In this episode of SheCanCode’s Spilling the T podcast, we delve into the art of networking with special guests Lauren James and Amy Lee from Spectrum IT and Women in Tech Hampshire. As experienced leaders in the tech industry and active members of a vibrant women in tech network, Lauren and Amy share their valuable insights on how to maximize your networking experience at events.
Amy and Lauren both work at Spectrum IT Recruitment (South) Limited. They have both been working at Spectrum IT for 8 years – Amy on the recruitment side and Lauren on the back-office side. They are both passionate about women being well represented in business and the tech industry created Women in Tech Hampshire with the aim to host events, build a great community, and offer somewhere to learn from each other and network.
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Hello everyone, thank you for tuning in again. I am Kayleigh Batesman, the Content Director at she Can Code, and today we are discussing how to get the most out of networking events. We’re going to delve into the art of networking and why it’s so important with my special guests for today, Lauren James and Amy Lee from Spectrum IT Recruitment and they also run Women in Tech Hampshire, so we’re going to touch upon that a little bit today as well. Welcome, Lauren and Amy.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining me. I know you both have more incredibly busy day jobs and also other things that you do on the side, so we’re going to delve into that a little bit today. Can I start off with a bit of background about each of you to set the context for our audience. Please, amyanny, should we start with you?
Speaker 2:yeah, of course, so I obviously work in it. Recruitment here in spectrum. So I’ve been here. Oh, nine years, eight and a half, nine, yeah, nine years this year. So that’s as explained by a loyal employee loyal for nine years I know, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I initially worked in healthcare recruitment after university and then I just wanted something that was a bit more, I guess, kind of diverse. So tech is an industry that was never going to die. It’s really interesting, always changing, so it keeps you on your toes. So I was like, actually that fits really well with what I’m looking for. Yeah, and that’s basically how I fell into my version of tech.
Speaker 1:So many ladies say they fall into tech. There are not many that plan, unfortunately, to come in which we’re trying to change, but, yeah, most ladies have fallen into the industry. Lauren, did you fall in or did you have a plan for the tech industry?
Speaker 2:I hate to be another one that kind of fell into it. I mean I was, you know. Again, I’ve been with Spectrum IT for nine years. Myself and Amy joined the same year, so we’ve been together this whole time senior health group as an office administrator when I joined here, you know, helping with the kind of paperwork and payments and you know the back office style things, and then various projects, data migrations, new system like implementations, bits and pieces of my roles developed and now I deal with the socials, the marketing. I did compliance, I did admin, just many fingers in many cars, essentially, but that’s the one.
Speaker 2:Support, yeah, but what is a lot of um? If systems go down straight away? People come to me for a lot of help, um, yeah, so, so I’m not really. I’m not really in tech myself. I mean you know the tech industry with Spectrum here and I guess I’m actually a bit tech savvy and supporting with all the systems and the stuff that I’ve done. But yeah, it was definitely a falling into, but yeah, I love it. I’ve said nine years. I’m thinking of anything else really at the moment. That’s fine. There you go.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think that’s quite a career so far if you’ve been at a company nine years. What about your involvement with Women in Tech Hampshire? What can you tell me a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:yeah, of course. So obviously, working here for nine years or so, I think, I’ve always obviously replaced candidates into positions and it’s really quite shocking when you look at the end of the year and you’re like, actually such a small percentage of people that I’ve placed into roles are women, and it’s very rare that, particularly at the start of my career, that I would have many women candidates at all, like I could go a week without seeking a female software developer or software support or anything, and we just found it really really frustrating, to be honest.
Speaker 2:So it’s something that we’ve wanted to do for quite a while, but it’s just getting the right bearings and the right footing to actually get into it in terms of okay, so how do we actually go about this in terms of encouraging more women into tech? Because we see it all across STEM. It’s not just tech, and a lot of the issues are actually wider than just tech as well. It’s global, basically, it’s across every sector. But, yeah, so we initially actually went to an event in Bournemouth, didn’t we? Yeah, so, women in Tech Bournemouth, so that was it. Yeah, that was it. So that was through Seaman, wasn’t it?
Speaker 1:Oh, she’s been on the podcast. Yes, we are a supporter of Women in Tech.
