WOMEN ROCK.

I’ve been really looking forward to getting Paul onto Women Rock and super excited to collaborating with him throughout the rest of this year and beyond. We both share a HUGE passion for D&I and Paul is backing my mission to make Bristol the most diverse city in Tech in by the end of 2025!Paul thrives on helping people, community cohesion and facilitating joy. Currently working with SETsquared Bristol members to connect them with their programme and the wider business ecosystem and managing the SETsquared Bristol Back Her Business Pre-Incubation Programme. Also equality, diversity and inclusion advocate. Here is his interview – it’s a banger!HEY PAUL, THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORY, FIRSTLY CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT WHAT IT IS THAT YOU DO AND WHAT A TYPICAL DAY FOR YOU IS LIKE?I’m Community Manager at SETsquared Bristol, Hottest Accelerator in Europe (The Europas 2020) and part of the Global #1 University Business Incubator (SETsquared Partnership, UBI Global). I review and track the progress of our 75+ members, build relationships and forge partnerships with local and national organisations, manage our internal projects and spearhead equality, diversity and inclusion in the incubator. I’m also Director For Books’ Sake, a not for profit that champions women and non-binary writers and performers, which includes publishing, writing retreats, workshops and our spoken word event “That’s What She* Said”, that takes place in London, Manchester and Bristol. A typical day is hard to assert as nothing seems “typical”. During lockdown my days have been structured around a quick morning call with the SETsquared team, then a meeting to track member progress, reviewing and updating workshop content with facilitators and then meeting with potential members to understand their business and products. In the early evening I’ll likely be corresponding with performance poets and curating the line up for For Books’ Sake’s 10th Birthday party on 21st August.AS SETSQUARED COMMUNITY MANAGER AND THE SPEARHEAD FOR THE DIVERSITY AGENDA. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF IMPLEMENTING D&I WITHIN SETSQUARED?That’s a good question, the most challenging part of any EDI work is patience. It’s not necessarily challenging to bring people round to understanding why more inclusive teams good business sense are, however it’s a continuous long term process and nothing happens overnight.DO YOU THINK COVID-19 WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION HIRING FOR TECH COMPANIES IN THE SOUTH WEST?I think the lockdown has had a negative impact in regards to diversity and inclusion worldwide, thinking simply about traditional caring responsibilities that are massively gendered, women are doing even more unpaid work than usual. This has a massive knock on effect in society and in turn on the tech ecosystem where women may be unable to move roles due to extra work (teaching, caring etc), not to mention the impact this has on women founders and their growth plans.CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT BACK HER BUSINESS?Back Her Business, a Natwest initiative, was originally conceived from the recommendations of the Alison Rose Review into female entrepreneurship and partnered with Crowdfunder to inject cash into idea stage women led businesses. SETsquared Bristol have been kindly funded by Natwest to run our Back Her Business pe incubation programme, which is helping 18 idea and early stage women led businesses commercialise their offerings. There are some really amazing entrepreneurs and super exciting products in the programme and we’ll be celebrating them all at the end of October at our end of programme demo day, where we plan to help them launch to the public. https://setsquared-bristol.co.uk/news/setsquared-bristol-run-a-panel-event-launching-back-her-business-programme/WHAT ARE SOME CREATIVE WAYS TO PROACTIVELY SOURCE PEOPLE FROM UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS?I’m not sure you need to get creative to do source people from underrepresented groups, you need to get uncomfortable and challenge your pre-conceptions and those of others. Most importantly you need to find ways to access people from different backgrounds and gain the trust of gatekeepers to those communities and networks. In short, by walking the walk, not talking the talk.I FEEL THAT WE ARE GREAT AT SPEAKING ABOUT D&I BUT WE ARE LACKING ACTUAL CHANGE! WHAT CAN WE DO TO TAKE ACTION WHEN IT COMES TO D&I?Ha! This follows on well from my previous answer very well. Further to that answer, I’d suggest asking people from underrepresented backgrounds questions around change, as it has to be a collaboration, and actively listening to their concerns and suggestions. Then, you have crowd sourced data that can inform the design of any initiatives or policies around the people you are trying to attract or help.THIS IS A GREAT QUESTION I READ THE OTHER DAY SO KEEN TO HEAR PEOPLES VIEW. HOW DO YOU COUNTERACT COMMENTS FROM LEADERSHIP SUCH AS ‘’WE JUST HIRE OR PROMOTE THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB, REGARDLESS OR RACE OR GENDER’’?I’m no recruiter, but I’d suggest carefully looking at their hiring practises and critically assessing whether the currently used processes are actually fit for purpose in actually attracting the best person for the job. E.g. sending your job ads to different networks, anonymising application data and insisting on a diverse interview panel.BOOKS, I LOVE A GOOD BOOK AND MID-WAY THROUGH ‘WHY I’M NO LONGER SPEAKING TO WHITE PEOPLE ABOUT RACE’ – RENI LODGE AND JUST ABOUT TO START ‘WOMEN DON’T OWE YOU PRETTY’ FLORENCE GIVEN. I’M SURE YOU HAVE SOME GREAT RECOMMENDATIONS, COULD YOU GIVE US A FEW?I really enjoyed “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race”, it’s important as British people to understand our colonial heritage and it sometimes feels hard to connect to the American centric conversation. Eddo-Lodge’s book puts a magnifying glass up to racism in Britain and it’s so powerful and illuminating. “The Good Immigrant” edited by Bristol native, Nikesh Shukla, complies personal essays from British writers from non-white backgrounds and is breath-taking in its ability to give you so many well explained lived experiences of racism and xenophobia in the UK.IF YOU COULD BUILD YOU DREAM SQUAD OF THREE. WHO WOULD BE IN IT AND WHY?It’d have to be my For Books Sake family. My Co-Director, Jane Claire Bradley and Bridget Hart, our Bristol Events Coordinator are two of the most amazing, kind and fierce people I’ve ever met and the fact that I get to work with them enriches my life immeasurably.WHAT IS NEXT FOR PAUL?I’m on leave next week and have a mini festival planned in my best friend’s back garden in my hometown, we have programmes, tickets, wristbands and a map and I can’t wait. Especially as her garden has a hot tub, bar and fire pit. Seriously though, SETsquared Bristol are relaunching our Breakthrough Bursary for the second year running, which offers Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic tech founders a 75% reduced rate of membership in order to access our world class business support programme. Anyone interested in chatting it please reach out to me. Plus For Books’ Sake are having our 10th birthday party on 21st August – check out our amazing raffle prizes!FINALLY, WHAT IS ONE QUOTE YOU LIVE BY OR JUST THAT ONE YOU REALLY LIKE?Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Thank you sharing this with us Paul, enjoy your week off, see you soonThanks for reading, keep positive, keep doing you and dream big! xAn interview by Alicia TeagleA voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

