WITsend

Learning business in an IT World

2013-05-20T15:44:35Z

This is a guest blog from Nikki Briant, Insurance Analyst at Cognizant, who reflects on her experience over the last six months as a graduate entrant.

In my last post, I had just joined the graduate scheme at Cognizant, the global IT services and consultancy firm, within its insurance department. Six months on, I have gained a lot of valuable experience both inside and outside of my immediate role and am fully confident that I made the right career move.

While IT is the firm's heritage, the consultancy side is booming and it touches across all departments of the company. Because of this, I and many of my fellow graduates have more business-focused degrees and qualifications rather than specific IT skills. This recruitment strategy helps support Cognizant's vision to ensure client satisfaction at all times. By bridging the two disciplines we gain an understanding of what is going on in a particular business sector (through looking at its key challenges and objectives) and then deciding how IT can help organisations run better and run differently to meet its wider objectives, remain competitive and achieve growth. It is this business-centric approach rather than a hard-core IT focus that I think attracts more graduates, and in particular females, into IT and technology companies - I know it is why I chose the role. Such an approach allows new graduates to gain an appreciation of the business world and how technology, rather than being the domain of the IT geek, is a major business driver and differentiator.

In terms of my experience, I initially spent a lot of time in the Canary Wharf office learning from different people about the way the insurance department runs. I was able to network internally and gain a good understanding of the various clients before attending on-site visits. While much of my current role involves project management and research work, increasingly I am gaining more exposure to different clients, which is a great opportunity at my level.

Since starting, I have acquired many key business skills such as how to communicate to different levels and types of people (both internally and externally). I have also learned a great deal about organisation and time management to cope with heavy workloads. The latter has been one of the key challenges and I am sure I am not alone. In a busy work environment, you need to be able to juggle several projects at once and ensure that deadlines are met. I have worked hard to understand how to prioritise and determine the level of flexibility with certain deadlines and colleagues.

As part of my development at the company and in addition to my client work, I have also had the chance to brush up on my filmmaking and creative skills. I am currently working with another graduate to create a video for the Cognizant graduate website and recruitment fairs. This is a great project to be tasked with at such an early stage, which involves filming and interviewing various grads on the scheme about their roles in order to encourage more to join. Getting exposure to this kind of work not only provides more variety day-to-day, it really helps you feel valued by contributing to the wider business.

I am also working on another project with Cognizant graduates to enter a national competition to raise £1 million for The Prince's Trust Million Makers Challenge. This will culminate in a presentation and dinner early next year, with senior executives from Cognizant providing a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our successes. This will be great for team building, networking and developing my presentation skills and I am really looking forward to it! As part of another charity drive, I am helping to organise a Race for Life event for Cognizant's Women Empowered initiative, which is specifically designed to support women in their careers. I think this is a great scheme to encourage females within the company to build a strong community and learn from each other - it is something I am looking to get more involved with over the coming months.

From my experience, here is what I think are the top skills required for today's graduates:

· Be ambitious - try to be an ambassador of the brand and replicate its ethos. Buy in to new products, services and initiatives and proactively contribute to wider business projects

· Be driven - you need to have passion for the business and its success. Always strive to do the best that you can in your role

· Be creative - this is not just about contributing ideas for the business or certain projects, it also involves being able to adapt and work with different people both internally and externally

Having spoken with friends and other graduates, I think the level of training and variety of opportunities I have been given at Cognizant is significantly higher than in other organisations. It is also great that we can work within different areas of the department and regions to see how different roles compare. From what I understand, this is quite a rare opportunity, but in my view it is critical in helping graduates to determine in which areas they would like to specialise.

Above all, I think it is essential for today's employers (regardless of sector) to be as supportive as possible and also provide opportunities that lie outside of the usual day job. Being able to really contribute to the wider business is a great feeling and one that will encourage younger employees to flourish.

Finding the right woman for the job

2013-05-20T09:48:47Z

In this guest blog Lesley Cowley OBE, chief executive of Nominet, discusses how the UK needs to encourage more girls into the IT sector in order to foster the next generation of IT talent.

It's a sad yet common misconception that the UK IT industry is a "man's world". Unfortunately, the statistics are hard to argue with - according to eSkills, fewer than one in seven applicants for IT courses are women and men outnumber women in the IT industry four to one.

