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 My career started in 1995 when I joined Logica’s graduate program. I had completed a Degree in Maths as well as a Masters in Information Technology Systems and towards the end of the Masters course some of the bigger companies were coming to the universities to find graduates for their graduate programs. I applied to Logica Speedwing, a collaboration between Logica and British Airways, because I had heard that you could get very cheap air travel. By the time I was ready to start work this no longer existed and I ended up in Logica’s Energy and Utilities division instead - not quite so exciting but the opportunities that came to me from there were very good.
I was based in Leatherhead, Surrey working as a C programmer, and although the work itself was interesting enough and I was getting an opportunity to learn some SQL, I had an idea that I wanted to do something a bit different. Luckily I didn’t have to wait for too long; after about 8 months I got wind of a project starting up with Logica in New Zealand, I found out who the project manager was and told him that I had none of the skills they were looking for on the project and had only been in the company for 8 months but was willing and able to learn anything quickly and could leave anytime. Within 3 weeks I had moved to New Zealand.
I spent a fantastic year in New Zealand, but when the project finished there was nothing more for me to do there and I was not ready to come back and live in the UK. I decided I wanted to spend sometime travelling so I resigned from Logica and went to Fiji for a few months before moving to Australia and starting contracting. I had learnt some good Oracle front end development skills whilst in New Zealand and took contract roles in Australia that allowed me to develop these skills.
Contracting in Australia brought me into the Telecoms sector where I gained experience of the technical side of Telecommunications (OSS) through an ‘in at the deep end’ contract. With only one year’s experience of PL/SQL and Oracle front end programming I was developing a reconciliation system for one of the big Telcos there. From there I moved to work for a Telco consultancy and started to learn the technical side of Telecoms.
Contracts are often project based; this fact allowed me to spend time working then take long breaks for travelling. For the most part I kept returning to the same Telco consultancy each time I came back to Australia to work. They were, and still, very understanding of the way I want to work and are happy to take me on projects if the timing is right.
After 6 years of living away from the UK I decided it was time to go home. I went back to the UK to find a rather depressed contract market; I still managed to find a role though not something I was really happy doing and not in the industry I wanted to be in. Then one winter day I got a phone call from Australia from a company I had contracted for there, asking me if I wanted to come to Sri Lanka and work for them on a client site for 6 months. I jumped at the chance and somehow 6 months became 5 years.
My role in Sri Lanka was to work on a large data migration project for a client who had bought the Clarity OSS. For the first 6 months a team from my company was there. After that I was left on my own, for the most part being the only foreigner on a client site. I submerged myself in the culture, learnt the language and was determined to be a real part of life there rather than a part of the expat community. The work was great; I was technical lead looking after and co-ordinating a large group of script writers, data analysts, telecoms experts and data entry staff. Through the same company I took similar roles in the Philippines and Thailand - by this time becoming a subject matter expert in Telecoms equipment and circuits for PSTN, ADSL, IPVPN and IPMPLS networks - still based in Sri Lanka, but splitting my time between the three countries.
Working in Asia changed my life; I met people there in all kinds of work, living a lifestyle that I had never even considered a possibility before then. Sadly Sri Lanka unofficially went back to war about 18 months ago (officially at the start of this year), the security situation was getting bad with lots of bombs in the capital and a general feeling of unease. I decided it was time for me to move back to the UK. This time I have been here for longer - I took a contract with Shell Trading on a large data migration project where I have been for the past year. My role here is more of a data modeller and I have had the opportunity to learn some new tools. My passion for travel has remained - I took a 2 month break between projects in Shell to make a trip to Angola at the start of this year. My current assignment takes me until October, when I’m going to have a baby.
For me, the best thing about working in IT - or at least the best thing about doing contract work in IT - is the lifestyle that it allows me. With the baby coming in October I want to spend as much time with her as possible. I think that the way I have been juggling contracts will allow me to do this. My plan is to work for 3 months then take more time off to spend with my child. Each contract I take gives me more contacts and therefore more opportunities.
Regarding the question about career aspirations: I remember once I was asked by a new boss how I saw my future with Clarity (the company I was contracting to at that time). I told him that as long as they worked for me then I was very happy to work for them. I’m not recommending that response, but I think that my career and life aspirations are working together well. This is because I make careful choices about the contracts that I take – I choose contracts that allow me the lifestyle I choose as well as offering me the best career development in my chosen direction.
As a contractor it’s important to further your career yourself because there is no formal career structure. Choosing roles that complement your existing skills and give you an opportunity to gain new ones is important. It’s also important to experience variation in the type of company you work for: the way an IT company operates is very different to the way a small business runs its IT projects. Having this knowledge can make you very valuable. The corollary is that industry knowledge you can bring to the IT company is also a good selling point.
There are lots of questions specifically around women in technology and gender differences. I have never found gender to be an issue in getting the contracts and rates I want, and combining that with my chosen lifestyle. Whilst working in IT companies I saw a good attitude to women in technology, and because this is a relatively new industry I didn’t see many stereotypes etc. However, working in other industries this may not be so much the case.
Statistically there are many less women at a senior and board level - I wonder though whether this is particular to technology or more symptomatic of a wider issue about women getting back into work after having children or even wanting to be in these types of positions. Often the hours are long and the stress unrelenting. That is not what I am looking for from my job; I am attracted to the lifestyle that this way of working allows me. While my life will certainly change post-baby, I have no doubt that my attitude to work will remain the same.
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