HOW DO WE STOP GOING BACKWARDS WHEN IT COMES TO D&I?As a co-founder of a recruitment company, a tech recruiter, and Founder of Women Rock – a women in tech initiative I feel I am right in the thick of things when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Prior to Covid-19 and the lockdown I saw and could feel the positive movements we we’re making as an industry when it came to D&I and I know I am speaking for a lot of people who agree, that it would be sad to see everyone’s hard work be forgotten and we have the need to start again.We recently read an article which hit home https://www.forbes.com/sites/grantfreeland/2020/05/26/as-if-we-didnt-know-covid-19-reconfirms-that-women-make-great-leaders/#59338dde5302Grant Freeland of Forbes said:HIS BIGGEST FEAR, HE SAID, IS THAT DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION WILL “TAKE A STEP BACKWARDS” DURING THE CURRENT CRISIS. THAT’S WHAT’S HAPPENED IN THE PAST. DURING THE 2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE NUMBER OF “WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR” IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS “DECREASED SIGNIFICANTLY” FOR TWO TO THREE YEARS, BEFORE SLOWLY REBOUNDING. “IT’S TAKEN UNTIL 2020 TO GET US BACK TO 2008 LEVELS.”LET’S NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!Both Tiff and myself along with a load others share a huge passion when it comes to D&I and we wanted to share our thoughts and knowledge on how we stop going backwards.These thoughts come from our own views which we have seen and heard over the past few months and our promise is, we will keep shouting about this and continue to work on promoting underrepresented folk.Businesses are finding it tough right now. This pandemic has brought about financial uncertainty for businesses and the staff who work within them. Individual team members are facing life challenges that are affecting productivity and team morale and if it wasn’t difficult enough before the virus hit, organisations must still attract top talent in order to survive.Believe it or not, the most effective way to solve all of these problems is by working on gender equality. Contrary to popular belief, gender equality is not just a nice-to-have. It makes business sense to improve gender diversity amidst these hardships.Over the past 3 – 4 years companies have realised their diversity and inclusion problems and have explored opportunities where they have created positions to tackle such issues. Companies like Monzo hired Sheere Atcheson as their Head of Diversity and Inclusion, which we know had a huge positive impact on the business and the wider issues around D&I as a speaker and Forbes Contributor. Her role along with many others I have seen head up Diversity and Inclusion have either been made redundant or put at risk due to Covid. Whilst I know a load of companies don’t have the privilege of having such people or roles available, the companies that do are usually bigger organisations which hire in the hundreds, and usually hundreds of white middle class males – I’m not saying anything bad about you by the way you are great but surely someone needs to continue to push D&I. So we need to make D&I everyone’s business and not let this fall through the gaps or take a back seat due to the pandemic!Culture:The tech workforce has adapted quickly due to Covid19 and I know that within the tech industry a lot are fortunate due to the nature of the work that we can work from home, which is brilliant but has this had an impact on company culture?If people feel – whether virtually or physically – that they belong to the organisation, then they will feel more connected. It is absolutely crucial to properly up-skill our leaders in virtual leadership, and work to create a cohesive, resilient and empathetic culture.”Now everyone is working from home you might think this is great for women, but it has challenged relationships because we’re part of a system that has prioritised breadwinners over care-givers. During the lockdown period, many women have been forced to give up their own working space to a partner who earns more or have taken on the lion’s share of home schooling and childcare – none of which helps their own career prospects.AdviceIf you know anyone who is living alone, whether they are an employee, family member or a friend, then try to ensure you regularly check-in with them. This can help to recognise noticeable changes to behaviour or mood and identify unmet support needs.Even if staff have been furloughed or are working from home, maintain regular one-to-one communication, explicitly ask what they need and agree how best to support them both now, and when returning to the workplace.Establish the preferred method of communication with a trusted person, some people might prefer video or telephone calls, whereas others may find it easier to communicate via email or text.Listen when people communicate their own boundaries and try not to overload them.Going back to the ‘new normal’I’m worried that allowing workers back before schools/nurseries open could lead to two-tier workplaces where more men have been able to return than women. Big decisions/networking then happens among the guys in the office. And WFHers come to be seen as “less dedicated”.Career changers and Junior Developers – This is from my own views that I have seen over the past few months that most Jobs being discussed and currently advertised are for ‘experienced’ candidates. What about the Juniors not just females but all, our next generation of tech professionals? They don’t have the option to apply or interview for jobs right now as many don’t feel comfortable that they will be able to start their first role in the industry remotely. Think, how can you support the next generation of brilliant minds if you cannot support, trust and mentor them remotely. I’ll add to this in another post next week.And then career changers. This time at home has given people both more spare time and got a lot thinking about their current career and if it is for them. I am personally helping a fab lady who is switching careers and wants to become a Python Developer. She has recently been accepted to Uni to complete her Msc in CS in September and between now and then is keen to get up to speed and learn as much Python as poss. Ok so she isn’t ready to jump into a tech job right now, but how about the ones that are, they are more than likely going to fall into the grad/junior category. Will they be given an opportunity to land their first tech job whilst we are remote on-boarding and working. It’s a big thing to think about how you can make sure you are opening up these opportunities. It’s going to take time and therefore money from your business to support and mentor someone who isn’t as experienced. Please think about how you, and your business can do this.On another note, if you are a career changer or someone just super interested in tech. I run Bristol Codebar which is definitely worth a look.Our goal is to enable underrepresented people to learn programming in a safe and collaborative environment and expand their career opportunities. To achieve this we run free regular workshops, regular one-off events and try to create opportunities for our students making technology and coding more accessible.They are a great place to get 1-2-1 support from dedicated tech professionals to help you on your tech journey and build your confidence.www.codebar.ioLast bit from me is for the people who don’t want to work full-time remotely. It’s great for most, yes but is it for everyone? In the past month alone I am working with female developers who are relocating out of London to Bristol who are looking for a new job. They want to make friends and socialises with the new people they are going to work with (when allowed of course!) They are avoiding companies who have switched to fully remote. Now I get as a co-founder of a business, and also a start-up that office costs are high and for most it makes sense to be fully remote as I agree it’s great but I personally wouldn’t take a job which is fully remote. Females are often more interested in working with people, face to face meetings, building relationships and friendships which cannot be done as well remotely. So companies who have turned into ‘remote first’ there may be an impact on the people who apply for your company/roles. Something to think about.?Next steps:Now is the best time to work on gender equality if your business:1.Is suffering financially. Gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to have financial returns above respective national industry medians.https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters2. Has low team morale and productivity. 80% of employees who are aware of the gender pay gap say it is an issue for them. 18% say it is enough of an issue that they would leave or consider leaving their organisation.3.Needs to attract better talent than your competitors to survive. 62% job seekers care about diversity and inclusion.Don’t make the mistake of putting your gender equality goals on the back burner during the pandemic. Use this knowledge to your advantage so your business can come out of this stronger than your competitors.If you want to take action towards creating a more gender diverse workplace but you’re not sure where to start, contact Tiffany for more information on tiffany@tiffanydawson.co or Alicia on Alicia.teagle@sr2rec.co.ukThanks for reading, keep positive xAn interview by Alicia Teagle and Tiffany Dawson A voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