When we did some research into young people's perceptions of IT careers, we discovered that 78% of girls are interested in working for technology companies, compared to just 13% of girls who picked non-tech businesses from a list. However, less than a third as many girls expressed a general interest in an IT career compared to boys. Which leads us to an interesting conclusion: it seems that girls aspire to careers at some technology companies, but not in the IT industry in general.

But why is this? Setting aside the appeal of working for some well known IT brands, I believe it comes down to three common misconceptions which put girls off the IT industry generally from an early age.

The first misconception is that all careers in the IT sector are very technical - we found that half of the 13-24 year old students we surveyed believe this to be the case. Yet, I'm living proof that working for an IT company doesn't necessarily equate to a technology focused job role. Roles can focus on anything from driving the ambitions of the business to overseeing the day to day operations of the organisation and more. The variety of careers in the IT sector should be one of our major selling points.

The second common misconception is that the IT industry isn't a place where women can flourish - 40% of girls felt that a career in an IT company would be 'male dominated' whereas only 14% of males shared the same view. To dispel this myth, we recently visited a local school in Oxfordshire to run an IT career workshop as part of the international Girls into IT day. Students were surprised to learn that half our senior management team are women and there are great opportunities for women to flourish in IT in a huge variety of roles. While I appreciate that Nominet may be unusual in our 49% female and 51% male staff split, I strongly believe that the technology industry is one of the most meritocratic there is and one in which hard work, ability and determination can take you to the top.

The third is that you must have an ICT education or qualification to work in the IT industry. For some roles, a professional IT qualification such as that offered by the BCS, is essential but for other roles this simply isn't the case. I didn't have an ICT education and there are a whole range of different skills required for my role. There are also multiple routes into IT careers; from college and university courses to workplace apprenticeships. For example, our post A level apprentice scheme is currently in its third year and gives school leavers of both sexes the opportunity to apply for roles within our Technical Infrastructure, Software Development and Business Intelligence teams.

In order to quash these misconceptions it is paramount that IT businesses and business leaders do much more to dispel them. We also need to be much more proactive about selling a career in IT to prospective staff. Apprentice schemes are a good starting point as they can offer students the opportunity to gain some on-the-job skills alongside college studies, meaning businesses can grow their own future IT talent. However, as a sector, we have been slow to embrace the potential for IT apprenticeships.

The IT sector also has to contend with girls being put off from IT careers in school. Almost two thirds of girls (65%) report that their ICT education had no impact on their IT career aspirations at all. In order to prevent girls from immediately ruling themselves out of working in the IT sector before they've even finished school or university, we need to help inspire young women in the subject at school. Great teaching will help, as will supporting worthy initiatives like e-Skills' 'Computer Clubs for Girls' which is a great way to helps girls develop their skills in IT. The sector also needs more successful and inspirational male and female role models too, who can enthuse about their roles in IT.

Through the Nominet Trust, we are supporting young people to develop their technology skills with the launch of the Make Things Do Stuff website. Co-developed with Nesta and Mozilla the site encourages young people to learn by making and gives them the skills, confidence and motivation to create their own websites, animations, apps, games and gadgets. We hope that some of these young people will become the IT leaders of the future.

While the statistics show that there are currently more men in IT than women, those of us in the industry, together with education and government need to work harder and more effectively together to change this. In particular, the IT industry needs to re-double our efforts to inspire, train, attract and recruit from the whole talent pool and not just half of it. Just think of the benefits to both our businesses and the UK digital economy that would result.

Hormones: Most find it surprisingly difficult to work for a woman...apparently

2013-05-08T13:42:06Z

I received an email from a male reader, recently, who wanted to air his opinions on female managers.

After letting me know that he thinks an article of mine was "very one-sided" and "sexist" he shared his own views on gender: "What I would tell you about gender is that most people find it surprisingly difficult to work for a woman."

According to this reader four out of five of his female managers have been "aggressive to staff and emotional."

"Not sure why it happens, hormones, or just that people don't retaliate so much with women but a male would never get away with what I've see."

Despite making some comments that I would strongly disagree with, the reader did change his tune and make one very good point - you get good and bad in both genders and that it is down to an individual's character.

I agree with this guy when he says "gender has never made a difference to results."

