Hi Emily! You’re part of a very small team of wonderful women who set up the Women in Tech Birmingham (WITB) Meet Up. What was it that drove you personally to create this networking group?

I had only been working for tech companies for a couple of years when I started being exposed to the deeply rooted sexism in the industry. From a management team that was over-represented by white men, to colleagues mansplaining my job, I found that being in the company of women would boost my self-esteem and make me feel supported.

We wanted to create that kind of environment for other women in tech and so created the meetup group!

What has been the most satisfying part for you since co-founding WITB?

Having people attend our events is the most satisfying part for me. We want to provide this space for women to empower each other, but we also want to encourage diversity in tech by introducing new people to those careers. As it is, only 30% of the workforce in tech is represented by women, and even fewer get promoted to senior and leadership positions.

OK, so outside of WITB, what do you do for work?

I am a Software QA Engineer. I write automated tests to cover new and existing features of the products and manually test software when needed. My team works in an Agile environment so we will be working together on a feature for 2 weeks and then release it.

Very cool – how did you get started in that role?

I actually graduated with a Masters in International business, worked in Marketing and Digital Marketing for a few years before landing a QA role. Within that position, I learnt how to code in Java and followed the QA Engineer career path.

I didn’t need any prior qualifications for it. The entry level QA roles I had were just manual testing, which meant I could join in with very little experience. I then learnt how to code and moved towards Automation QA roles, which were more technical and more sought after by recruiters.

Looking ahead, now that I have spent almost a decade working in Scrum teams I’m now gaining interest in Scrum master or Project management roles, so that would be where I’m heading next!

Have there been any obstacles or challenges you’ve faced in your career so far, and what would be your advice to others going through something similar?

The main challenges I faced were due to my own socialised behaviour. I would constantly second guess my opinions on new work coming in and talk myself out of asking for a raise or a promotion. I also had imposter syndrome, especially around looking for new jobs. For instance, I would read a job description and think that I shouldn’t apply because I didn’t meet 100% of the criteria.
Learning to advocate for yourself was a huge game changer for me. I also started following the “there are no dumb questions” rule. This helped build my confidence and gain some insight on what the rest of the team was working on, especially the software developers.

Love that! And whilst we’re on the topic of advice… what would be your top tips to someone else looking to start a career in tech?

In my experience, skill matters more than degrees, however, having some sort of certification can demonstrate how serious you are about that career path. Being passionate and keen to learn is always a good sign for recruiters, and at the moment, tech firms seem to be increasingly aware of the lack of diversity in their teams. Most of them are trying to fix it, so being a minority can actually be an advantage when applying for jobs!

And finally, (in addition of course to the WITB members!), who is a woman in tech that inspires you, and why?

Margaret Hamilton, who led the NASA software team for the Apollo flight. I saw a picture of her standing next to the listing of the software she and her team produced for the project and she seemed so proud. I felt inspired by seeing a woman in tech in the past and it prompted me to read more about famous women engineers.