A couple of weeks ago now, back when popping out the office for a quick coffee was taken for granted, Natalie had the pleasure of meeting Alison Wright, BA Chapter Lead at Hargreaves Lansdown. It was by luck that Alison came to Bristol after failing to get the A Level results she needed… but since then she hasn’t looked back!. Now Alison is one of the select few members of the 30% Club and also a board member for Gender Diversity at Hargreaves Lansdown. In this enlightening interview, Alison shares her insights on what she has learnt from the 30% Club, how skills needed to ref a premier league football match can be applied to presenting in a boardroom (being a football fan too, Natalie found this particularly interesting and useful!). Alison also shared her thoughts on how we can get more girls into technology if we drop the stereotype attached and how to progress their careers by just being a little more confident in your own abilities. It was great meeting Alison and Natalie has learnt a lot from speaking to her, we hope that you reading this can also take something from it! ????YOU MENTIONED THAT WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER AT SCHOOL YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED TO DO CODING AS IT WASN’T CONSIDERED TO BE A SUBJECT FOR GIRLS. LUCKILY TIMES HAVE CHANGED BUT HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAN ENCOURAGE MORE GIRLS INTO TECHNOLOGY?Firstly we need to remove the stereotype that tech is just coding in an isolated environment. Nowadays the skills needed in a typical tech environment includes designing screens, understanding human behaviours and managing cyber security to name a few. So the industry needs to appeal to a much broader group of society.Furthermore, it’s a great career path. I have been lucky enough to be a business analyst in a variety of industries, to travel around the world for projects and most importantly – I never stop learning.YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO GET PROMOTED TO HEAD OF BA CAME FROM SOMEONE SEEING POTENTIAL IN YOU AND PUSHING YOU TO DO THE ROLE, EVEN THOUGH YOU WEREN’T CONFIDENT IN YOUR OWN ABILITIES – WE HEAR THIS OFTEN FROM FEMALES, WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS AND WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST TO ANY FEMALE THINKING ABOUT PUTTING THEIR CASE FORWARD?Unfortunately job applications still demand candidates to brag about their skills and experience and many people, but particularly women, find this difficult to do. In my case, self-confidence is something I struggle with so putting myself into a competitive process where I need to flaunt my experience is tough. I’ve learnt to overcome some of my confidence issues, but will always be grateful for people who have championed me in the past.YOU’RE ON THE BOARD FOR GENDER DIVERSITY AT HL, WHAT THINGS ARE YOU DOING TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN MORE FEMALES?Our key focus at the moment is ensuring our internal talent is supported in progressing their careers. As I said above, I know how difficult I used to find growing my own career and I don’t want others to hold themselves back as I did.  We are running a number of initiatives such as talks by inspiring people, celebrating Internatioal Women’s and Men’s Day as well as continuing to push bigger issues such as the gender pay gap.  Our next steps are also looking at equipping younger colleagues with skills such as CV writing and interview skills so that our best talent isn’t overlooked for the wrong reasons.YOU’VE ALSO BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE INCLUDED IN THE 30% CLUB AT HARGREAVES LANSDOWN, WHICH AIMS TO GET 30% OF WOMEN AT BOARD LEVEL, CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THIS AND WHY YOU THINK IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE MORE WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.I was so delighted to get this opportunity to be a part of the club and in turn receive mentoring from a senior leader in another organisation. Putting aside the hopefully obvious argument of equal opportunities for all, all the research shows that it’s an essential commercial outcome. It’s been shown that diverse teams make better decisions at least 15% of the time and gives organisations access to a wider pool of talent. For a company like Hargreaves Lansdown it also allows us to understand our client base better as women make up 51% of the population. I personally love having my thoughts and preconceptions challenged by others and have learnt so much from colleagues and friends from different backgrounds, experiences and ages.YOUR MENTOR FROM THE 30% CLUB IS MIKE RILEY, FORMER PREMIER LEAGUE REFEREE AND INTRODUCER OF VAR. WHAT ADVICE HAVE YOU TAKEN FROM THE FOOTBALL PITCH AND IMPLEMENTED INTO YOUR ROLE AS BA CHAPTER LEAD?I have learnt so much!  It is really surprising how much overlap there is between business analysis and football. I’m very glad that when I make a decision, I don’t have thousands of people in a crowd yelling at me or have my decision scrutinised by pundits.  There are lots of things I’ve taken away from our mentor conversations, but one of my favourite is the idea of playing a character role when in a situation that outside my comfort zone. We talked about how as a referee on the pitch, he treats the 90 minutes as performance and he takes on the persona needed to perform his role. This really worked for me to think about the different roles I play at work and I take on the right performance especially in scenarios that I find more challenging such as difficult conversations or large presentations.YOU ATTENDED A TALK RECENTLY WHICH LOOKED AT THE EFFECT OF THE MENOPAUSE ON FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN THE WORKPLACE AND HOW THERE IS A TREND OF FEMALES EXITING WORK BETWEEN 45 – 55 YEARS. WHAT WERE YOUR KEY TAKEAWAYS AND HOW DO YOU THINK WE CAN SUPPORT WOMEN THROUGH THIS PERIOD?I saw a talk by Lauren Chirac from www.womenofacertainstage.co.uk and it was such as eye opener. I hadn’t appreciated all the symptoms experienced by menopausal women such as brain fog and a loss of confidence. But what really hit home was the stats around women leaving work feeling they cannot cope or experiencing a performance issue for the first time.  The menopause is still such a taboo subject and a few simple workplace adjustments alongside colleague education to normalise the conversation would really help. As one of the first generations of women working into our 60s it just feels wrong that incredible female talent could be leaving the workplace for what is a normal and temporary phase in our lives. YOU SEE NETWORKING AS HUGE A IMPORTANCE TO HELPING SUPPORT WOMEN IN TECH, WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST TO WOMEN TO HELP BUILD THEIR PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS?Building your networks is really important – I’ve previously secured contract roles via my network and used my network to share knowledge. When you meet new people, create a connection on tools such as LinkedIn and take time to think about how they might help you and how they will remember you. Networking isn’t just small talk whilst balancing a glass and canapé and trust me, we all struggle with such events – I always think that no one will be interested in talking to me and everyone else seems to be really confident but it’s not true. I also think that women have a particular issue in that we need to think about our personal safety and clearly do be careful about who you connect with and what information you reveal about yourself – trust your instincts here.IT WAS FATE THAT YOU ENDED UP IN BRISTOL, BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES BRISTOL SO GREAT?I ended up in Bristol because I messed up my A levels and as a result, a lot of doors were closed to me so I ended up at UWE. And it’s the best thing that happened to me as I love Bristol.  I’ve heard Bristol be described as the Silicon Gorge due to its plethora of technology start-ups and therefore it is a great place to build a career. Outside of work, I love the outdoors and so Bristol’s proximity to the coast, countryside and National Parks gives me the perfect balance between city and escape opportunities.WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?I’m not sure it’s a quote, but one of most important lessons I’ve learnt is that there are 2 sides to every story.Thank you so much Alison x#womenrockAn interview by Natalie Sidwick A voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