Do you agree or disagree with this reader? You can join the discussion at our WITsend: Connecting Women in IT LinkedIn Group.

For companies trying to appeal to more females: The Daring Book for Boys in Business

2013-05-08T12:30:10Z

We have had several discussions on WITsend about why a career in technology isn't as appealing to women as it is to men - the stereotypical image of nerdy male dominated teams, inflexible hours and uncreative daily-tasks.

Obviously those of us who do work in the industry know the truth behind these myths, but females eying up the prospect of stepping into the world of tech are immediately greeted by a slew of company brands heavily showing signs of masculine advertising techniques.

If the brand is the first thing any customer or job candidate sees, no wonder most ladies do not feel the urge to learn more about the tech industry.

So what makes up a successful gender-free brand that appeals to a mainstream audience of adults, instead of just half of a possibly lucrative audience?

I recently attended a book launch for 'The Daring Book for Boys in Business.' The book is by Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts, the founders of Pretty Little Head. Their Pretty Little Head agency specialises in marketing strategies to female audiences with clients including Tesco and the Conservative Party.

The book is aimed at companies already successful at targeting men but are now looking to engage more females. Offering a 'toolkit' this book suggests eight simple steps on how companies can include more women in their target audience without making their male customers feel left behind.

The book doesn't just focus on technology, but also covers telecoms, financial services, consumer electronics, cars, gaming and utilities, shedding light on why some companies and brands succeed with women whilst others fail.

Cunningham explained that humans can be split into two different mind sets - systematic and empathetic. The systematic being predominantly favoured by males and the empathetic by females.

From their own industry research into companies Pretty Little Head had found that businesses struggling to appeal to females were dependent on a system of some kind: "They focused on systematic thinking to present what they wanted, which is very masculine," said Cunningham.

She explained that a typically masculine brand will seek to lock the customer in instead of connecting with them.

Instead of seeking to understand the customer the brand will use scale, control and hierarchy to show their dominance in the industry: "This is achieved through a series of boasts and exertion of dominance to impress the audience not to connect with it," she suggested.

Cunningham added: "It is important to find that sweet spot - that place between the systematic and empathetic - in effect putting a mind in the machine."

Roberts agreed and said companies they have worked with were trying to appeal to more females but they were using the wrong tools: "They were only using tools to target men. We decided to use the language of men for our book - a toolbox."

Roberts noted there is a difference between how males and females react to branding: "There is a difference between the genders and this needs to be recognised. As a company you need to get to grips with this or you will slip back into masculine branding."

Through realising this Roberts said it can: "Unlock the amazing opportunity that women offer in technology."

Previously Cunningham and Roberts released Inside Her Pretty Little Head - a book which looks at the female target audience and the difference between men and women in motivation, decision making and information processing. This book also covers creative work which appeals to women and what makes a successful female brand.

The Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly Women in Technology Survey 2013

2013-05-07T15:20:55Z

Have you taken the Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly Women in Technology Survey 2013, yet? Working in partnership with Mortimer Spinks, Computer Weekly would like to invite you to take our survey.

This short survey covers a range of issues such as whether females in the industry are happy with their careers, how you came to be in the tech sector and what factors you believe have a bearing on possible promotions....being in the office instead of remote working and socialising with senior management outside of work, for example.

By taking part you can share your views and opinions on the industry, and afterwards you will gain access to the results, along with industry analysis and coverage of the survey's outcome.

Read the results from last year's survey.

everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy: 20% discount for Computer Weekly readers

2013-05-07T13:36:12Z

Computer Weekly readers are now entitled to a discount when registering for the everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy.

With the discount code of CW20 Computer Weekly readers receive 20% off.

The everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy takes place 12 June, at Cisco's Bedfont Lakes offices in Feltham. The theme this year is "Taking Charge of your Path to Success."

On the day two master classes will take place in strategic thinking for the female leader and preparing for tough conversations.

Places for the day are booking up fast, so if you would like to attend you can register here.

Find out what happened at the academy last year. I look forward to seeing you there.

How was Little Miss Geek's International Girls in ICT Day?

2013-05-03T15:33:13Z

For International Girls in ICT Day Little Miss Geek visited schools for its Wearable Tech Event.

Supported by Microsoft and Dell the aim of the day was to inspire the next generation of girls to become tech pioneers.

