Name: Dominik Noack
Birthday: 17/07/1985
Nationality: German
Languages: German, English, French, Spanish
Years working in the field: 6
Companies worked in: 5
Current company or institution: KPMG AG
Interests & Hobbies: Downhill mountain biking, soccer, parties, music, friends
Dream Job: Self employed working in the Caribbean Sea
Q: What is your highest academic degree and where did you earn it?
Q: What
where the main reasons for you to decide studying Business Information Systems?
A: After 5 years of work experience in a
medium-sized system house for small and medium-sized businesses in
fields of Client/Server Administration, Unified Messaging, Networks, Business
Information Systems, etc. I decided to take a more business-like approach in the
IT sector. My reasons to do this were that I think you can earn more money with
your knowledge in value-centered enterprise IT-Fields. (i.e. optimizing
processes, increasing information for the management). It was something I didn´t expect I
could do and therefore I found it challenging. I believe that managers are interested in the value
and gain they can get from IT, not the "nerd knowledge" of state-of-the art IT
inventions…
A: I am currently working as an intern in
IT Advisory for KPMG AG, a professional services company (auditing, tax and management consultancy). The company is active in the fields of Assurance, Tax and Financial Advisory, Consulting, Actuarial and Legal. My current role at KPMG AG is to stay in touch with the daily
business and projects of the whole department. My specialization is in
authorization management for SAP ERP Software, the global player in enterprise
resource software. I also work as audit of SAP Systems, regarding the validity of the data which is audited by Assurance people of KPMG.
Q: What
are some of the specific skills someone in your role needs to have?
A: Communication Skills (!!!), TEAMPLAYER, authenticity, engagement, the ability to reason, self-improvement
and kindness. It way more
important to be a nice guy than to success in everything you do.
Q: What
is your favorite job duty and why?
A: Customer contact in projects, because employees from customers of i.e. KPMG are in most cases very
interesting. It is also very rewarding to notice if you are being successful in customer
contact.
Q: What
is your least favorite job duty and why?
A: In IT business you have the
obligation of preventing loss of data or loss of business hours and to try to reach a
very high level of requirements of service agreements with the customers.
Nevertheless, it can happen that you get very stressed and you need to solve problems very
quick and professionally. IT is not 100% reliable, that is why this can happen, you get in difficulties and you need to remain calm and not turn down any help.
Q: Have
you encountered any differences in the way of working in Canada, compared to
Germany?
A: I have never worked in Canada
but I had a job offer to work in Toronto for another big four company.
Probably, I will come back here sometime and catch up on it. Generally I would guess that people
in Germany work more efficient and targeted, but therefore they often lack
work-life balance because they work too much.
Q: What
do you believe are common misconceptions about the work you do?
A: That you don´t need personality. That
IT is something that must work, but has no value for the company. That you have
no contact to customer.
Q: Technology
keeps changing, how important is it to be updated about the newest know-hows in
your branch?
A: Very important because it can lead to
huge competitive advantages. The long-term strategic planning of IT is
very important but also a very tough call because so many technological changes
happen all the time.
Q: What
do you think is the future of IT?
A: Cloud Computing, Augmented Reality, IT-Security, Web X.0 - Socialization with IT, Web-Based computing (with Service oriented Architecture).
Q: Where
do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
A: It is a tough plan but I want to get
promoted as a manager and then try to build up my own business consultancy company.