Speaker 2:Yes, she’s wonderful, oh, sorry. So we actually sponsored some of their events and then they basically gave us some tips. We were like there’s nothing really down in Hampshire, there’s not a lot going on with us. So women in tech, but it’s easy to find. That was the biggest thing. You know, there’s the odd kind of hackathons or coding groups, which is actually fantastic, but you know it’s like sporadic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, um. So, yeah, they were really really helpful, gave us kind of most tips in terms of I don’t know how to obviously engage with shotty you. That was very useful, yeah, but also in terms of actually kind of setting up the event and we were initially quite worried that, you know, will people actually be interested in having are there enough women? No, yeah, to actually help. But yeah, it was absolutely amazing. Yeah, I think it was. There’s so many. One of the things that we spoke about as well is is that education piece for for clients as well, because I’ve had conversations kind of outside of work. I think you’ve had conversations with persons and oh, yeah, we need to hire more women. It’s like, oh, why they’re like just because everyone is.
Speaker 2:It’s like no thanks, paul. Yeah, not the best place to start from, but it’s also then having that. Then you get people that are willing and want to learn. And I’ve had discussions, you know friends, and as soon as you get into it they’re like I actually didn’t know about that. Okay, it’s really interesting. So it’s that a nice piece of education piece. Having the discussion, yeah, yeah, it’s making me aware of it, so, yeah, yeah, I mean, you just said that you know what?
Speaker 1:we? We held something. We didn’t know whether the ladies would come along, and they do. There is an avenue there. They’re just ladies are crying out for places to meet and network and and um, to join communities. And you are right, I think people, uh people are thinking, well, you know there aren’t many ladies will they connect? And actually they’re just that’s, that’s what they’re looking for a platform to be able to do that, um. So it’s great that when, when you did launch that, uh, that ladies did turn up and um, and it just grows and grows from there well, that’s when we had to actually expand on the tickets, didn’t we?
Speaker 2:we were like, oh we’ll, you know, do this amount and then that kind of surpassed, and then we had to add a few more on and then we were getting emails from people saying we’ve missed our tickets, can’t come along. So we had, we had so much, and we did a feedback survey afterwards just to get some feedback from the people that attended and they just loved the fact that there was this in-person community that they could attend. Now, a lot of the women that actually um came along were remote workers. So they didn’t, they didn’t, they don’t have those colleagues, you know, sitting next to them. They can just bounce ideas off, share things with. They are on their own and they appreciated that as a way of meeting, kind of like among the people. Yeah, and it was just building up and you know, realising, oh okay, there are other women doing the same role as me. Oh, I can have a chat with them or I can talk to them for advice or whatever.
Speaker 2:So that’s really nice, yeah, yeah, everyone’s just so forthcoming with it as well. It wasn’t like an awkward silence. You know you’re going into a room and you don’t know anyone and it’s. It’s horrible, isn’t it normally when you think of it, but everyone’s just straight away just beelining for each other and that, yeah, it’s not something that I’ve seen before. I’ve been at quite a few like networking events and normally it’s a lot of people just around in the corner or you get a few, yeah, but everyone just yeah, to embrace it. Definitely it actually it wasn’t like it was lots of people from various places coming. Everyone was essentially individual, weren’t they that was there, that were there on their own, so they were there all for the same reason. So, yeah, it was refreshing.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think as well. We had a discussion on the podcast recently about not just sharing the good stories amongst each other as well, but sharing when things have gone bad and advice as to what you wish you’d done differently. And you always have those ladies that it’s great to see things on Instagram and people’s lives going wonderful. You have those LinkedIn posts of I never thought when I started my business a year ago my life would look like this. That’s fantastic. But we also want to hear every time that a business has failed, every time that you’ve gone somewhere and you wish you hadn’t moved to that company or you know something project went wrong, because that is far more helpful than just the success stories well, it’s what they’ve said, that, um, people are more likely to write negative reviews than they are positive reviews because they want to share that anger and that emotion, exactly that emotion, with other people.
Speaker 2:I think that’s like so valuable to share. The flip side of it, the big thing we spoke about was the hospital syndrome as well, wasn’t it that people brought up, you know, and the amount of people that were it was, I think we just showed hands in the room. It was like who in this room has had imposter syndrome at one point in their life? And I don’t think I saw a hand now.
Speaker 1:No, I think if I did, they’re in the back you know so and again, that’s that.