Little Miss Geek said they were told the girls found the speakers and workshops "an amazing highly empowering experience."

The schools involved are now expecting a higher uptake of girls choosing to study Computer Science at GCSE. Students are due to make their decisions this week.

Here's a short video of the event, including the mention Little Miss Geek got in Parliament.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGjqgWaAvMs&feature=youtu.be

Women in STEM today: Infographic

2013-04-26T16:10:43Z

I recently received this interesting infographic from TechSchool.com which provides some background on women in STEM today and what is being done to fix both gender disparity and the shortage of skills workers.

The infographic specifically covers the US, but I still thought it was worth a share on WITsend.

Research director at Microsoft, Rane Johnson-Stempson, said: "We needed to build a bridge to the future by getting girls excited in STEM early in their lives, and then keeping them engaged and supporting their learning all the way through their college education, internships, and into their careers."

Take a look at the infographic in full:

Courtesy of: Techschool.com

Why 'Women in IT' need to understand the business world and widen their expertise

2013-04-26T09:50:23Z

In this guest blog Sripriya Kalyanasundaram, vice president at Cognizant suggests a new focus on 'women in business' is required.

There is a lot of on-going discussion around the world about the current lack of women in IT. This inevitably leads to further debate around the lower number of IT qualifications amongst females and how the educational system needs to encourage girls to take subjects including science, technology, engineering and maths at school and higher education. However, to do well in the IT industry, women do not necessarily have to be IT experts. They do, however, need a good understanding of business.

A recent report from Cranfield School of Management[1] suggests there is still some way to go to encourage women to climb the career ladder by focusing on business expertise and for employers to give them the opportunity to do so. The report highlighted how the number of women on boards has slipped in the UK. Over the past six months for example, the number of FTSE 100 board appointments going to women dropped from 44% to 26%, while in the FTSE 250, the figure has fallen from 36% to 29%. Cranfield believes companies are getting "complacent" over the diversity drive. This is despite of the European Commission's proposed legislation aiming to attain a 40% objective by 2020 of women in non-executive board-member positions in publicly listed companies. However, given that the number of male-only boards in the UK has fallen to six as of March 2013, the business school thinks that all is not lost.

In order to meet these targets, it is vital that all industries do everything they can to encourage more females into senior roles and widen their business skills. With regards to IT and technology, we all know that it is a key business driver, but this wider picture can sometimes be lost. Those working within this industry must understand business and customer needs in order to develop and successfully integrate the technology. So, their crucial role in business should never be doubted or forgotten. In my opinion, we should therefore move away from the issue of 'women in IT', which can actually deter candidates further emphasising the stigma attached to this sector. We should instead promote 'women in business' more generally in order to increase overall numbers and reflect their worth.

There are a number of ways for businesses to attract more women. From targeting prospects through the most appropriate channels, right down to using more business-focused and appealing language in job descriptions in place of overly technical IT terminology. It is also important to support existing employees by giving them the opportunity to progress right through the organisation to the board.

Central to this is spotting talent early, developing it by offering adequate training and giving employees more responsibilities to develop their skills and knowledge. It is also important to build a sense of community, so women feel empowered rather than alienated. If they can share advice and best practice, network with peers and mentor those in more junior positions this will encourage female employees to flourish. In addition, entrepreneurship should be a key focus. Providing a culture that encourages employees to think of and suggest innovative ideas - from business models to identifying new target markets, even captive new business ventures - will not only help them feel valued by contributing to business growth, but also help employers identify entrepreneurial talent which can be like gold dust in the boardroom.

That said, it is not just about what the employer can offer. Women need to assess what they want and where they are in their career. If they want to progress, they need to think of ways to help themselves get to where they want to be. From my experience working in a predominantly male environment, here are my top tips for climbing the ladder:

Be brave - it can be difficult to make your mark, but individuals that can challenge the norm and speak out are more likely to get noticed. Try and think about ways you can improve your department's productivity or even the business as a whole - a more efficient business will impact the bottom line

Be innovative - businesses are always trying to think of the next 'big idea'. Try and stay ahead of the curve by monitoring competitors and really taking time to understand the market you work in to spot any opportunities. Once you are on to something good, your employer should reward and recognise this - it is a sure-fire way to move up the ranks

Be different - asses your key skills and think about how you can use them to your advantage. If you can demonstrate the ability to think differently and bring about change for the better, you are more likely to get noticed and work your way up the business.

