At Just IT we are passionate about closing the gender gap within the technology industry and to celebrate International Women’s day 2024 we were invited to two great events.
Withers WorldWide Girls in Tech event
Our Account Director, Paul Crisp and Senior Marketing Executive, Leah Hardy attended The Girls in Tech session at Withersworldwide organised by our client Kerry Angel, Global Head of IT services to speak with Year 10 students on their career aspirations. The students were provided with a great presentation and panel discussion, alongside offering advice and guidance to those interested in a career in Tech.
Both sessions started with a presentation from Kerry and included some great insights into the tech industry. Great highlights of the presentation included:
- Day in the life video of an employee at Withers – This was a great video that highlighted tasks you could be doing on a day-day basis, supporting and working together with other colleagues and the commute to and from the office.
- Powerful Women within the industry – Kerry highlighted Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer followed by Hannah Schmitz who is one of the very few females behind the scenes at Red Bull for Formula 1.
The Panel
The presentation was followed by a detailed panel discussion between Annette Brown, Head of IT at Milbank LLP, Nina Gratrick, Global Technology Services Delivery Director at BCLP and Kerry Angel.
Some big takes we took from the panel were..
- It’s never too late to start a career in tech – Annette Brown highlighted she started a career as a hairdresser then went on to become a Solicitor before diving into a Computer Science degree at University once in her late 30’s once she had children and she now is the Head of IT at Milbank LLP.
- Don’t believe you have to know all the answers – Nina Gratrick mentioned how she used to avoid going to events where she didn’t know anyone as she was worried no one would speak to her or she would look silly if she didn’t know an answer. She advised everyone to take a buddy to events and network together.
We are so thankful for being invited to speak to the students to help them understand the Apprenticeship opportunities available to them once they completed their GCSE’s and hearing all about their aspirations.
If you or someone you know is interested in hearing more about Apprenticeship opportunities and you would like to have a chat with us, please reach out on hello@justit.co.uk
Invest in Women event at Natilik
“Women don’t need to adopt men’s qualities to succeed within the world of Tech, as women, we have our own qualities and are equally as capable as men” – a big quote that stuck out to us from this event as well as listening to some amazing people within the tech Industry.
Our Senior Marketing Executive, Shenal Shah attended Natilik offices for their Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress event to celebrate International Women’s day. Natilik are a proud sponsor of our female bootcamp, which is paving the way for women to get into the world of Tech.
The Panel
There was a great panel discussion that featured a lot of amazing women in the industry and was hosted by Kelly White, Chief People Officer at Natilik.
One quote that shone out from our panel was to…
“Put yourself out there without any stress, there are so many programmes out there that can help better your skills and gain confidence to succeed in that role in Tech”
One of the other main takeaways was for women to not change their communication style when speaking to men vs when women converse with each other. Be yourself and you will be able to overcome diversity within the world of Tech.
Thank you to Natilik for inviting Just IT to this event, it was a great couple of hours and here’s to our partnership making waves within the world of Women in Tech.