Speaker 2:It’s not, I guess not negative, but it’s a a negative emotion, I guess. Guess that everyone has been through as well. So it shows that we’re all the same, we’re all human, we’ve all been through it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so your events. I mean, it sounds like it’s a great environment that’s created and that you are. It sounds like it’s a safe environment where you can connect freely with other people there. Not all events are like that. Some networking events absolutely terrify people and they think it’s my worst nightmare going to have to network at an event. Do you have any advice for individuals looking to navigate networking events effectively?
Speaker 2:Well, I would personally say, obviously, if you’re going to event and it is, it is a bit then so try and think of what you’re actually trying to get from that event. Are you trying to just meet people, to network? If so, literally things as easy as just you know you’re on linkedin or watch the name, writing down those names later and then, if you’re a bit too scared to actually speak to these people in person, you’ve got their details out. Most people wear name tags. You look up on LinkedIn and be like hi, saw, you were at this event, you know you go from there. So, yeah, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to networking, but I think just knowing what you’re there for is a good place to start, absolutely. I think think just knowing what you’re there for is a good place to start, absolutely. I think, yeah, if you’re, if you’re signing up and this will be, I guess, an in-person one um, yeah, have some questions. Maybe you know if it’s training or if it’s um or if it’s a panel or whatever. But I think I think actually that can apply for webinars as well, because sometimes webinars why I actually find webinars more intimidating because of you open it up and you’ve got like 100 or like 50 people on a screen, whereas in person you can kind of everyone blends into each other, so for me it doesn’t feel as intimidating. But like that it’s not one size fits all. Everyone will have different kind kind of coping. You know measures for that and if you want to go, if you’ve got a friend, I guess that you can come and support.
Speaker 2:You. Don’t go on your own. You know, I used to do it might be like I don’t know, and then it gets you going and then you get. You might then build that confidence and then you, we are actually I can go on my own now, because then you’ve met people from those communities, um and again. So, if you ever don’t cap people’s names, organize the events in a way really forthcoming with the people that have been there, if you want to. If you reach out to organizers, they’re quite helpful in terms of pointing you in the right direction, making connections, um, yeah, and I guess yeah, just sign up to any kind of alerts local. You know there’s so many um. There’s like meetup and eventbrite and other other event platforms are made um, but they’re good to just browse on there as well. So you look local in the area. You sign up to the groups and you get notifications of all events, so it’s something that you don’t miss out on yeah, yeah, that ties into as well.
Speaker 1:I wanted to ask you about building lasting relationships with the people you meet because, say, you did meet somebody at a networking event, you might not follow up with them. Maybe that great advice, even if you’re if you’re nervous or not nervous just following up with them afterwards surely is so much more valuable than thinking. Actually, four months ago, I bumped into some lady can’t remember her name or what she does at a networking event. It’s almost a waste of an evening, isn’t it like? How do you take it from there to building a lasting relationship with with somebody?
Speaker 2:uh. So again, we think, um, look at it like speed dating. So, for example, you’re not gonna want to connect with every single person that you sat at that table with. You know some of them you’re not necessarily gonna like particularly or you don’t have much in common with. You know that’s not a bad thing, that is just life. But they’re often asked like that one or two people you’re like actually I want to know a bit more about them. Or you know, there’s something quite interesting about them, so I want to know more. Um.
Speaker 2:So, in terms of kind of keeping in contact with them, there’s so many platforms around these days like we’ve said about LinkedIn, face to face, um, and it’s not just down to you. You want this to be reciprocated as well. So, you know, if you haven’t reached out to this person, they might reach out to you. Or it’s just kind of getting yourself in their eye a little bit, isn’t it? So you might meet them at the next kind of networking event and be like oh hi, there you are again, let’s get chatting. So, yeah, that’s not a definitive, this is the only way to do it definitive. This is the only way to do it. Just do whatever feels comfortable for you? I think no-transcript. I mean it’s like I had it with some friends, for example. You don’t see them for ages, but you know it’s like you’ve never been apart, kind of thing. And after every event I mean we went to a few last year and I’ve made note of everyone um that we that we thought would be you know, quite good um involvement with women in Cape Hampshire or one way or the other they’re connected with them on LinkedIn LinkedIn I literally live on LinkedInin it’s everything on there um connecting with them. I always send them like it’s lovely to meet you because, as well, you’ve met them, but they probably also met loads of other people. So you have to think about it from that point. Um, it’s something that I’m comfortable with.