[1] Cranfield School of Management: 'Progress stalls again for women on boards', April 10^th, 2013

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/som_applications/somapps/oepcontent.aspx?pageid=14249&apptype=newsrelease&id=4856

International girls in ICT day: Research finds girls are still uninspired

2013-04-25T15:45:19Z

Nominet UK has revealed some interesting figures, revealing how girls are still feeling uninspired to enter the IT industry.

Its REBRAND:IT research of 2,008 13-24 year old students found how girls still consider a career in IT a technical and male dominated.

Of those that had received IT training only 7% of males and 13% of females felt their education was "excellent." Only 13% of females compared to 24% of males said they were inspired by their teachers to enter the IT sector.

Almost two thirds of girls (65%) report that their ICT education had no impact on their IT career aspirations at all.

Almost two thirds of females admitted that their experience of ICT education had no impact on their IT career aspirations.

17% females think of a career in IT as exciting, 36% as cutting edge and only 11% said they consider it to be boring. However, 50% believe it would be a very technical career path to take.

40% of females said a career in IT would be male dominated, but only 14% of males agreed with this.

The figures found that only 10% of female students said they are interested in a career in IT, whereas 33% of male students said the opposite. However, 78% of females said they do aspire to careers in well-known tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Google. 78% of females said they would be interested in careers at such companies when chossing from a list including BA, Coca Cola, Ford and Nike.

Commenting on the research Lesley Cowley, CEO of Nominet, said: "It's great to see that young women are attracted to the idea of working for well-known technology companies. However, the overall image of IT careers still need something of a rebrand. A career in IT can mean much more than a technical role.

"For the benefit of the digital economy, those of us in the industry, education and government need to work together to help inspire and cultivate greater balance and equality in schools and in the workforce."

Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK said: "We know that girls start to form negative perceptions of IT careers at a surprisingly young age.

"All the work we do is designed to show them how working in IT is exciting, challenging and rewarding and developing their IT skills could help them pursue a career in almost any field from music or journalism to business or sport."

To coincide with International Girls in ICT Day Nominet is visiting Didcot Girls School in Oxfordshire today. Student there have spent the day listening to talks and taking part in activities to learn about the options available to them within IT.

Nominet's chair baroness Rennie Fritchie said: "Times have changed but still too many companies in technology are recruiting from half of the talent pool because this industry is perceived to be the province of men. As a nation we should be addressing this.

"We are pleased to be supporting e-Skills CC4G programme as well as WITNET's Girls in ICT day, both excellent initiatives to open the eyes of young women to the practical realities of a career in IT and inspire them to the wider range of possibilities available to them."

Geek is the new chic: We're sexy and we know IT

2013-04-24T12:32:18Z

FDM Group has launched a music video in a bid to stamp out the stereotype that IT pros are socially challenged geeks.

A keen supporter of encouraging more women in the industry, and tackling the skills shortage as a whole, FDM Group is on a mission to spread the word of the new geek chic.

FDM's CEO Rod Flavell said: "I'm delighted that so many FDMers got involved in the project, it really showcases our company's unique culture and inclusive ethos. Our aim is to bridge the gap between academia and the workplace, providing candidates with the opportunity to thrive in one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

None of the people in the video are professional actors; they are all FDMers - regular people that work in the IT Industry that are up for a good time."

Take a look at FDM Group's dance off master piece here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIoDgibzW7w

Love it - Thank you for sharing FDM!

The world of women in tech: What have I missed?

2013-04-18T15:40:59Z

Hello WITsend community - apologies for my recent absence. I took a one week holiday to Brazil and managed to catch a nasty virus on the journey home....so I was out of action a little longer than expected. I am back now and have recovered from whatever tropical virus I picked up! I did come back with a tan though, and crawled back into work in time before it faded. So, I'm not complaining.

What have I missed? From all of the women in tech stories in my inbox, quite a bit by the looks of it.

Capgemini's all-girl apprentice team

Capgemini entered the only all-girl team to take on the Brathay Apprentice Challenge 2013. The team of nine will battle it out with over 80 other teams to be crowned the apprenticeship team of the year. The nationwide competition supported by the National Apprenticeship Service and run by Brathay Trust.

