When you think of somebody working in IT, many of you will conjure up images of men. And depending on your experience of IT colleagues, their character will vary dramatically, but few will ever think of a woman
EMMA FAULKNER A LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT G4S MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES LTD Initially, it was obviously a hindrance having a languages degree. The market was saturated with language graduates in 1994 anyway, and most companies wanted graduates with a maths or science background. As a result, I had to work very hard to get ‘proper’ programming jobs initially. I started with Excel macros, then
Access databases, then VB, then started programming in C+ in 2001 and haven’t looked back. After 10 years of working as a programmer/analyst programmer, I have recently moved back into a junior management position but that was a hard decision to take as obviously in this line of work, it means you have to take a conscious decision to relinquish a certain amount of the coding.
I love so many areas of my role. One of my favourite things, though, is delivering something to a customer that they’ve been told might be a stretch too far or even technically impossible. I thrive on trying to come up with workable technical solutions to customer requirements and helping my team to deliver those solutions. I also really enjoy learning new technologies and skills. Somewhat unusually for a programmer, Emma has a joint BA (Hons) in German Studies and Swedish.
KIRSTIN DUFFIELD MD AT MORNING DATA LTD I run a software house providing solutions to the insurance industry. I am committed to providing a supportive, flexible, creative environment
in the workplace with excellent work/life balance, whilst also being profitable. My interest in IT came at an early age, my father was a programmer; I just grew up surrounded by systems development. I watched him create computing masterpieces that people wanted, it was like art. I have combined several areas, computing, marketing, and insurance to develop a rounded understanding of the industry I represent and work for. However I still struggle to see much of my computing degree’s relevance even in the first years after I qualified. IT just moves too fast. It really does need continuous hands on experience and development. The variety in the role I play is refreshing, always looking for ways to use the tools available which themselves change and develop, to solve problems, streamline processes and create real efficiencies. I enjoy finding ways to meet regulatory requirements without adding to users’ workloads. Kirstin has a BSc (Hons) in computer studies, DipM, CertCii, CertCA, FBCS
26 December 2012 | Volume 22 – Issue 4
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