Speaker 2:You know, reaching out and messaging people. Like you said, not everyone will be uh, confident or or you know, feel comfortable in that and that’s fine um, but I think that’s the biggest kind of way of keeping that relationship going. Um, I had, you know, I’ve had people the other day that I spoke to about, about when we first were looking at the women in tech camp share reached out to her, and then she’s actually now looking to move to the UK from Europe and she’s like oh, I remember we spoke about women in tech. Um, I wonder if you can, you know, chat to me about, about recruitment over there and stuff like that. So you know, it started from this one initial thing of one similar interest that we have. She’s remembered me from that and then she’s thought about me for a completely different, um, reason.
Speaker 2:So you’re not gonna necessarily keep in contact with these people every day, every week. It’s just drip feeding now and then, um, and just remembering people, I guess, from those common interests. Um, yeah, if someone doesn’t remember you, yeah, it’s not. Well, yeah, it’s hard.
Speaker 1:I mean we attend um expos and uh, I’m sure you do as well. And it is hard when you’re meeting hundreds of people that day and uh, you might switch linkedin and I try to get in the habit of on the train home if I’ve connected with people. I’ve got names of people, either connect or ping them a quick message because it just kind of cements that and it’s fresh in your mind, it’s in the train home from the show because you’re right. A few weeks later you’re like, oh gosh, I can’t remember what did I want to talk to that lady about? Were we going to partner on something?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think it’s, and then it it’s, it’s almost keeping that. It’s like when you look at the kind of customer you’ve met this person you’re on a high and then you’re keeping them on that high, whereas you meet someone and then you don’t message them or connect or whatever. It then goes down. And then you message them six months later oh, they’re only going to get back to the part way, but that’s how they actually. You know, it’s just nice. I mean, not everyone’s going to be the same. Well, this is it. Obviously we’ve been to quite a few events together and Lauren has a much larger social battery than I do. I find it really, really tiring just trying to remember people’s faces, people’s names and hold that conversation for so long, even if I’m interested, you know, when we’ve met so many people one day, so overwhelming it. That’s what I used to do and my person, but I used to do events and kind of you know, exhibitions, stuff. So I’m just, I’m really easy, whereas with few things I’ve been to and we try and make notes as well.
Speaker 1:If we’re doing like big exhibitions and you meet so many people that you forget the names, and we try and have a list with notes at least to try and remember what we spoke with that person about and um, you know how can we work together in the future because it is exhausting um to to meet so many people, um, and then follow up with them. I mean on that note as well, it’s it’s not always just finding the energy, um, but the, the confidence as well. And I mean you mentioned imposter syndrome previously. What do you have any advice for that overcoming those hurdles? How do you, if you’re not that comfortable and you are working, walking into a networking event, do you have any advice for kind of maybe breaking the ice or chatting with somebody? Or how do you overcome imposter syndrome?
Speaker 2:we actually had this discussion, I think, and it was brought up at the launch event and the biggest thing was saying if, whether you’re, you’re, I think they’re two different things. So imposter syndrome in itself and then also kind of arriving at events, because I think those are two things. But if your friend came to you and said you know, oh, I don’t feel like I could do this, or I don’t know if I want to apply for that job, I’m not quite right, would you let them say yeah, you’re right. Actually, no, you’re not good enough.
Speaker 1:You wouldn’t.
Speaker 2:You’d be like like stop being silly, you’re amazing, like you’ve got this, you’re overqualified, you can do this. And it’s how we need to listen to our own advice and actually be like, be our own biggest cheerleader on that and say, no, I am going to give that a go and and so it is very it’s so people will be listening and it’s like it’s as easy as said than done and again, it’s not a one-size-fits-all, but if you think about it that way and I can definitely think of times when I’ve given advice to my friends and then I’ve been in that situation and they come back to me and said what did you tell me? What did you tell me when I was saying the same to you? So it is just massive. It’s just listening to that advice, yeah, yeah, I think, like you said, it’s just backing yourself a bit and embracing it really. So I’ve, since we had that kind of conversation about imposter syndrome at our last event.
