Transcriber: Anna Sobota Reviewer: Keira White
(Applause)
Technology, the new industrial revolution.
Question:
How many of you would consider yourselves technical?
So how many of you then have an iPhone, an iPad, Smart TV?
Can you think about a day when you don’t get up in the morning
and check your iPhone,
check your social media,
control your heating,
get into your electric car?
I gave a talk recently to one hundred 10 to 13 year olds,
and at the start of that talk I asked a question:
“So who wants a career in technology?”
How many do you think put their hand up?
Two,
and they were boys.
When I graduated business, many moons ago,
I literally applied to every company I could,
large companies, small companies,
probably everything with graduate in the title,
and eventually, I was left with a choice
either work for a large tech business,
that was very well known on their graduate scheme,
or work for a smaller toiletries manufacturer.
Which one do you think I chose?
The toiletries manufacturer.
But why?
The salary was far higher for a graduate in the tech business,
but I use toiletries every day, and I didn’t use tech every day.
So why has it taken me this long to get to this point?
So now I run and I own a cyber security business,
employing many different people
from many different backgrounds in sales, marketing, operations, finance,
with only 15% of our workforce coming from a tech background.
So why has it taken 24 years
after graduation to get to this point?
And the fact is that we are also struggling
to find the talent in technology, still.
In my opinion we are lazy hiring,
only fishing from the same pool of talent,
and not spending time looking
at the core competencies and skillsets people have,
and training and developing these people.
Today is about why that needs to change,
and why technology can be a career for literally anyone.
In my opinion, there are two types of barriers to a career in technology:
invisible
and visible.
Let’s have a think about the invisible ones,
the ones that we can’t see, but we know they are there.
Confidence.
“I can’t possibly send my CV into a tech business
they’ll laugh me out the room, I’ve got no technical qualifications.”
Perception and awareness.
Likely if you ask people what a tech businesses is,
they’ll cite Google, Microsoft, Apple.
And in reality, there are thousands of technical businesses out there,
we just don’t know it.
And role models,
can you honestly say that you can get access to role models readily
that work in tech that can help you generate interest?
And now let’s think about the visible barriers.
The ones that are there.
Education.
What are we teaching our children at I.T. GCSE?
Are we teaching them about the careers in technology
or how to use spreadsheets in Microsoft Office?
The language used to promote technology is often quite aggressive and masculine,
certainly in cyber: defend, attack, malware and STEM, the acronym
for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
doesn’t sound particularly appealing and almost elitist.
According to government workforce data in 2020,
only 17% of personnel in the tech industry are women.
As a comparison, 46% of personnel in science related roles are women.
We have a long way to go.
So we mentioned STEM:
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
This wonderful acronym has been created in order to make these core subjects cool.
But unfortunately, by creating an acronym
doesn’t necessarily appeal to everybody.
And what about the Arts?
What about creativity?
Well, that’s interesting because now that’s STEAM.
Problem solved.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths, wonderful.
And let’s consider where Arts and Technology have always existed.
The Eiffel Tower,
Westminster Abbey,
Arts or Technology?
Tower Bridge,
Golden Gate Bridge,
Arts or Technology?
McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche,
Arts or Technology?
You see Arts and Technology have always coexisted,
and we need to start using examples,
as I have just done,
rather than trying to pigeonhole our children into roles that exist today.
We need to educate our next younger generation,
and we need to create so much more information around technology
in order to inspire and encourage people
to look at technology as anything from a YouTube star of the future,
right the way through to solving real world problems and everything in between.
We need to interweave technology into every business discussion
and every dining table discussion as young as primary school age.
There are jobs in technology that do not exist today.
To the employers out there,
stop being lazy hiring.
Challenge yourself on where you get your talent from,
and where the core competencies are that you need for your businesses.
To the parents out there,
start having some interesting conversations around the dining table
about what your children want to do,
what problems they want to solve,
not what roles they want to fill.
And to anybody else thinking technology is not for me,
challenge yourself.
What skills have you got? What core competencies do you have
that you could utilize in the tech industry?
So help me out,
the next time I do a presentation to one hundred 10-13 year olds,
and I ask the question, who wants a career in technology?
At least 50% put their hand up
because all industries need technology,
and technology needs all skill sets.
(Applause)