeholders and the development team.

We're the people that organize everything in.

The middle that sort of gets to that end goal of delivering that product.

It's really interesting that you've sort of put that description to the BA role, which leads into one of my other questions, which is, how would you describe the role of BA business analysts to a five year old?

It's a really good question, actually. I'm just trying to think of a.

Better way of saying it.

If I was to give a description of what I do as a QA to a five year old, I would say, imagine a kid across the room is building a really nice Lego tower. I'm the one who points out that they've missed one of the legs and knocks it over, so they have to start again.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was trying to think of in my head. That's a good way of saying it.

So, yeah, I guess if I was to describe it to a five year old, I would say that I write.

The instruction manual to build a tower.

Thank you for that. One of the other questions I would like to ask you, and this is, again, centering around your role as a ba, but more broadly in your role working in the tech space. What excites you most about working in tech? What drives you to work in that environment?

I think it's multiple things, actually.

I think one of the things that.

Really helps is working with such a great team.

I work on the customer care tech platform, and I absolutely love everybody that I work with. Everyone's really friendly, everyone's really supportive, and.

Whenever you need help, they're always there.

To sort of be there.

But I think working within the tech industry itself, working at AsOs is a.

Really exciting place to work.

It's at the forefront of the fashion industry and yeah, I think within tech.

We have loads of really exciting projects sort of coming up.

And so what would you say is the most challenging part of your job as a BA?

I think one of the most challenging parts is time.

If anything, I think within customer care.

We have so many things that we.

Can improve and I think sometimes it is like the tight deadlines that we have.

I think sometimes we'll come up with.

A solution and there's so much that we'd love to deliver within that solution.

But sometimes you are kind of tied to tight deadlines and you're not able.

To deliver the best solution possible.

So I'd say that's probably one of the hardest parts of my job is kind of managing that.

Yeah, that's a really good point you make. Time management is, I think, common issue across tech. So many different deliverables and deadlines and it can be difficult to balance all of those. Now I want to put you in a little bit of a scenario for the next question. So you are in an auditorium and in front of you are a thousand maybe potential bas. What advice would you give to them about being a BA and working at ASos?

I think a pro tip for being.

A BA would be having really good relationships with your stakeholders because those are.

The people that you're sort of working.

With day in and day out, and.

Having good relationships with them will make your life a whole lot easier. That's probably my biggest tip. And yeah, I think that's a really.

Important part of being a BA.

Yeah. And how would you describe to them the feeling and the atmosphere of working for a company like asos? What would you tell them are the highlights and the best parts about being part of the community here?

Being part of the BA community at Asos, it's exciting, it's challenging. Every day is completely different.

We have some great teams at Asos of supported.

You know, there's so much out there for your development.

We have every last Friday, the month is dedicated to your development where you.

Can spend that whole day doing anything you want that you feel is going.

To help with your career.

At asos, there's tons of different learnings.

That you can find that will help.

You with your development. There's plenty of resources available. Yeah, ASos is just a great place to work generally. I've been there for seven years and I have no intention of leaving, to be honest.

I can't imagine working anywhere else.

Amazing. It's really good to hear. Speaking about development a little bit, you've mentioned tech develops, which I believe has been covered before as one of the initiatives to help different members of the Asos community develop. Are there any other BA specific developments that you've benefited from or that you would like to talk about and how they've impacted your ability to really deliver in your role?

Yeah, sure.

So when I first started as an.

Associate business analyst, Asos actually, they had.

A program called Fund My Future and.

I applied for that and I was able to do a BA qualification that.

Was six different modules, the six different exams, and I passed and I've been able to put all of that into practice.

Amazing. That's really good to hear that ASOs has supported your journey and I'm sure will continue to support your development as a BA into the future. Rounding up my list of questions here, I want to ask you about your highlights working for asos as a BA.

Yeah, so I think my biggest highlight.

Was definitely where I moved from retail into tech.

Not only was it a huge transition.

It was also a really big achievement of mine. Tech and retail are two very different worlds and I'm really proud of how.

I was able to make that change.

And how much I've actually grown. Even from who I was in retail into tech.

I've not only gained in confidence, I feel like I've learned so much. And yeah, I'm continuing to learn every.

Single day that I'm working in tech. So yeah, I think that's probably one of my biggest highlights.

Wow, that's really good to hear. That's an amazing highlight. Thanks so much for being our guest today and answering some of my questions. If anybody would like to get in touch with you to learn more about being a BA or to find out how they can transition, how can they reach you?

Yeah, you can reach me via LinkedIn.

I'd be happy to help if anyone's.

Interested in getting involved with the BA community.

Once again, thank you for being our guest today.

Thank you.

Check out the AsOs tech blog for more content from our asos tech talent and a lot more insights into what goes on behind the screens at Asos Tech search medium.com for the AsOS tech blog, or go to AsOS tech for more.