Speaker 2:I’ve tried to look into it a bit more, um, because I’ve definitely felt it. I’m pretty sure everyone’s felt it, but like, oh, this is weird, is this normal? But yeah, so I know From what I’ve felt is that seeing it as a negative thing is the worst thing to do. It’s actually a really positive thing because it shows that you have that foresight to know that you can always improve, you can always do better. You’re not going to be the smartest person in the room all the time. That is just life. So it just means you have that continuous improvement, so you’re not taking opportunities for granted, you’re not just getting stuff handed to you like, actually I’m going to go out and make this happen, for me so, yeah, I think it’s a lot about how you frame it in your own mind, yeah, and it’s just really interesting.
Speaker 2:That’s the best step. But everyone’s in that room, everyone, everyone with their hand up and stuff and it. You know it could be a moment. I’ve had it, you know, on engagement and socials that you know you just suddenly think no one wants to see that. Oh no, I don’t know that. You just you. Just suddenly all of a sudden it’s, it’s exactly, come out of nowhere and then you might see some two days later something supposed to be the exact same thing. Damn it, I shouldn’t trust in myself.
Speaker 2:Um, but then going back to what you said about the, the, you know arriving at networks and um, so arriving at events and networking, that that I don’t know if I have an answer on that. I’m honest, I find it really awkward. I’m not gonna lie, the events that I’ve been to I always just find it awkward. I am just that classy, so I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m an introvert, but I’m just like there’s a lot of people in this room I don’t know where to start. What do I do?
Speaker 2:So I used to hate arriving places on my younger, when I was younger, when I would go out with friends, simply because I never used to wear my younger when I say younger when I would go out, you know, with friends, simply because I never used to wear my glasses when I would go out, so I couldn’t see anyone. So I was like I can’t turn off my arm, I don’t know where you are. It’s in advice, actually, though number one make sure you can see, um. But I think, yeah, I think even I can come across quite extroverted, but I still get nervous when I turn up to places, because until you’ve done something again and again and again, it is still new, it’s still unknown territory, and you know humans, we fear the unknown, which is how we’re built. So, yeah, I think it’s don’t try to focus on the fact of you thinking you’re the only one feeling that way. Um, a lot of people will be feeling that exact same way, but just hide it, but you know, basically, you make it.
Speaker 1:They, they don’t share it. And and that leads me on, I wanted to ask you about the unique advantages of a women in tech network. Um, in terms of support, mentorship, collaboration and and you just kind of nailed it there like, even if you’re like you, lauren, you’re, you’re extroverted, or Amy, you might be a little bit more like I really don’t the thought of going to a networking event terrifies me, or whatever it may be, you, you might not feel natural in terms of connecting, having that women in tech network that kind of reduced that gap, doesn’t it for everybody? Where you can feel, um, you can make connections and share similar stories and and hear those and hear the fact that everybody else in the room is probably thinking the same thing as you.
Speaker 2:Anyway, you’re right I think as well. The reason it works really nicely is because it’s a kind of general women in tech actually room. It’s not a like a specific skill or a specific job type. You know we have people that like test leads, or you know delivery managers or, um, you know all different kind of jobs within the industry. Knowing people at different levels. All have that same feeling, not just you know people in junior roles, people in mid-roll, people in, you know, leadership roles. Everyone across the industry is in it together.
Speaker 2:Um, I think that was a really nice piece of it. It’s, um and one one thing we wanted to get out. You know whether people are just starting their career or they’ve had a career change or you know they’ve been doing it. For I mean, we had a lady that had been, she’d been in tech for about 20 years and she was like I would still wake up and worry. You know, is this right? Am I doing the right thing? So, yeah, it just shows that I know that’s a good or a bad thing, that you know it never goes away. But but, like we said, you do just have to embrace it and hey, you made it through that one day that you had imposter syndrome or that one day you worried you got through it. If it comes down again, you know you can get through it again.
Speaker 2:So but I think we were also saying about, um, obviously, the shared experience inside of things. So everyone’s you think that you’re the only person that’s experienced a certain thing half the time. You’re not. We figured that out quite quickly and we started talking in that route.