Team leader and Higher Apprentice at Capgemini, Pallavi Boppana, said since joining Capgemini's Higher Apprenticeship Scheme, she has become aware of how male dominated the IT sector is and wanted to find a way to change that.

She said: "The Brathay Apprenticeship Challenge seemed like the perfect to opportunity to raise awareness of apprenticeships and the career opportunities available to young women in IT. So far, we've visited schools and careers fairs to share our experiences with students who are due to enter the UK labour market. We've also attended networking events such as Capgemini's International Women's Day, an internal event to celebrate women working at Capgemini.

"We hope to carry on raising profiles for women in IT internally and externally, becoming ambassadors on behalf of Capgemini to encourage more women to consider a career in technology."

International Girls in ICT Day

It is International Girls in ICT Day this month! Thursday 25^th April to be exact. The day aims to encourage young women into considering a career in ICT and technology.

Tanya Morton, an application engineering manager at MathWorks, based in Cambridge, recently said: "The stereotypical image of the engineer or technologist as the geeky male is tired and in need of a refresh. For this to happen, all young people need to be exposed to technology and the men and women who create it.

"This will help them to understand that technology is something that everybody can, and should, get involved with from school age onwards."

Morton explained that role models can play an important part in inspiring young people, in helping to normalise STEM subjects and in bringing applications to life: "Girls should have the confidence to want to be the next Ada Lovelace and to follow in the footsteps of successful women in technology, but it is also important to make these female scientists and technologists more visible. In doing so, we can help to encourage more girls to not just consume, but to create, the technology of tomorrow. "

Male, pale, stale

Also on a mission to change the geeky male stereotype is Little Miss Geek. On International Girls in ICT Day the team will be visiting an inner city girls secondary school, in London, to "explore the fusion between fashion and technology."

They say: "We want to end the era where tech is only created by 'male, pale, stale' people (currently only 17% of the tech workforce is female). Little Miss Geek's vision is to inspire the next generation of girls to become tech pioneers, putting them at the forefront of creating tech as well as consuming it."

Supported by Dell and Microsoft the day already involves Clara Mercer from the British Fashion Council, Francesca Rosella from Cute Circuit (whose tech dresses have been worn by Katy Perry) and Ed Vaizey (Minister for Culture & Creative Industries).

Just when I thought I was catching up on my coverage I received this interesting infographic from Greatbusinessschools.org. Called "A Woman's Paradox" the graphic covers the unique challenges that face the working woman of today.

And of course my roundup wouldn't be complete without mentioning the passing of our "Iron Lady." Whether or not you agreed/disagreed with Margaret Thatcher's policies we can't ignore how she was a positive role model and inspiration for women. She opened the door for women taking high-powered roles and was successful in smashing the glass ceiling that us ladies discuss so often.

As ever thank you for sharing your stories and announcements with me. Please keep them coming, as I am back and feeling much better.

The sixth BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium

2013-04-18T10:43:09Z

This is a guest blog from Hannah Dee, lecturer in computer science at Aberystwyth University and BCSWomen deputy chair.

The sixth BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium was held at the University of Nottingham, on the 4th April 2013. The Lovelace is the UK's national conference for women undergraduate and taught MSc students, organised by BCSWomen with support from the local hosting institution, many industrial sponsors, and Aberystwyth University. Around 90 people came, from across the UK (the furthest travelled were a pair of MSc students from Robert Gordon, in Aberdeen, who made an 800 mile round trip). The day featured talks from industry and from academia, a panel session on careers, a poster session of student work, a social, and lots of time for networking.

The Lovelace has three aims:

To provide a forum for undergraduate women to share their ideas and network
To provide a stimulating series of talks from women in computing, both from academia and industry
To provide both formal (talks) and informal (networking) advice to undergraduate women about careers in computing from a female perspective

