Introducing Charlotte Utting - Ambitious, Analytical and Approachable
As my Internship draws to a close, I’d like to firstly thank all of those who’ve read and shared our blog and TechNet newsletter, we've made big changes to both this year and it's been great to be on that journey with you our readers along the way. Hearing what you've enjoyed, as well as what we can better at. I’ve now got the pleasure to hand over the reigns to Charlotte, our new IT Pro Editor.
Charlotte joined the team very recently and will be taking over as the main point of contact for blog and newsletter content moving forward. She let me interview her for TechNet before I head off, so that you can get a little more insight into her as a person, her history with tech and what her survival instincts would be, should she be stuck on an island.
Just be careful not to make her angry, you wouldn't like her when she's angry ;).
Q1. Hi Charlotte, welcome to the team, who are you and where do you come from?
Hi, I'm Charlotte Utting, I'm from a small village in Hertfordshire and study Information Systems at Nottingham Trent University. I’ve just started my industrial placement year with Microsoft, my role being the IT Pro Editor.
Q2. How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Ambitious, Analytical and Approachable
Q3. Current Favourite Gadget?
I would have to say my new work phone which is the Nokia Lumia 820. I’ve never owned a Windows Phone before and I particularly like the fact that I can pin all my important apps to the homepage. I’ve found being able to sync my laptop and phone together very useful because I can access my work anytime and my phone will remind me of meetings when I’m away from my laptop.
Q4. What would we find if we asked you to empty out your pockets?
I hate carrying things so probably just my phone… can't go long without looking at it!
Q4. If you were on a desert island, which 3 items would you take with you?
Supply of matches
Something sharp
Fishing net
Q5. First Microsoft product?
Windows HP Desktop which I got back when I was in primary school. At the time I mostly used it for Microsoft Paint where I drew patterns and coloured them in. Funnily enough we still have the desktop at home, it really has lasted us well however it is painfully slow in comparison to my laptop, so it’s safe to say I don’t use it much anymore!
Q6. What did you want to do when you were little? Did this change?
When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian. I love animals of all sizes (I even had a pet snake!) and loved the idea of being able to working with them on a daily basis and help make them better. However this changed when my passion for IT developed and my career focus changed. I still love animals though!
Q7. Our MVA Hero campaign will be in full swing during July, if you could be any superhero and have super powers, which one would you like to have and why?
To be different I will say the Hulk, not by choice but because that's the new nickname I've been given by my new house mates. They're not being mean, there is a funny story behind it.
So on the fifth day in our new house I went to go brush my teeth, I went to push the bathroom door open and the whole door came completely off its hinges, now that wasn't because I was violent with it, the door hadn’t been correctly hinged to the wall (don’t ask) so really it was a matter of time before the thing came off, just my luck!
So after shouting for help, my house mates ran over to see me holding the whole door in my hands, so now when anyone asks why the door is broken my housemate Tom says "because the Hulk over here decided none of us deserved any privacy anymore!" haha.
But hey, super strength would come in handy!
I'm really looking forward to this year as TechNet Editor at Microsoft, especially meeting you our readers when we're out and about at events. Feel free to get in touch should you have any ideas on how I can improve the blog for you this year.
Speak soon!
Charlotte