Speaker 2:But even when you get on to, for example, let’s say, the things that only happen to women, let’s talk about periods, you know you’re gonna sit in a room full of men in a meeting and be like, hang on a minute, I’ve just got to go sort myself out, basically, yeah, you know you don’t do that, but in like a room full of obviously full of women, they understand they’re like actually I need to like from home today, I need that flexibility because I have the worst friends of my life, basically, and having the openness to be able to actually have that conversation. So see, period, we all have them, but there are other things. So endometriosis like that, which are, of course, as well, but you just don’t talk about and work, it’s just still a taboo subject. It’s very bizarre. It’s very bizarre because it’s something it’s especially like here. It’s something that happens to everyone, like all the time, but yet it’s still considered very weird and I’m sure they’re probably people listening oh my gosh, you said the word very taboo.
Speaker 2:That’s so true. That is so true. Yeah, but yeah it’s, uh, it’s very, but yeah it’s. So it was. It was a really, it was really nice and I think actually a lot of people made connections that day and reached out and were hungry for the next group, so they wanted to meet people again and, you know, catch up with people and be like what did you do since the last talk? And so we were saying potentially doing like one event a quarter, and then everyone was like, oh, no, we’re doing that and we do like one a month, like I don’t know.
Speaker 2:Every few weeks we’re like oh no, wow, okay, right now we’ve got to sort things out, we’re going to get rooms, but no, yeah, we were going to do remote ones, but I thought the need, the need, I think that’s the need for in-person women in tech groups and that’s that’s definitely what was shown by the launch as well yeah, and the more you hear as well, the more it sparks an idea for somebody to try something new.
Speaker 1:And and that’s kind of how, um, this podcast started about just talking about the the taboo things that happen within the workplace, but also just all the different careers, because that inspires other ladies who most of the time haven’t heard of all of the different things you can do and that you don’t have to be technical.
Speaker 1:Well, I’ve had ladies on here tell me you know what I was in a role and somebody I knew described to me what a product manager was and that they worked in tech. And I thought I had to have a computer science degree and I had to be very technical and I just didn’t realize that when that person describes me everything that they did, I thought that’s me, I’m already doing that, so why wouldn’t I just go and do that at a tech company? And it’s not until somebody talks about their role and shares with them what it’s like that it kind of kicks off and inspires other people to want to try something new and join the tech industry. And forums like that where you can meet and connect in person, are just so much easier to hear and to also figure out whether or not that lady genuinely loves her job, because she can’t hide that in person.
Speaker 2:If she’s thinking that, and that was a big thing. We discussed at the work the lot, wasn’t it about role models, what you’re exposed to, that kind of thing and seeing all of that, and we discuss about people’s experiences of getting into the industry and all that, exactly like you said, is that they could be doing that job already, but not realising it because it’s called something else. So, yeah, it’s just again having those open discussions, yeah, and I think, going back to what you said, not a case of oh, I’m a woman in tech, I’m a CTO. I’m a woman in tech, I’m a CTO. I’m absolutely amazing. This is my brand, this is me.
Speaker 1:I’m glamorising it, which is not easy. Yeah, it can be very lonely in a place as well, exactly so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it’s just, situations are the same but also different for different people. So I think it’s just a case of understanding what you’re kind of looking to get out of Agria or just being a bit more open-minded. So, yeah, exactly what you said. A lot of the women that were at our event fell into tech, including like pretty much all of our speakers, wasn’t it as well? Yeah, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:Going back to the STEM stuff, I think I saw something a while ago and it said that in, I guess, like the lower paid communities, parents were asked oh, do you think your children will end up in STEM careers? And they basically said no, because they didn’t have the resources to do that. And I think that is because, for example, me growing up up, I didn’t have anyone in my family that had gone to university. I never even considered a career in tech, didn’t even know that was opening to me. I just thought, you know, a career in tech? The man sat in a hoodie, you know, yeah, coding, hacking, nothing. Well, I’ve seen a movie, never realized I could actually do it. But you know, I’m not someone I recruit for tech, but I understand it and I think what you said about kind of the product management side means as well. So someone could be working at a shipping company doing all these other different roles and actually that translates fully into the tech side, the implementation, and you’re like actually.