The talks

Natasha Alechina of Nottingham talked about ontologies; how we can formalise a domain, and how we can work out if there are bugs in our formalisation
Jemma Chambers of CISCO spoke on her career; what it's like working in a big company on their graduate program, and talked a lot about why we have to sit at the table
Julie Greensmith (also the host) spoke about artificial immune systems (AIS), and how interdisciplinary work can really pay benefits if you do it properly. Julie came up with the Dendritic Cell Algorithm in AIS and described that to us, as well as showing work that other researchers have done on this algorithm since her invention.
The last talk before lunch was Gillian Arnold, BCSWomen chair. She spoke about the way tech careers can be really rewarding; she'd asked around her contacts for "the best moment in your career so far", which ranged from earning LOADS of cash, to getting an MBE, to helping out in developing countries... there are loads of different ways to have an excellent career in tech.
After lunch, Hannah Dee spoke about my research into computer vision for plant imaging; her talk was presented entirely through timelapse photography and, like Julie's earlier talk, stressed the importance (and fun!) of interdisciplinary computer science.
And finally, the last official talk of the day was given by Milena Nikolic of Google, who talked about how she got into Google, what it's like to work there, and what she's worked on so far - search, mobile, Google Play...

The Poster contest

This year the poster contest was amazingly strong. A lot of the sponsors got involved in the poster contest too: Google speaker Milena Nikolic helped judge the best first year contest, EMC staff helped judge best final year, and Madeleine Field from FDM helped judge the MSc student prize. It gives the students a real boost seeing actual recruiters from industry not only supporting the event with sponsorship, but also engaging with the students and their work.

The Google Excellence Award for Best First Year (£500, sponsored by Google, but I expect you've guessed that) went to:

Roseanna McMahon, of the University of Bath

The second year student poster award, sponsored by the HEA, was so difficult to judge we gave two equal second place awards.

First prize (£300) went to Carys Williams of the University of Bath
Joint second prize awards (£100 each) went to Heidi Howard of the University of Cambridge, and Jo Dowdall of the University of Dundee

The best final year student poster award was sponsored by EMC, and went to

First place (£300): Sia Xin Yun Suzannah of University of Edinburgh
Second prize (£200): Dung Kim Hoang Tran of the University of Bath

The best Masters student poster award, sponsored by FDM, was also exceptionally difficult to judge. I can personally confirm that this was very difficult, as it was judged by myself, Amanda Clare, and Maddy from FDM; we spoke with all of the entrants, narrowed it down to four, then to three, then to two... and finally... We decided to split the prize and give two first place awards of £150 each to:

Blessing Mbipom of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Maraim Masoud of University of Southampton

And finally the people's choice award for best poster as voted for by the attendees (£150, sponsored by Interface3) went to Alexandra Kearney, of the University of Edinburgh

If these women are the future of technology, we're in safe hands!

The Panel

The aim of the panel - and indeed a lot of the aim on the BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium - is to show women students that there are loads of different ways to be a successful woman in computing. So on the panel this year we had Lucy Hunt, an independent contractor who arranges her work so she gets 2 months holiday every year; Gillian Arnold who's spent 20 years in IBM and who now runs her own company; Jemma Chambers who's in CISCO and has a young son; and Dr Amanda Clare a lecturer from Aberystwyth. This way, if students are thinking of an academic career, a big company, contracting, or entrepreneurship there's someone on the panel who's got experience of that and can provide advice. The discussion ranged far and wide, covering pretty much all aspects of life as a woman in computing from careers planning, to sexisim in the workplace, to work-life balance.

Social

The day finished off with a social in the Computer Science Atrium in Nottingham. The social was sponsored by CA Technologies; CA had been with us all day in the employer zone and generally networking with attendees. As people relaxed after the hectic day with a well-deserved glass of wine or juice (and cake), CA reps chatted with students about their career plans, people got together to take photographs with new friends and old, and lots of people said they'd like to come again next year.

Balancing the approach

2013-04-16T13:08:22Z

This is guest blog from VMware EMEA's R&D site director, Diana Stefanova, who talks about the benefits of being a woman in a technology career and advises others how to follow in her footsteps.

People still tend to ask how I ended up in R&D at one of the world's biggest technology companies and my answer has always been the same; I actually think that the technology chose me. While my career started in finance, I have always worked for IT companies. Over the years, I went from leading the finances of IT companies through to leading the business operations and corporate development at a major software developer, which eventually led to running the R&D Operations for VMware's R&D Sites in EMEA. Although the IT chose me, I've never looked back. This industry is changing the world we live in - both in our working and consumer lives.

