“The process reinforced that I am a consultant”

During Dwayne Lynch MCMI ChMC’s university days, spent studying computer information systems and web development at the University of Derby, he never predicted that he’d become a senior manager at one of the biggest professional services companies in the world. 

“I remember doing a project management course at university and hating it, so I assumed that I would go into development,” says Dwayne. “The idea of being a consultant was completely foreign to me, so I didn’t envision it at all.” 

Once he had completed his degree, Dwayne got a place on a graduate scheme working with Transport for London (TfL), which opened up an unexpected career path. He worked on large programmes for TfL, such as the Low Emission Zone, the congestion charge and Barclays cycle hire. As part of that, he worked with companies such as Siemens, IBM and Deloitte. 

“I was just so impressed with the way they worked and their knowledge as a team. That’s when I thought: I would love to do that.” 

“I could point to it and say: that’s my project”

Dwayne settled on the ambition of working for the Big Four consultancies. He moved to KPMG as an IT project manager with a view to getting client-facing work. Over the next decade, he gradually moved from IT project management – such as delivery of Microsoft software – to delivering large programmes for clients. 

“That got me to where I am now at PwC, where I’m managing the team of project management professionals for delivery of Microsoft business applications.” 

Dwayne has some pretty large deliveries on his CV. He was responsible for installing cameras across the Olympic route network for the London 2012 games, picking up cars driving illegally along the route. 

“That was one of the biggest moments in my career, because you could see it, I could point to one of my cameras and say: that’s my project.”

Despite these big names on Dwayne’s CV, he never quite felt comfortable calling himself a consultant. “I am quite a confident person, but I’ve always had this imposter syndrome that I wasn’t really a consultant, I was just an IT project manager who happened to be client facing.”