This interview has been a long time coming and one which I am very proud to share, it’s truly warmed my heart and got me proper emosh because I know how amazing these ladies are and how hard they’ve worked to get where they are today.To give you an introduction to the Skinners, Sue, Evie and Nelly. I first met Sue and Nelly when they came along to Codebar as Students. They told me they we’re both interested in technology and travelled all the way from Stroud for the Bristol event. Nel told me her Sister (Evie) was already a developer and that had added to their passion.You’ll read below from Sue, Evie and Nelly’s mum that when she was growing up that tech didn’t really exist! She bought a computer when the girls were little and started teaching them using computer programmes such as Reader Rabbit, typing programmes, maths programmes and educational games. When the computer started to take off Sue studied for my ECDL at Stroud College and was keen that the girls also learnt tech. You can read more about that below.Evie is a self taught Developer and came into the industry through a bootcamp with Sparta Global, now working as a Full Stack Developer at River Agency and a fab Drummer – also a complete boss, a lady who I really respect and who inspires me daily!Nelly is going to be one to watch! Her answer to her favourite quote is everything ”I did ask my family what they thought ‘my quote’ was and they said something I often say is “I do what I want” haha, I guess what I mean when I say that is, if I want something I’ll go and get it and there’s no one stopping me!” She is currently working through a boot camp with our friends at Mayden Academy. She is still a student at Codebar and hopefully one day will be on the other side of the table as a coach like Evie <3 Sue xMUM, TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF? ????I am a qualified Occupational Therapist, I have been working in the NHS since 1979 taking 3 years out to train. I have worked in many different areas of health both physical and mental health and currently manage the Children’s Occupational Therapy Service and the Home Safety Service in Gloucestershire. I am a keen learner having interests in reading, mathematics, technology, diet and lifestyle, health and well-being, guitar and neurology.YOU HAVE YOUR OWN PASSION FOR TECHNOLOGY IS THAT SOMETHING YOU HAVE ALWAYS HAD OR HAS IT BEEN SOMETHING THAT HAS COME FROM SEEING EVIE AND DANIELLA MOVE INTO THIS INDUSTRY?I haven’t always been interested in technology as when I was growing up in my world it didn’t exist! I bought a computer when the girls were little and started teaching them using computer programmes such as Reader Rabbit, typing programmes, maths programmes and educational games. When the computer started to take off I studied for my ECDL at Stroud College and was keen that the girls also learnt tech. Nel took it at GCSE and Evie did ECDL. I tried to steer them towards STEM in school. Having completed GCSE maths (and really enjoyed it) when Evie was struggling with maths in primary school realising that my messages to her that I was rubbish at maths may have been contributing to this. I am proud to say they are both fab at maths. When they were choosing A Levels I remember encouraging them both to go to the computer section but it was pretty uninspiring and the perception given a the time was that it seemed to be only for people who were a bit geeky!In Sept 2016 In National Coding Week I saw and completed a codex computer coding course. Intro to the world of coding. This Included some basic HTML and CSS and computing fundamentals. I was very proud of myself and sent my certificate to the girls. Both girls were unsure what to do in terms of a career both of the being skilled in languages (Nel (Daniella) has a university Cert in maths with the Open University, Evie studied Astronomy and was interested in a Robotics, both girls having sturdied with the OU whilst at school) and having an interest in maths/science. I often talked to them about careers in engineering and for Christmas 2017 I bought Evie a book called Get Coding which she devoured with gusto over Christmas and the New Year. This started Evies coding journey.WHAT DO YOU THINK SCHOOLS CAN DO TO ENCOURAGE THE NEXT GENERATION INTO TECHNOLOGY?I think they need to change the image of it show kids that all types of people work in this industry and that it is creative and fun. I used to tell the girls that maths was a language like other languages and fun and creative and make games out of using maths (I think this helped their transition from languages to coding)I studied teaching Maths with the OU and made fun games. I think school can do the same with tech, make it fun and show kids the exciting things you can do with it.WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY?I love its creativity and variety. I think it’s exciting the possible things that it can do in different industries. However now I have, all be it a very small amount of knowledge In tech, I get frustrated that for example in health it is not used more to make services more efficient and effective.YOU MUST BE SUPER PROUD OF THEM BOTH. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO PARENTS OF YOUNG WOMEN WHO WANT TO FOLLOW A CAREER IN TECH?I am so so proud of my super talented, super emotionally intelligent girls. I would tell parents to be careful of the messages you inadvertently give to your girls, tell them STEM is not just for boys and they can do anything. (When I was at school I wanted to study Physics but was told that I couldn’t as this was just for boys, the girls did Domestic Science which was cooking!, this affected my career choices). I would tell them tech is creative, fun and exciting and that girls in particular are needed in this industry because they have the skills and are often better at social communication so would make good team leaders and Scrum masters so they will excel.WHAT IS YOUR FAV QUOTE?When the girls were growing up when they went out the door we have always saidSteve (husband) “work hard”Sue (mum) “have fun”“It’s all good learning” probably my favourite closely followed by “Go,Live your Life” Borat Evie xHOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN YOUR CAREER AS A SOFTWARE DEVELOPER?I got started in my career by changing from a different career: I was originally training to be a French and Spanish teacher in Newcastle, but dropped out in 2018 after scraping miserably through my first teaching placement. Inspired partly by James Franco’s character in ‘Why Him’ and partly by my wonderful Mum, I used my time in unemployment to teach myself to code out of a book; then I progressed to doing an online course which led me to applying for junior roles across the country. My big opportunity came from a company called Sparta Global, who accepted me on their bootcamp course in London. I trained as a full stack Ruby on Rails developer and Ruby SDET (test automation engineer); and Sparta managed to get me an excellent job as a C# developer at a financial services company. They secured me this job a week before the end of my course, and I was due to start the following Monday; at that time Sparta did not have a C# training programme, so for that last week I had to just pivot from Ruby and teach myself! That first job was a great springboard for me to get into the world of .Net.WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST STRUGGLE IN YOUR CAREER SO FAR?Summoning up the nerve to leave teaching and make the jump into the unknown was very hard. At the time, I was in a very bad way even after I dropped out. My various negative experiences during the teacher training with occupational stress, workplace bullying and generally fighting to stay healthy knocked my confidence a lot. Overall, the relief of knowing I never had to do that again was very healing! You know you’re in the wrong job if you’re having to compromise on sleep, food and exercise for work.WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST SUCCESS?Going from never having written a line of code in my life to getting my first software engineering job in six months ????YOU HAVE JUST SECURED A NEW ROLE AT RIVER – CONGRATULATIONS. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU ARE HOPING TO BRING TO THE TEAM?Thanks so much! I feel so lucky to have my job at River. I want to bring dynamism, imagination and warmth to my team. I want to start a meditation club there and also find a way to get us involved in the Tech Talent Charter! What’s more, before my arrival there were only two women software engineers at River: I think the business are pleased to see a bit more variation in the team, as different perspectives can only strengthen us.WE LOVE THAT YOU COME AND SUPPORT AND COACH AT CODEBAR, WOULD IT BE SOMETHING YOU RECOMMEND?Aww I love it too! Yes I wholeheartedly recommend Codebar to anyone who is either learning to code or keen to get experience sharing their knowledge: they are truly doing some great work all over the world. The first time I attended, I was a bootcamp student struggling with JavaScript; now thanks to their help, I’m a coach myself, and I’ve made a lot of meaningful connections with fascinating people in our industry. If you’re an engineer and you’ve always wanted to coach but feel hesitant, then I’d say just jump in! The atmosphere is so laid back and no-one expects you to know everything. I’ve coached on several occasions where the student wants to learn something that’s not my strong suit, and we’ve ended up learning it together!YOU ARE A BIG INSPIRATION TO ME. I LOVE HOW POSITIVE YOU ARE AND HOW MUCH ENERGY YOU BRING TO EVERYTHING THE TIMES WE’VE BEEN TOGETHER. SO YOU ARE ONE OF MY TECH ROLE MODELS. WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS?My heart is bursting with joy reading this babe <3 That’s crazy because you are actually a big inspiration to me! It sounds cheesy, but honestly my philosophy is that I know I’m going to die one day so I am compelled to make the most of my short time here by helping others and enjoying life. We can’t possibly be positive a hundred percent of the time, but when we are we have to ride that wave to the best of our abilities! My main role models are not actually technology people: as a drummer, I’ve always looked up to Travis Barker from Blink 182, for several reasons. His work ethic is second to none; he has worked hard to cultivate versatility as his main skill; and he is someone who is open minded enough to collaborate with people in all kinds of musical genres, which has made him one of the most well-connected people in the industry. He’s also seen a lot of negativity in his life and has managed to bounce back stronger from those experiences.WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE?Before I go on stage with my band or have a job interview, I always sing ‘The Boss’ by James Brown in my head. My fave quote is the chorus: “I paid the cost to be the boss”. We all know James Brown was no angel, but in my view what he’s saying in that song is “I am a legend because of my experiences, not despite them.”, which I think is a good motto to live by. Own it!D & E: I’M SURE YOU’LL BOTH AGREE WITH ME WHEN I SAY I WISH I HAD MORE EXPOSURE TO TECHNOLOGY WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL. WHAT DO YOU THINK SCHOOLS CAN DO TO ENCOURAGE MORE YOUNG WOMEN TO FOLLOW TECHNOLOGY AS A FUTURE CAREER?I think society can do more to make girls and non-binary people think “Oh yeah, I can give that a go”. Nell and I were lucky to have a mother who taught us things like “This is how you give a firm handshake, don’t let anyone mess you about” or “Have you thought about learning this cool thing?”. I think other parents of girls out there should be doing that too. As far as schools go, it’s difficult for them to identify the root cause of the problem when, for example, many girls show enthusiasm for computer science in Year 7, but drop out at the end of Year 8. My friend Jeni Thakrar runs an initiative called Inspiring Girls Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, which facilitates days for women in male-dominated industries to give talks to schoolgirls to inspire them to consider careers in those industries. Some people forget that a teacher is not there to parent your child: that’s your job. I think we need to work together, not just pile more pressure on teachers! Nelly xWHERE DOES YOUR PASSION FOR TECHNOLOGY COME FROM?It started as an interest that has grown the more I have learnt! At school I always had a keen interest in STEM subjects as well as a love for language. I took Maths Sciences and Spanish at A level and this interest in many subject areas caused me somewhat of a dilemma when it came to choosing a career path. I deliberated between chemical engineering, to Spanish, to Mathematics, and ended up choosing to study Speech and Language Sciences as it offered me the ability to study both language and science. Software engineering/programming/coding weren’t career options that were apparent when I was at school, I didn’t even know it existed at that time and there certainly weren’t any coding courses available at school. My tech journey started when my sister told me about a company called Code Fist Girls who were offering free courses. I attended a course in Bristol in February 2019 which consisted of weekly evening classes: I absolutely loved it! I don’t know what I was expecting from the course but it surprised me how creative and fun coding is! After this I carried on teaching myself at home in the evenings and weekends using online resources. At the time I was working as a clinician (Speech and Language Therapist) in the NHS and my new found technical knowledge inspired me in many ways with possibilities for technology a) to support those with speech, language and communication needs and b) to improve the efficiency of our healthcare system in general. These are both goals I intend to achieve in the future. So I thought why not let’s make this as a career!YOU ARE CURRENTLY COMPLETING THE MAYDEN ACADEMY BOOTCAMP, WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IT TO SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO START A CAREER IN TECH?First of all I would absolutely recommend a coding bootcamp in general, especially if you’re the sort of person who learns better with structure, routine and surrounded by other people (there’s only so much I can learn in one go alone in my bedroom!) And secondly I would recommend Mayden Academy in particular (I know I’m biased) but the content is up to date, relevant, and stimulating; the structure of the course is excellent with theory and projects spaced out evenly so you have opportunities to put in practise what you learnt during theory week; and the atmosphere at the Academy is second to none, everyone is so relaxed, friendly and supportive and we have such a laugh which makes learning so much fun. I am just over halfway through the course but I don’t want it to end!ANY WEBSITES OR BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND TO HELP OTHERS ON THEIR TECH JOURNEY?Yes, I’ve used mainly online resources but there are probably loads of great books too! Some of the ones I’ve found most helpful are courses on Udemy, W3schools, Codecademy, Sololearn and the Codebar resources. There are also lots of free tutorials on youtube, if you search what you need help with, there is usually someone who’s recorded a tutorial on it.YOU ARE A STUDENT AT CODEBAR, IS IT SOMETHING YOU’D RECOMMEND TO OTHERS AND HOW HAS IT HELPED YOU?I would definitely recommend it! It’s helped me learn new technical skills and also it has been so great to make new friends and connections with others who love tech. I have had a lot of interesting discussions at Codebar with students and coaches about why they love coding, and what sorts of opportunities are out there. There is a great sense of community and everyone supports each other. Going to Codebar has definitely contributed towards having the confidence to go for this career change! (And the free food is a bonus!!)WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?Getting through the course and graduating in one piece! After completing my studies I will be applying for jobs and thinking about where I will move next! In the near future I am also hoping to find a mentor to support me on my journey into my first junior software engineering role.YOU ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO BE ONE TO WATCH DANIELLA AND I FEEL PROUD TO HAVE WATCHED YOU FROM YOUR FIRST CODEBAR WORKSHOP WITH YOUR MUM TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW AND I’M EXCITED TO SEE WHAT YOU MOVE ON TO. SO LIKE EVIE YOU ARE ALSO AN INSPIRATION AND A ROLE MODEL. WHO IS YOURS?Thanks Alicia! I also very much admire your business savvy and what you have achieved and that is inspirational to me too! I honestly would say my role model is my mum. I am constantly inspired by her positive, learning mindset and I know it sounds cheesy but she makes me feel like anything is possible if you work hard enough for it and want it badly enough. Also she is such a fun-loving spirit and is so open minded, and she’s always open to new experiences (whatever ventures I drag her along to!) I think she has instilled into both my sister and I a thirst for learning.WHAT’S YOUR FAV QUOTE?It’s so hard to choose a favourite as there are so many quotes I love! But I would say its “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”- Marcus Aurelius. Because I think that perception and your attitude towards things that happen to you plays a massive part in happiness and adopting a positive mindset makes life so much fuller.  I did ask my family what they thought ‘my quote’ was and they said something I often say is “I do what I want” haha, I guess what I mean when I say that is, if I want something I’ll go and get it and there’s no one stopping me!D & E: I’M SURE YOU’LL BOTH AGREE WITH ME WHEN I SAY I WISH I HAD MORE EXPOSURE TO TECHNOLOGY WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL. WHAT DO YOU THINK SCHOOLS CAN DO TO ENCOURAGE MORE YOUNG WOMEN TO FOLLOW TECHNOLOGY AS A FUTURE CAREER?I also wish I had more exposure to tech and the opportunities that existed. I think schools should show women how creative this career is and that they need all sorts of individuals in this growing industry. Unfortunately there is a stereotype that exists about people who study computer science (often the geeky guy who is a bit socially awkward, loves video gaming etc.) and that if you’re not like this you won’t be suited to this career or good at it, I am also guilty of thinking this myself at one point. We need to show people this is simply not the case! Schools should organise more opportunities for young women to find out about coding e.g. external speakers, taster sessions, Q&A sessions run by women who are currently working in the industry.You 3 are why I started Women Rock and are true role models for the tech industry! Keep doing you and I’ll support you everyday. Also owe you a chippy dinner!An interview by Alicia Teagle A voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