Speaker 1:I work in tech.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean you also have, I guess. So my background is actually I do photography, so I’m much more creative background tech roles. It’s like ux and y, you know, all that kind of stuff that I mean. I know people that do graphics and they don’t ever really think that that can then transition into like ux and y and all of that, but that is still in tech, it’s. It’s again, it’s just having this understanding and having this exposure that you know what is achievable.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, we spoke about it lots, about the involvement in schools and making kids aware of what is possible. Um, I think you said something, didn’t you, about? Um, the advert that, yeah, i’t remember, it was one of the job boards. I can’t remember which one it was, but I always say it sounds like the start of a bad joke. So bear with me, but it’s in a school and it’s a doctor, a firefighter and a pilot walking to the classroom. Start of a bad joke.
Speaker 2:But they’ve all got face coverings on so you can’t tell what they look like and the kids are asked to draw them, but 80% of the class draw them as male and they’re all female and it shows it’s it’s you know these things that we’re exposed to, whether that’s cartoons or books or influencers, you know, with we’re in the age that every child has a smartphone pretty much everyone has like instagram and tiktok and all that what they’re exposed to is, you know, so they learn so subconsciously from all of that. So we we spoke about role models and getting more people, kind of um, actually into the industry. We said about you know, the whole thing of um thinking that coders were just what you see from movies. You know, yeah, it’s all like these hoods are black and like very dark rooms, like super, like you know, hacking and it’s not how it works. Very much unconscious bias, isn’t it? Yeah?
Speaker 1:and then you don’t talk to anyone either, because there’s so many ladies on here tell me. You know, it’s nothing like that. Even if you are technical and you do code, you still have to report back to people and you have to report back to stakeholders and you have to be able to present and actually communicate what you’re doing. It’s not just you can just sit and not communicate with anybody and be, you know, completely antisocial, which is the stereotype yeah, and I was going to say stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.
Speaker 2:It’s something that it would have come from, but that’s not how everything is now. I mean, I went to um. When I went to one of the events in London, there was like a um, a makeup uh brand and they were trying to get people to obviously join for working in tech and it’s. You wouldn’t necessarily think that a makeup brand is a technical business, a tech like a technical job you’d go into. They’d be like I don’t know, like Intel or Microsoft or IBM, you know typical kind of tech companies. But no, every, every kind of company needs tech in one way or the other because they have their infrastructure, they have their design, they have their Digital e-commerce, yeah, everything. So and it’s again it’s that I keep saying it it goes back to that education piece of being like knowing what you can do in the tech industry and you know this whole focus about networking and all that.
Speaker 2:You can probably realise a lot about going and speaking to people and finding. Take example, you’re a student and you just you know your first year or something at uni and you know I don’t actually know where this is gonna end up. Give you a long list of places you know you can end up in. Long list of jobs, long list of companies. One woman that I played um, it was years ago and she did her degree in psychology and then she suddenly just started dabbling with tech I think she had a few friends didn’t expect to kind of get a career out of it, um, and she ends up going for a uxui job and she was absolutely fantastic. Obviously they were blown away with her in the interview, because a lot of that is about how people perceive it, how people see it, what is user friendly, user experience? So having that psychology background into the person’s mind, really great. Like you, just don’t get much better. Completely, I think yeah, it’s just, it’s just having that, yeah, that exposure, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know we say on here the weird of the background and the squiggly of the root as well. We love to hear that because it does. It just lets other ladies know that you know, even if you are 10, 15 years into work, you can retrain at any time and try something new and you’re not starting from scratch. You’re taking all of those wonderful skills that you have learned work. You can retrain at any time and try something new and you’re not starting from scratch. You’re taking all of those wonderful skills that you have learned from just being in the workplace and moving them over to something else and retraining. So it’s, you know, it’s not seen as a disadvantage, um, and the more ladies that we hear tell that story, the better it is for people, um, to think actually I could do that. I could, I could learn to retrain and try a completely different career. I think.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say this. In this day and age as well, you know, people do have the ability to do that. It’s it’s not kind of how it used to be, where you’d have one job and that’d be. You know, you’ve worked somewhere from school and then you’re with them forever. You know you, there are so many options out there to retrain, like you said, um, to help you kind of get back all career changes, or, you know, whatever. I think you don’t even have to do it as a career. I think sometimes you know, say you’re, let’s say I’m selling some products that I’ve made, let’s say some like hand soaps, and I don’t want to have to pay loads of money in the future for a website to be built and I’ve just been dabbling on WordPress, for example. You know you are working in tech by now. Yeah, you are learning, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:I mean, we have spoken about this in terms of in-person events. What about virtual events? How do you? Do you need to adapt your strategy? Do you have any advice if you’re attending a virtual event? Is that?
