Didier:
Currently working with clients as a senior project manager in Information Technology, I have been in the Banking and Finance industry for the past 20 years, going from an employee to an entrepreneur with employees and working with a fix-term contract. I was able to perfectly balance my professional, personal and family life.
My 20+ years experience in IT has also allowed me to progress from junior developer to senior Project Manager while growing my own business alongside. Back in 2014, I received my PMP certification; which has not only allowed me to develop my skills and knowledge but also, by working with PMI, I have been able to improve my networking.
Living and working in 4 different metropolia, Paris, Montréal, London and Toronto, has broadened my understanding of cultural differences and their impact on the professional, personal and family life; moving to different cities and countries allowed me to comprehend how everyone works and thinks in a different way, even within one same culture.
Gaëlle:
After 10 years of my life spent working in the financing and banking industry, I suffered from burnout. At the time, I was an employee, a team manager and an entrepreneur all at once. I had a severely imbalanced life, where I found myself disregarding my personal wellbeing completely. This mental exhaustion allowed me to have a career shift, but I am aware that I was able to do this because I had a working husband who could support me and our family alone. Now, my career is focused on well-being through the balancing of professional, personal and family life. I have spent the last 10 years reading and learning about mental awareness, self-improvement and mindfulness. As of late, I am taking classes at the University of Toronto to further my knowledge of wellbeing, and with a Reiki Master.
DGSAGE INC.:
Established in 2013 while we were living in Montreal, DGSage Inc. is a company based on Information Technology services. Initially, our company only dealt with helping us getting contracts with clients such as banks and insurance companies regarding IT services. However, as time passed by, we realized we could do something much greater than this. With both of our acquired experiences in the professional field, we want to improve individuals’ (and businesses’) relationships with their professional environment by creating a balance between the professional, the personal and the family/friend life. Burnouts should not be a common issue amongst seniors, let alone junior, employees in IT.
As we also acquired a lot of experience in moving cities and even countries (we’ve lived and worked in 3 countries, on 2 continents and 2 different languages), we know what it’s like to start from scratch again and again. We realized that our achievements have taught us quite a lot and that we now have a pretty intensive understanding of what it’s like to look for a job in a contact-based industry.