We interviewed Tanya Fahey, Service Delivery Analyst at Made.com on her experience and thoughts on women in tech.
- What does your job role involve?
Ensure business driven IT Services are being delivered to the business users according to defined SLA’s, managing the application support team ensuring issues are being dealt with at correct priority level and working with development teams to ensure any production or business facing dev work is being prioritised in regular sprint work.
- What made you choose a career in technology?
I was offered a temp job on an IT helpdesk which I planned on using for the money for a short amount of time. I ended up becoming really interested in IT and tech from there as I saw how many opportunities where available and I like problem solving.
- Did you study an IT or technology related subject at A-Level or University?
No I didn’t (I wish I did now!)
- Did you get any work experience in IT or technology before this role
Yes, previously I was in IT for 3 years starting as a Service Desk Agent at TJX and then went onto second line support line application support
- Do you think there is a lack of females in the IT and tech sector?
Yes, especially in the coding and back end arena.
- Do you find there is a stereotype that a career in IT or technology is just for men?
Definitely, I think there’s a certain ‘type’ of person you think as working in IT. It is seen as quite boring and geeky and people think you have to sit at home in the dark on the weekends to be able to work in the field. But the stereotype is definitely changing and that is currently being stretched as more opportunities open up in IT.
- What would entice women to study technology related courses?
Show the other side of IT and technology jobs and departments out there. I think if all the different types of options were shown from software engineering to all the new digital opportunities women would be able to see it’s more than what they think and you don’t have to know everything about a computer to work in IT. There’s loads more it to than that.
- Are there barriers when it comes to women getting into tech?
I don’t think so. Women in IT is definitely on the rise and I have never seen men be favoured for any roles over women.
- How could we encourage more women to start a career in tech?
I think it needs to be pushed more in schools and universities and the possibilities it can have. People just think as IT as fixing computers but there’s a whole other world and so many different job types in technology that nobody knows about… I didn’t even know about any of it until I started in my first role 3 years ago!