I know one thing that me and Lucy are catching up over a glass of champagne at Selfridges when all this is over and I can’t wait. This week Women Rock is dedicated to Lucy Grimwade Service Design and Transition Manager, Women in IT & Digital Coach, Equality Culture Creator and Business Enabler at Selfridges. In November 2018, she launched a platform called ‘The Wonder’, in her spare time, which works across three service pillars: Career coaching for Women in IT & Digital; Small business coaching to aid brands to digitialise their business and Community with the aim to bring people together.We’ve talked through her career journey, a great piece on networking and Stella McCartney handbags. Thank you so much Lucy, looking forward to catching up in person really soon.BACK TO THE VERY START – YOU ATTENDED UWE (UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND, BRISTOL) AND COMPLETED YOUR DEGREE IN COMPUTING. AT WHAT POINT DID YOU WANT TO GET INTO TECH AND WHY?I will always remember when I was looking through a university prospectus trying to figure out what I wanted to do to further my education, it wasn’t as simple as picking your options like I had for GCSE’s or A Levels.All I knew was that I wanted to go to University. My education life had a rocky start – with one teacher telling my mum (at the age of 5) that “Lucy will never be able to read words that contain more than 5 letters…” from then on, I was tarnished with the brush of not being ‘one of the clever kids’ – So, you see, I had a point to prove!I enjoyed studying ICT for GCSE then for A Level. And I was good at it. I wish I could give you a bright, fancy reason why I decided to go to UWE and study computing but, the truth is – it seemed the most sensible choice with good career prospects. Another deciding factor was the ability to choose modules – I liked the sound of the flexibility especially around the options of forensic computing, ethics and business skills.So, I looked at map – I didn’t want to be too far away from home but far enough to gain independence, Bristol seemed ideal and in September 2007 my university life began! Oh and I was one of 10 (max) female’s on the course. The other 50 +, were male. That’s when I knew, I had another challenge on my hands around a gender balance…FROM UNIVERSITY, YOU WENT SENT STRAIGHT INTO THE WORLD OF WORK, CAN YOU GIVE US AN INSIGHT INTO YOUR CAREER JOURNEY AND WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE WAY?My career journey started working on an IT Service Desk for a government body, which was my very first office job. I quickly adapted to the change of environment and using my customer service skill I gained working on the shop floor in retail– I became the face of IT for the small IT team, my roots started to bed into an IT Service career.I progressed up the career ladder from first line to second line then into management roles to finally finding my niche within service delivery, with a specific interest in design and transition. I firmly believe I achieved this by not being scared to take on new opportunities, for being curious and challenging the status quo.I have encountered many challenges along the way, from lack of support or access to mentoring/coaching, to bad company cultures with glass ceilings and, of course, the gender pay gap. I have also experienced first-hand negative situations that can so easily cause self-doubt yet I have found and grasped opportunities to shine and progress gaining confidence, skills and learnings. Having a good community around me also helped.I now work for Selfridges, and recently moved into the role of Service Design and Transition Manager, with the main responsibility to work with project and support teams to design and deliver services into Selfridges IT ops world. I still form part of a Service Delivery Management team where I continue to manage business and supplier relationships, support management with service improvement needs, and contribute towards the service delivery strategy.I am also part of the Women in Tech initiative where I lead meetings, collaborate with teams and have had the opportunity to set the overarching objectives for the group. One of the goals are to arrange realistic career success talks from people in industry for the wider IT function with the aim to inspire and contribute towards team member PDPs.AS WELL AS WORKING AT SELFRIDGES, YOU ALSO ARE THE FOUNDER OF THE WONDER. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT IT?I started The Wonder in November 2018, with the concept focused on being a free networking platform to connect women in business, provide empowerment, share knowledge as well as give a sense of belonging.A year + on, The Wonder is constantly growing where now it has expanded into a service platform focused on female empowerment with the strapline: ‘powering your potential’ – The main goals are: To enable women working in IT and Digital to be the very best versions of themselves, empower small businesses and entrepreneurs with their business ventures and allow followers/members to be part of a community.The Wonder works across three service pillars: Career Coaching, Small Business Coaching and Community, supported by The Wonder Blog where I write articles and guides specifically aimed at women working in IT and Digital with ambition to help them with career aspirations and explore topics such as technology, female empowerment and wellbeing.WHAT DO YOU THINK COMPANIES/TEAMS CAN DO DIFFERENTLY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN WOMEN IN TECH?Companies need to create a culture where equality is at the heart of their value system which means creating internal groups like Women in Tech or Diversity in Tech to give a fair platform for their staff.Organisations can educate themselves on diversity topics by allowing their staff to:Attend and have a presence at networking events.Be involved in think tanks and hackathons.Invest by bringing in expert companies and people to coach their staff and shape strategies.With so many resources, there really is no excuse for ignorance.Companies need to be transparent with regards to pay, use gender neutral language on job specs and use their social platforms to market their own women in tech forums.Management need to support personal development. I recently read that women working in non-technical IT roles are not given the opportunity to progress into technical roles resulting in women leaving both the company and IT all together! Learning and development is key to empowering teams, growing an individual and the success to an organisation. By ensuring and securing budget for training and opening channels for staff to learn technical skills will be the start of the journey for many to follow.YOU ATTEND A LOT OF NETWORKING EVENTS, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO GET INVOLVED BUT ISN’T SURE HOW?There is a running joke in my collective of friends about the amount of networking events I attend. I just love meeting new, likeminded people sharing stories, ideas and building those all-important contacts…So, my advice to anyone who would like to get involved/attend networking events would be to show up and go for it. Ok, it seems simple, but how many times have you seen someone’s Instagram post at the event you didn’t go to and felt like you missed out? (that used to be me).It can also be a little dauting, so why not take a friend, but don’t stay connected at the hip through the duration, aim to speak to at least one other person and build on it, next event two… so on.Networking events are not all the same – so it is about finding the right format for you. I particularly like attending events that have a feature talk then time after to discuss.I recommend looking at Meetup and Eventbrite – search key phrases like ‘women in tech’ and set the location. There are also female only member clubs available – a few to check out are: Allbright and Step Up which offer networking event throughout the year.THE QUESTION THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW I’M SURE (EXCUSE ME, NON TECH!), WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PURCHASE YOU’VE USED YOUR DISCOUNT ON?Great question! I am so lucky, and my bank account is very grateful to have access to such an amazing benefit. Other than all the beauty products I buy – I would say my favourite purchase would have to be my Stella McCartney handbag. (see picture of me outside of Macy’s New York).DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE QUOTE?Sheryl Sandberg said “Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential.”I am such a strong believer in that the formula of knowing yourself plus being confident in who you are, will always unleash your potential!Contact me:Linkedin Instagram @the_wondercoThank you again Lucy, you’re awesome!#womenrockAn interview by Darcie CornishA voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