Speaker 2:harder to chip in and make a connection, maybe, with someone. So I think I think, definitely if you’re going to go to like webinars and virtual events, it’d be good to have something you want out of it. So, whether that’s you’re learning a new skill or whether that’s you want to interact with someone or connect with them or ask questions, you know I think you need to have a more so than I think going to an impact event, because I I find virtual ones can be slightly overwhelming. Um, just just because of me, I I don’t find you can have as much flow with virtual ones as you do in person.
Speaker 2:Um because you are essentially a box on a screen. You’re not, you can’t see, you know the full body language. You can’t, um, necessarily read or have that. You don’t want to be talking over someone, whereas when you’re in person you’ve had, you can get away with that because you’re having that kind of conversation attraction, um. So I think that’s something to be aware of. That’s something I’ve done. Yeah, it’s harder to read body language, isn’t it? I think that is such a large piece, yes, but I’m definitely more of an in person event.
Speaker 1:I’m not used to it, haven’t we on screen? But you’re right, you never quite pick up on somebody’s body language unless you are in person. So yeah, it’s very, very different. I suppose a mix of both virtual and in-person events can really help.
Speaker 2:I think that’s the thing I’ll always. If there’s a remote kind of event, there’s a virtual one. That’s worthwhile. You know I always sign up to them because I’ve noticed a lot of events now. If you can’t make, they’ll still send you the recording, so that’s always really nice. So if you did want to learn from it at a later date, or, for example, you want to go but you can’t, you know you feel a bit overwhelmed or you just it’s just not not right. You can get that recording. Not, not everyone does it, but some do, and that’s really good. Um, there’s praise and false debate. There are, um, yeah, I think I think the virtuals as well. It’s um, it’s always like a time limit. When you’re in person, you just you’re there, you’re just in that moment, whereas when you’ve got a virtual event, you’re like it’s an hour. I know it’s gonna be an hour, I’ve just got to give it out on time. Yeah, it’s a, it’s a bit more structured, which is fine. You know where I’m more of a pretty flowing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a bit more relaxed. Um, ladies, we are nearly out of time. I just to ask quickly do you have any final words of encouragement or advice for women that are navigating the tech networking landscape? Is there anything that you wish someone had told you before you’ve done it?
Speaker 2:Don’t be scared, it’s going to be fine.
Speaker 1:I thought you were going to say don’t do it then.
Speaker 2:Amy, I wish someone had told me don’t do it in amy, we don’t do it. What we’ve reiterated already is that there’s so many more women in tech than I think people maybe realize. Um, it’s still obviously an issue and there’s still, you know, the gender gap there, but there are people there, there are people out there that have gone through it and they’ve succeeded and you know it might not be right for you, but you’ve tried it, you know it’s. I think, like Amy said, don’t be scared. You know, give it a go. If you can, um, sign up to any, any events or, or follow people on LinkedIn, or, yeah, just that’s it.
Speaker 2:Networking isn’t just, you know, meeting people in person, face to face. If you’re not comfortable doing that, you can do. You know, webinars, online seminars if you’re not comfortable doing that, you can literally just drop someone a message on LinkedIn or send an email, I don’t know. Just go to some columns or discussion paddocks, they’re so. So anything that you know it’s not a one size fits all. You find what you feel comfortable with and then, you know, you might actually find out. I prefer meeting in person, actually, compared to the virtual, which has surprised me, yeah, so, yeah, yeah, I think it is an element of it when you’re putting yourself out there and realising what you’re comfortable with. So you know it seems scarier than it is and you have to kind of trust that process, I guess, and it’s only going to bring good things essentially.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you’re towing the water in the seawall part, as they say yeah it’s not comfortable, you know, in forums.
Speaker 1:Carry a pigeon if you want whatever, grab a plane for someone whatever you feel like, yeah, and find your style, and the ladies have brilliant advice to end it on. We are already there. I could keep talking to you about this topic all afternoon, but thank you so much, amy and Lauren, for joining me today, and we would love to have you back at some point to follow up about plans with Women in Tech Hampshire and and what you’re doing. I know our community are going to absolutely love learning all about you. So thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you, and for everybody listening, as always. Thank you so much for joining us and we hope to see you again next time.