Females represent approximately half of the world's population, and it's well-known that this isn't currently reflected in the IT industry. In this market we are always in need for more resources and by not encouraging women to go into technology we are missing out on some vital intellectual IT resource! There are multiple research studies already suggesting that better business results are achieved in companies with a more diverse leadership team and think there should be more initiatives to encourage women to get into the IT space. Women and men are very different and the perspectives both bring to the table are invaluable when it comes to solving problems. In R&D especially, you need both a male and female attitude to addressing the pros and cons of any particular product - especially as there's just as much chance the end-user is female as they are male.

This mindset should be applicable across the industry - and across departments. I think we need a change in perception that the IT space is a place for males, so it feels more natural for women to consider the industry when making their career choices. I've been lucky to end up in IT, but don't really feel that other women know just how rewarding it can be and the industry is missing out as a result. After all, having the right balance between men and women throughout IT companies would make a huge difference in the way that companies operate and I definitely believe a shift would lead to better results.

But in a lot of ways, it's up to the current women in IT to stand up and encourage younger women to believe in themselves and educate them on the merits of being in such an interesting industry. I have to say that both my first and my current managers are women and they have made an enormous impact on me and my career. My first manager believed in me and helped me become an independent, proactive and well-rounded professional, while my current manager is a great role-model and someone that many people could learn from. I would encourage other women in the industry to talk about the great work they are doing. I myself have had the opportunity to work with, and get inspired by, many women and this made me who I am today. I'm very proud that VMware chose to take part in the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards this year as the event is a great way to showcase the fantastic work that women are doing in the industry and to encourage the younger generation to follow in their footsteps.

OUTfront: Championing workplace equality at Capgemini

2013-04-16T12:30:57Z

This is a guest blog by Jane Steed, project analyst at Capgemini, and chair of OUTfront, the Capgemini UK LGBT Network.

Something funny, though perhaps not unusual, happened to me in the office earlier this month. I was talking to my colleague, with whom I had been working for perhaps six months, about moving home, and made reference to my wife.

"Husband!" he corrected me. "Wife!" I replied, "Husband!" he repeated, "No, wife!" I confirmed, "You said 'your wife'!" he reiterated, as if he were speaking to a woman who was blatantly losing her marbles. "I know, I have a wife," I said.

Silence.

And gradually a slightly embarrassed realisation spread across his face. And nothing more was said.

My name is Jane Steed. I am a 41 year old mother of two and I have been in a civil partnership for just over three years. This is an almost everyday occurrence for me, and for many gay people working in the UK today. It's not abuse, it's not something that's worth complaining about, and indeed it's something I'd not even thought worth mentioning. But I was talking to some colleagues about the purpose of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) network, OUTfront, that I helped found four years ago in the UK. My initial intention was purely 'normalisation'. We live and work in such a British polite environment, for which I am extremely grateful. In my 18 years working in the IT industry, I have never encountered any direct bigotry or homophobia, which is really pleasing, but we do still have this very British embarrassment.

Part of my 'normalisation' aim is to demonstrate that we are all different but connected through commonalities. I tick various 'diversity' boxes - particularly in IT, being a women, being gay - but this is not what makes me who I am. And it is not what I have in common with the majority of my colleagues. Indeed there are far more commonalities than differences; the sector in which we work, the work itself which motivates us, working on projects, designing IT solutions etc.

So why have an LGBT network at all?

Maybe it will always exist because it is nice to meet people with something in common, people who are like you. When I meet people in LGBT groups outside of work, I often have very little in common with them, only that one little thing. Whereas a network at Capgemini brings together people who already have a lot they share in common, and also have the LGBT element, but that's almost the least important part.

It is simply being able to talk about our husbands, wives and partners, and dating, without that embarrassing silence. By being people who choose to work in a multi-national, multi-cultural company who specialise in IT consulting, we choose to work mostly in offices, often from home, often on teleconferences or video conferences, often problem solving analysis, often poring over numbers - but that's nothing that most of my friends outside of work do. They are teachers and nurses and farmers and receptionists and beauticians, all sorts of people... with whom I don't necessarily have a lot in common in terms of all day every day? We spend so much of our life at work, it's really important to be ourselves and feel comfortable when we're there.

It is important that something like OUTfront exists, but our long-term aim is for it not to be needed at all. And if I achieve my aim, we can avoid those oh so British silences, and all celebrate a colleague's forthcoming 'gay marriage' comfortably.