Introducing you to Women Rock’s debut video interview with Hamed Amiri.I was introduced to Hamed only a few months back and we instantly had a connection and it was obvious we shared a huge passion for inclusion and diversity. Whilst this interview goes into depth around that subject we also discuss so much more including his background and how he came to the UK in 2001 from Afghanistan, we talked about his amazing family, his career, his mistakes, his mentors and his inspiration. In this interview, we also discuss ‘The Boy With Two Hearts’ a book which Hamed has written and will be released in the summer. You can order Hamed’s book here.We are also now thrilled to share the news that this story is now theatre-ready and will be the first production of Wales Millennium Centre’s re-opening season and the first Welsh refugee story brought to the stage. Tickets can be found here.I wanted to post this heartwarming interview to share positivity, motivation and also another reason why we should be so proud of the NHS!Thank you so much Hamed, you are truly amazing and this Women Rock interview is dedicated to your brother Hussain.An interview by Alicia Teagle A voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

Gill is Head of Development Services for the Technical Documents team at Vistair Systems in Bristol, they provide software solutions to some of the biggest airlines in the world! Gill has heaps of experience within the IT industry and shares some brilliant insights on her opinions of University degrees with us… and whether they’re really necessary in order to be a great coder? We also discussed Gill’s management style and how her people first approach has made a positive impact on her life. Thank you so much Gill for sharing such honest and bold answers, this interview would be a great read for people at all different stages of their career and I feel like we covered the sort of questions that you want to ask your manager, you’re truly an inspiration Gill! ????GILL, IF THERE’S ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO A WOMAN GOING INTO HER FIRST EVER TECH JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE?Have confidence in your own ability, I think that this is good advice for everyone but especially if you are entering any environment as a minority, which most women in tech are. If you don’t believe in yourself it’s much harder for others to believe in you, but more important is having the self-belief that you are as good as anyone else.You don’t have to be more forceful, or loud, or anything like that, confidence and self-belief will just shine through if you have it.WHAT’S YOUR OPINION OF UNIVERSITY DEGREES? DO YOU THINK THEY ARE COMPLETELY NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO BE A CODER?People need to be competent to perform their role. Academic achievement is one part of the competence jigsaw, but it’s equally important to demonstrate the right behaviours and to have experience which is both relevant and current. A university degree is undoubtedly essential in some positions, but I sometimes believe people focus too much on the academic aspects and overlook behaviours and experience.All education is beneficial, and I would never say that a university degree is not worthwhile, however the ability to do the job, for me, is far more important than how you get there.I didn’t go to university, and when I started my first job (many years ago), I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life and changed direction a few times before finding the path I travelled on.I do not believe that, even today, girls are encouraged enough to look at technology related career paths, so having the opportunity to get into a tech job later on through other routes is really important. Equally some people just don’t get the opportunity to go to university – it should never be too late for someone to do what they want to do.IF YOU COULD STEP INTO TIME MACHINE 50 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE, HOW DO ENVISION THE WORLD OF TECH?I have no idea! When I first worked in the tech environment, I worked with main frame computers sitting in a big room that looked like something you now only see in old black and white films! Today there is more computing power on a mobile phone! – who knows what the world will look like in 5 years let alone 50! All I can say is that being part of that evolution means that nothing is ever boring and those working in the tech world have fantastic opportunities to change the world for the better.AS A FEMALE MANAGER, NATURALLY YOU WOULD HAVE A DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT STYLE TO A MAN – HOW DO YOU THINK THIS HAS BENEFITED THE PEOPLE IN YOUR TEAM?I have worked for both male and female managers over the years, some good and some bad. I have worked for women in the past that have had little empathy and a distinct lack of soft skills and some men that have been the most supportive and caring.I think my management style is quite people focused, I have always tried to treat people how I would like to be treated, with compassion, consideration and honesty – I don’t doubt for one minute that I have got it wrong sometimes!   What I hope is, that as a female manager, I may have shown that working in tech is not a ‘men only’ domain and that women can hold more senior positions.HOW DO YOU DEFINE DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IN YOUR OWN WORDS?For me diversity & inclusion means everyone having the same opportunities, a level playing field. As hiring managers, we need to get the best person for the job and whoever that person is deserves to get that job. We also need to do what we can to ensure that everyone believes that there is a level playing field.  I certainly don’t subscribe to ‘positive’ discrimination, I would never hire someone just because I wanted to bring more diversity into the workplace, that’s not fair to anyone.I don’t think any of this is easy, it is extremely hard for anyone not to have some degree of unconscious bias, but this is where we need to be really honest with ourselves and ensure that we question ourselves when dealing with others.But it’s all worth it, in my experience the more diverse your team is the better, working with people from different backgrounds with different life experiences results in a happier and healthier workplace.I love getting to know people that are different from me, I know far more about the world and I genuinely believe my life has been enriched by this.TELL ME ABOUT THE FIRST TIME YOU EVER TRANSITIONED TO AGILE WAYS OF WORKING?Many years ago, I was lucky enough to be working for someone who had the vision and courage to want to change the way his development team was working.  He came in to the office one day and threw ‘Lean Software Development’ by Mary and Tom Poppendieck on our desks (his team managers) and told us to read the book and we would discuss how we were going to do this in the morning!  