A Day in the Life of – Lilla Dilliway

As one of two directors of a new technology provider firm, my role involves marketing, sales, customer service, working with the tech team to incorporate broker feedback and looking for new collaboration opportunities.

What does your morning routine look like? 

I have children in primary school, so the morning starts with them and the school run. Once in the office, I often start by writing a to-do list for the day ahead to organise myself. However, as everyone has probably experienced, new tasks have a habit of turning up unexpectedly!

What does a typical afternoon look like?

Emailing, meetings, phone calls… all the things on my to-do list and whatever else crops up.

What do you find to be your most productive time of the day?

The last 2 hours before going home. Time pressure gives me focus and suddenly everything can be done faster than I thought!

How do you manage your time to ensure you have a good work / life / home balance?

I don’t claim to have a good balance – never have and I doubt I ever will. As my husband is also part of the business, his days are much the same (i.e. revolving around work), so we have just learnt to incorporate some downtime into our forever busy lives.

What is your favourite part of your working day in your role?

I like learning about new things – a new feature we could incorporate into our system or a new collaboration we could embrace. I am also intrigued by other companies’ websites, so when looking them up, I am interested in how they represent themselves, what is important to them.

What does a typical dinner time look like in your household?

We cook dinner and eat together, so the kids have no chance of going to bed early, but they still have 10-11 hours of beauty sleep, so everyone’s happy.

What do you do to unwind?

Give me a good murder mystery book or a nice big jigsaw any day!

If you could give one piece of career advice what would it be?

Really sit down and consider what you’re good at, what you are interested in and what you’d like to achieve before deciding on a job or career. As a 22-yr old fresh graduate, I didn’t know what I wanted to do – it wasn’t until I was 32, when I seriously gave it some thought, that it happened for me. Don’t wait that long!

How important has your support network been in helping you through your role?

Ultimately, you will have to believe in yourself. How much reassurance we need from others is dependent on us. Of course, it helps if we have support around us, but we also have to be open to feedback and learn from it.

Does your job require a degree?

Not necessarily, there is more than one path that someone could take to work in technology.

My first degree was in economics, so when I decided to change careers, I opted to do a master’s degree in surveying to learn about building technology, property law etc., while I was in a job doing corporate real estate. Then I decided to go into mortgages and take my CeMAPs before starting as an adviser. The knowledge and experience I gained then helped me move into my current role.