Favorite Parts of Being a Technology Sourcing Manager at Netflix
Nicole, a Technology Sourcing Manager at Netflix, finds the most fulfilling aspect of her role to be its consultative nature, describing it as "an internal consultant" who solves diverse problems daily across different teams and vendors. This allows for the variety and problem-solving Nicole enjoyed considering in undergrad, while avoiding the extensive travel associated with traditional consulting roles, a crucial factor given their family life.
Problem-Solving, Consultative Skills, Internal Consulting, Technology, Strategic Sourcing
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Nicole Panzovski
Technology Sourcing Manager
Netflix
UCLA 2016
UCLA Anderson MBA
Economics
Arts, Entertainment & Media, Technology
Operations and Project Management
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. The role is highly consultative, allowing Nicole to work with various internal teams and solve different problems daily, providing variety and preventing monotony.
2. Nicole's role offers the advantages of consulting without the extensive travel often associated with it, making it a good fit for her lifestyle and family.
3. There are many diverse roles within business that offer similar fulfillment and opportunities, contrary to widely known career paths. Nicole's experience highlights the importance of exploring less common roles that align with individual interests and preferences.
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your role?
The biggest thing about being in my role is that it's very consultative. When I was in undergrad, I really struggled with knowing what I wanted to do, other than be in business, which is very broad. In my undergrad, I actually had very limited options.
I could be an accountant or go into consulting with a Big Four firm. I always thought consulting was really cool; it's this big and kind of sexy job. But there are lots of jobs like that in the business world that don't require you to travel 75% of the time and allow you to have freedom to be consultative.
As a strategic sourcing manager, I'm an internal consultant. I work for one company, but I help them solve different problems every day. This means I'm working with the marketing team, trying to figure out solutions for their different campaigns and how technology can solve them. I also work with the finance side, helping them negotiate new technology because they don't like the way they're recording their processes.
I didn't know coming out of undergrad that you can do many different things in a company under the umbrella of business. The best thing I like about my function is that it's very consultative. I don't do the same thing every day; I do something different. I'm solving a different problem with a different internal team, and I'm working with a different vendor, and that's always extremely fun.
This allows me to be home. I have one kid who's under two, and I'm pregnant with a second. I've been married for six years, and I don't want to be traveling 75% of the time to be a management consultant. But I get little tidbits and pieces of that here in my role, and I think that's extremely fulfilling.
My advice to people looking in the business sector is that there are a lot of different functions and roles out there you may have never heard of, but they can fulfill the same needs. Lots of people like being accountants, but there are other roles besides being an accountant that could fulfill you if you're a numbers person. Strategic sourcing is just like that; I feel like it's in the consulting realm without having a lot of the downsides of being a traveling consultant.