Women in Tech: Harriet’s Story

Deciding what to do with the rest of your life when you are in sixth form can seem like a daunting decision, especially when you hear that many middle-aged people have no idea what they would like to do as their career.

You will often make the decision for further studies based off of what you know. What your parents do, what subjects you enjoyed at school and other influencing factors such as your friends and teachers.

Unfortunately, as great as our education system is in the UK, it isn’t necessarily the most reflective in regards to job opportunities in the outside world.

Harriet’s Story

We spoke to Harriet who joined Complete I.T. (CIT) in 2020, as a member of our IT helpdesk support team.

She studied Forensic Computing and Security at University, a choice which she had only considered due to her teachers’ passion for the subject.

If it wasn’t for her teacher, she may have gone down the English or Art route but with huge gratitude, Harriet is pleased she was able to find something she enjoyed through a recommendation.

She successfully completed a 3 year course and a 1 year placement with a company in the banking sector. After rotating within various roles, including Information Security and AV, she spent 3 months within an IT support role which she really enjoyed and has led her to her current IT helpdesk position at CIT.

Although, working in IT was “not something she thought she would ever do” Harriet is pleased she was able to try out a variety of roles and found one she really enjoyed through her placement.

Building strong relationships and working alongside our clients is something she is passionate about and the satisfaction from helping people out is why she loves what she does.

Unfortunately, the number of women in IT is very low, with only 26% in computing roles (NCWIT, 2019).

How can we encourage women to start a career in Tech

There are a variety of different career roles women can take in the Information Technology industry and being open about the gender divide and talking about the opportunities in IT is crucial to help encourage women to start a career in tech.

Education is key when it comes to cyber security and data protection and the same goes for educating the younger generation about job opportunities in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Especially, when they are being raised with the highest levels of technology at their fingertips, it seems a role in STEM could be suited to many of these tech savvy women (or men of course!). At home and at school, being taught about how the technology they use has been created is a great step to opening doors and ideas to those starting to plan for their future.

This doesn’t just go for those who are still in school now, millennials are just as technical and a career shift to IT could be the opportunity you have been searching for.

It may not be something you have ever thought to do, much like Harriet but it could be something you discover you love.