Social media handle(s): LinkedIn
A few words about me:
I'm an experienced leader, consultant, author and qualified coach, with over 20 years in public sector organisations at a local and national level, including local authority, NHS and higher education.
I have built and led tech teams ranging in size from 5 to 120 people. I champion entry level roles having chaired the development of the national Business Analysis (BA) Apprenticeship standard and I am a co-founder of BA School Day, and a director of the BA Manager Forum.
I regularly attend and speak at international conferences & UK events; write for online and print magazines; and have co-authored two BCS books Delivering Business Analysis and Careers in Tech, Data and Digital.
I am also a Director of Community for the award-winning tech consultancy start up, Herd Consulting.
Are there any professional experiences you've had that are quite unexpected compared to what you do nowadays?
While I was a student I worked at Sainsbury's for 3 years. It's very different to what I do now, but I learned loads of skills, including team work and customer service. Every role is a learning opportunity.
Is your background more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) or non-STEM related?
STEM - I studied Physics with Astrophysics at University, and my whole career has been in tech.
Where did your professional journey start?
My first job after graduating was in a local authority IT department. I knew I wanted to work in the public sector, but did not particularly mean to go into a career in tech. This job taught me so much. It was a small team so I was involved in everything: data migration, IT support, procurement, reporting, requirements analysis and end user training. I started on a 4 month temporary contract, and stayed in a permanent role for 2 years.
How did you get into tech and what motivated you?
I was keen to understand how people's lives could be made better through effective use of technology and process improvement. Especially in public sector organisations, where budgets are often very tight, improving efficiency and reducing time spent on admin is so important. Having worked in social care and the NHS, staff care so much about their patients and service users, so I always want professionals to be able to spend their time on the person in front of them, not on processes and IT systems.
Have you experienced any 'career in tech' challenges / stereotypes?
There are a lot of stereotypes of the typical ‘person who works in tech’. ‘Mythbusting’ is something I tackle early on in my book Careers in Tech, Data and Digital, as so many people are ruling them selves out of a career in tech before investigating what its really like.
All sorts of different people can have a successful career in tech. The key is to understand the breadth of roles available, and find out what best fits your skills and interests. Most jobs in tech do not involve writing code, but perceptions from outside the profession don’t reflect that reality.
"I regularly say ‘not every job in tech is technical’, but this message is not getting out there enough! It was a wow moment for me, because it’s obvious to everyone inside tech, but not those on the outside."
What you wish you knew before getting started in tech...
That you probably can’t predict where your career path will take you. Picking a professional discipline to specialise in is not a ‘final destination’ and there is so much opportunity in tech to try new things and move around.
What has been your biggest 'wow!' moment related to working in tech so far?
I regularly say ‘not every job in tech is technical’, but this message is not getting out there enough! It was a wow moment for me, because it’s obvious to everyone inside tech, but not those on the outside. Getting this message out, especially to young people, has been a big motivator for me writing the book about Careers in Tech.
And, more personally, when I left the NHS after 12 years, I worried that my skills and knowledge would not be transferable to another environment. I realised very quickly that most organisations share similar challenges and that your experience implementing tech projects and programmes of work is absolutely transferable.
What do you like / not like about working in tech?
I enjoy working with a range of people with different skills and knowledge, to solve a problem through collaboration. When projects deliver business benefits to staff and customers that’s a great feeling.
BUT - there are still a lot of assumptions made in tech projects, for example that we know what our customer wants without engaging with them. Sometimes we are looking for too many shortcuts, and putting in the extra effort and analysis usefully pays off.
"Picking a professional discipline to specialise in is not a ‘final destination’ and there is so much opportunity in tech to try new things and move around."
What's been your favourite / most memorable / funniest 'career in tech' moment so far?
A memorable moment was in 2014 when I gave my first professional conference presentation, the first time I had spoken outside of my organisation. It was called ‘Grow your own”, and I talked about the need for entry level roles, including apprenticeships. This presentation is what ultimately led to me chairing the employer group to develop the national apprenticeship standard in business analysis. Thousands of people have now come through that route, and it has the best gender parity of all the digital apprenticeships, so that’s something that makes me really proud.
And to wrap up, is there any advice you'd like to give to others interested in a career in tech?
Read the book Careers in Tech, Data and Digital! It shares loads of case studies and insider insights, and explains how the tech sector actually works. I would also recommend you attend in person and online learning events. This increases your skills and your exposure to the roles, peoples and organisations you might like to work with.
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