Hi Joanna! First off… what made you want to co-found Women in Tech Birmingham?

Around the time we were launching WITB, I didn’t feel like I could really call myself a woman in tech. My role was not very technical and I had the classic imposter syndrome feeling of not belonging. I also unfortunately worked with several people who I knew treated me differently because I was a woman.

Luckily, I had some great friends within the company who (gently!) bullied me into realising I belonged and that I was good at my job. So more than anything I wanted to try to help other women in a similar situation know that they weren’t alone in these sorts of feelings.

What has been the most satisfying part over the last couple of years since founding it?

One of my favourite events we have run was a roundtable discussion on Imposter Syndrome. We had so many people there who said that they had thought they were alone in their feelings of inadequacy. It was a little sad but also so rewarding to know that we had actually made a small difference to those people with that discussion. 

Is there anything that’s surprised you about running a community group like this one? Or perhaps there’s been a big learning curve?

I was surprised at how straightforward organising individual events felt, but keeping that momentum going and thinking of new event ideas and how to promote them has been harder than I expected. 

I’ve surprised myself with how I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone too - I would never have thought I’d be standing up in front of people speaking for example, but I do it every event.

What’s your ambition for WITB in 2023 and beyond?

Consistency! We’ve somehow, amazingly, passed 1000 members this year and that’s a huge milestone, but we really want to work on getting attendee numbers up at each event and encourage people to come back again and again. We know to do that we’ve got to keep having regular events so that’s our goal for now!

Yes to that! And outside of WITB, what do you do for work?

I coordinate security testing for a software company. 

Typically my mornings start with a team catch-up, then I’ll have a call or two to discuss new test requests that have come through. There’s also lots of emails back and forth between different teams. I’ll check to make sure we’re on track to start any new tests that are coming up and that the team has sent out reports for previous tests.

The afternoons are normally spent working on things like gathering testing stats for management, writing runbooks to distribute across the business, or attending project meetings to make sure I’m aware of any upcoming work.

My favourite thing about the role is the flexibility. My days tend to be quite free and I can work pretty much whatever hours I want so I’m able to mix it up a lot. I also have lots of time for self-development.

And how did you break into your career?

I started in tech with a job editing information on websites. Slightly more technical than data entry, but not much!

After that I spent two years working on an IT service desk. I really enjoyed my time there - it was a good combination of problem solving that challenged me and rote work that let me switch my brain off. Getting to help people everyday, even a little bit, also felt really nice.

I then moved into my current job in the Cyber Security division!

Is there anything you would have done differently in your career path?

I wouldn’t have stayed so long in that first job as doing so really impacted my mental health. But it did teach me really valuable lessons about knowing my worth and advocating for myself so I don’t think I’d be where I am if I hadn’t stayed.

I also wish I’d known from the start that tech is more than just working in software development (as great as that is)! I spent a lot of time trying to push myself into those roles because I thought it’s what I should do if I wanted to stay in tech, rather than because I actually wanted to do them!

Where would you like to be in five / ten years time with your career?

Penetration testing. Trying to break into (or out of) applications or networks to test how secure they are just seems like a really interesting and challenging job.

There are security qualifications that I’m aiming for to start with (Security+, SSCP etc.).  I’m working with my manager to create a development plan and also spend time shadowing other parts of the Cyber Security team for experience. Beyond that it’ll be getting a job as security analyst and working up through to security test engineer, senior test engineer, pen tester etc.

What would be your top tips to someone else looking to start a career in tech?

It’s not for everyone but I found working in IT support really helpful. You get a good grounding in basic IT skills, you (hopefully) interact with 2nd or 3rd line support to develop your knowledge and you get a good overview of lots of different aspects of IT that you might not have considered.

You don’t really need qualifications to start with so it feels like less pressure because you haven’t had to invest a lot of time and/or money into it before you even know if you want to do it!

Finally, you mentioned earlier your struggle with imposter syndrome, something many WITB’s members can relate to. What would be your advice to them for overcoming it?

Talk about it! It feels very uncomfortable but being honest with the people around me about how I’m feeling has helped. On top of that, you have to learn to trust that people will tell you if what you’re doing isn’t good enough - this is a daily challenge but eventually the little voice in your head will get quieter and quieter.