Reading that book was a revelation and we set about changing things, we were also lucky enough to have the Poppendiecks visit us later on in our transition to validate what we were doing. This was in a time when agile had not become as widespread as it is today and this was therefore a leap of faith and took some courage from the senior management team.In still believe that following the principles of Lean, no matter how you actually implement agile, is the best way to work. Prescriptive agile practices are not really agile are they! So, working with principles to me seems a far better approach, evolving and doing what works best for the situation. I love the fact that agile is now seen as best practice however I worry about what seems to be a growing trend of hostility to anyone who is seen not to understand agile or does not say quite the right thing, people who try to implement agile and get it wrong should have support not criticism.AS A LOCAL BRISTOLIAN, WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE HIDDEN GEM OF A RESTAURANT IN THE CITY? I KNOW WE’VE ALL GOT ONE! ????Anywhere that I can get a glass of wine to be honest!WITH THE IT INDUSTRY BEING HEAVILY MALE DOMINATED, I HEAR FROM LOTS OF PEOPLE THAT IT CAN BE EASIER TO BE ‘ONE OF THE LADS’ SOMETIMES – HAVE YOU EVER FELT THIS SORT OF PRESSURE?So many times! When I first worked in IT Support fixing PCs, I carried a toolkit – shame on those men who asked if it was my makeup bag!, but I was never one to shrink away from that kind of banter and I think I gave as good as I got.  Things have moved on since those days thankfully I don’t see so much of that type of attitude anymore.It has definitely been the case though that I have tried to ‘fit in’ at times, but there have also been times when I have called out some laddish behaviour! I guess trying to be one of the lads is only a problem if you feel uncomfortable with it, as women we need to be able to be ourselves at work and not be put under pressure.IF YOU COULD BUILD YOUR OWN DREAM SQUAD, WHO WOULD BE IN IT?I have worked with some great people over the years that I would include, I suspect the ones I would pick would know who they are!If I was to choose one attribute that was an essential element of any dream team, I would say it was a motivator. Where I currently work, we regularly bring in motivational speakers. The ones that had most impact on me were the Four Mums in a Boat – if you have not read their story I’d really recommend it. I’d love to have them as part of the team, to be called on whenever motivation flagged. I’m not sure if we’ve got space for their boat in the car park though…NAME A QUOTE THAT YOU LIVE BY, OR JUST ONE THAT YOU REALLY LIKE?You make your own luck!An interview by Steph JacksonA voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl

We’ve been a bit quiet for a couple of weeks, we have had a lot of February birthdays and the month has been crazy busy so we needed to take a breath. This is a bit of a random post which includes some great events which are coming up and we also wanted to share some book recommendations.International Women’s Day is fast approaching and we are running an event with our friends at Runway East on Friday 6th March. This years theme is #eachforequalAn equal world is an enabled world. How will you help forge a gender equal world? Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.Please join us from 3pm where we will be celebrating International Women’s Day 2020 through equal measure cocktails and a pub quiz. You can get a ticket here   

I first spoke with Liz Simmonds around July 2019, when she was looking for a new role as a Test/Programme manager. We instantly got along, mainly as we share a huge love of dogs! I managed to find her a new role within the amazing organisation that is International Baccalaureate, where she has been working on developing and implementing a robust test strategy for a major multi-project business transformation programme. Here we talk about how she got into tech, the challenges she’s faced and of course her lovely Monty.HEY LIZ, THANKS FOR AGREEING TO CHAT WITH ME ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY INTO TECH! I GUESS IT WOULD BE GOOD TO START FROM THE BEGINNING… WHEN AND WHERE DID YOU LAND YOUR FIRST ROLE IN SOFTWARE TESTING?I started in IT as a programmer in the early 1980s, then went on to become the analyst/programmer, systems analyst/designer, project leader and finally a project manager. I was working as a project manager on contract to npower in the year 2000 and an opening came up for a test manager and voila, my journey through in the wonderful world of testing and QA started!DO YOU THINK YOU FOLLOWED A MORE ‘TRADITIONAL’ PATH INTO TECHNOLOGY (DEGREE ETC)?I really didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school – I attended a girls grammar school and career advice then (bear in mind this is the late 1970’s!) didn’t even touch on technology or engineering disciplines and the advice I received tended to focus more on teaching, clerical work and nursing, none of which floated my boat. My Dad worked in the mysterious world of data processing (which is what IT was known as then) as what would have been the Head of IT for a large engineering group. He steered me towards a career in data processing and I gained a place on a course sponsored by National Computer Centre which I guess would have been the equivalent of a BTEC. The course provided both classroom learning and practical experience in real companies of programming and computer operations. Although there were girls on the course, the majority were boys and I believe I was the only girl in the top ten at the end of the course. I do remember that at least two of the girls dropped out of the course mid-way through ☹. At the end of the course, I was offered jobs as a trainee programmer by both of the companies that I had done my practical experience with (Silhouette – bra and undies manufacturer :-D) and Thorn EMI (electronics, manufacturing etc.). I took the role with Thorn EMI and progressed to thru to being a Senior Systems Analyst/Designer in the four years I was there.WHAT MAIN CHALLENGES HAVE YOU COME AGAINST OVER THE YEARS AS A WOMAN IN A PREDOMINANTLY MALE MARKET?My own self-confidence and imposter syndrome was an issue for me when I was a young pretty thing in my early 20s in quite a senior position – I actually felt quite intimidated and out of place working alongside confident, experienced men who were twice my age. Working full time and having a young family was very difficult in the 80s and early 90s both from a practical perspective (flexible working was not so much of a ‘thing’ then) and I felt that despite being a top performer, I was overlooked for more challenging roles – I remember I was working with a well known global organisation at the time and I applied for an internal vacancy – in those days ‘personal’ questions were allowed at interview they actually asked me whether I really wanted a career or whether my children would be my priority! They also asked me how many children I was planning to have lol. I have worked at many organisations during my 30-ish years as a contractor and have fortunately only been exposed to overt sexism on a cultural level in one of those – needless to say I didn’t stay there long!IS THERE ANYTHING YOU THINK WE CAN DO AS A COUNTRY TO HELP WITH ENCOURAGING YOUNG WOMEN INTO TECH?I am not sure of any specific reasons why more women don’t want to go into tech – I have always worked in IT and have always been interested in techy stuff so my 4 daughters have been exposed to tech and are familiar with the opportunities and what a career in IT entails. None of them though have chosen to go into IT, though interestingly my son works in IT! So, in short, I am not really sure what we could do to encourage girls to go into IT.I know not all girls will want to be mothers but I do feel that for those that do, that more flexible working patterns, working from home/remotely options etc. would help and that we should really be moving away from the idea that we need to be stuck in the office 9-5 to be effective.YOU’RE CURRENTLY THE PROGRAMME TEST MANAGER FOR INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE IN CARDIFF… HOW ARE THEY APPROACHING DIVERSITY & INCLUSION? DO YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A DIVERSE TEAM NOW?IB is an amazingly diverse organisation in terms of gender, race, disability and sexual orientation. The team I am currently working in has around a 50/50 gender split (not orchestrated!).DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE ABOUT D&I FOR YOUR PREVIOUS BOSS?Again I was lucky enough to work within a diverse and inclusive organisation and I would just say keep up the good work!YOU’RE A NEW ADDITION TO THE CRAYON BOX. WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE AND WHY?I’d be a colour changing crayon so I could blend in with the rest when needed, stand out as required and be able to adapt to meet shortages of other colours.FINALLY, IF YOU WERE WRITING A BIO ON YOUR DOG, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIM?Monty is a big gentle, clumsy oaf who has no perception of personal space or his own size. His favourite hobbies are getting muddy, playing with other dogs, sitting on people, mangling his teddies and eating human food. He dislikes being brushed, baths, grumpy dogs and wheelie bins. Thank you Liz, for sharing your story with us ????.An interview by Sophie Edensor.A voice for diversity in tech <3I: @womenrockbristolT: @womenrockbrstl