BCSWomen and London Central joint event.
Speakers
- Andrea Palmer
- Jo Stansfield
Panellists
- Natasha Walton - Deputy Director Digital Diagnostic and Treatment, NHS Digital
- Tayo Iloh – Business Change & Transformation Lead, NHS Digital
- Cecile Wallace - IT Strategy, Data and Architecture Director, BSI
- Sasha Burgoyne - Co-founder & Head of Operations, TechSwitch
- Mark Harris – Group Sales Director, Outsource UK
- Sara Hydon - Head of IT Services, Companies House
- Alistair Marshall – Talent Manager, Sparta Global
- Julianne Miles MBE - CEO and Co-Founder of Career Returners (previously Women Returners)
- Careena Lau – Software developer, Techswitch graduate
- Ying Cheng, Business Engineer, Zurich Insurance, Techswitch graduate
- Sam Booth – Technical Business Analyst, Schroders, Sparta Global graduate
- Shavana Peynado – Software Developer, Coding Black Females graduate
- Holly Porter, Managing Director - BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
Agenda
- 4:00pm – 7:30pm – Opportunity to network and talk to potential employers, trainers and recruiters.
- 4:30pm – 5:15pm – First panel discussion ‘How to transition into tech smoothly’. (webinar)
- 5:30pm – 6:15pm – Second panel discussion ‘What programme and courses are out there to help me get a career in tech?’ (webinar)
- 6:30pm – 7:00pm – Third panel discussion ‘What was your experience of your returner programme?’ (webinar)
Synopsis
A career in tech is exciting as no two days are the same, you have opportunities to grow and learn and problem solve.
The UK workforce is currently around 50% women and 50% men, yet in tech the number of roles filled by women is less than 24%. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the first half of 2023 saw a decline of 3,000 women in the tech industry despite the industry growing!
Having a diverse workforce leads to greater staff retention and increased innovation so how can we help people pivot, return or restart into tech roles? BCS Women want to address the skills shortage by bringing together organisations, recruiters, bootcamp trainers and people who have gone through short programmes and found roles in tech so people can discuss how they can access a career in tech at whatever stage you may be at.
The returner and restart session will enable you to talk to people who can support and enable you to access a career in tech.
About the speakers
Andrea Palmer (Chairwoman BCS Women) - HOST
Principal Consultant at Infosys Consulting
Andrea’s career spans over 20 years and her career has included programming, analysis, project management, technical delivery, business change and consultancy within the energy, telecoms, and retail sectors.
She has a degree in Science (biology/chemistry), second degree in Psychology and an MBA. Andrea is passionate about encouraging and supporting women in technical roles through mentoring, coaching, speaking at events and is a co-author of Women in Tech which she wrote with 5 fellow BCS Women. In 2021 she was voted CW 4th Most Influential Woman in Tech UK and in 2022 entered Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame.
Jo Stansfield
Founder & Director - Inclusioneering Limited
Jo began her career as an engineer, developing enterprise software for global industry, spanning oil & gas, automotive, aerospace and marine sectors. Having pivoted her focus from the technical to human dimensions of engineering, Jo now works as a business psychologist. She retrained with an MSc in Organisational and Business Psychology, with thesis research topic “Lessons for Gender and Racial Diversity within Technology”.
Jo is Founder and Director of Inclusioneering Limited, a social enterprise offering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultancy in the technology and engineering. Alongside this, Jo holds a number of voluntary positions including committee member of BCS Women (Co-Chair & Treasurer), and Fellow of AI ethics and audit charity, ForHumanity.
Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.
BCS is a membership organisation. If you enjoy this event, please consider joining BCS. You’ll be very welcome. You’ll receive access to many exclusive career development tools, an introduction to a thriving professional community and also help us Make IT Good For Society. Join BCS today
For overseas delegates who wish to attend the event, please note that BCS does not issue invitation letters.
Event recording:
Whenever possible events will be recorded and loaded onto the BCS web site and the BCS YouTube channel for subsequent viewing by BCS Women Specialist Group members, other BCS members and the general public, to meet the Institute’s Royal Charter commitments.
COVID-19
BCS is following government guidelines, and we would ask attendees to continue to follow these guidelines:
England: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/
Wales: https://www.gov.wales/coronavirus
Northern Ireland: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ireland
This event is brought to you by: BCSWomen specialist group and London Central branch
