Women In Tech November 2020

Thursday 5th November at 6.30pm - ONLINE

Event Link:

http://nott.tech/wit-nov-2020-zoom

Passcode: WiTNotts!

Coding Black Females Takeover

This month, we’re doing something a bit different have handing the reigns over to Coding Black Females who will be presenting seven fantastic talks by seven awesome community members.

About Coding Black Females

Coding Black Females was founded by Charlene Hunter and is a nonprofit organisation. Their primary aim is to provide opportunities for Black female developers to develop themselves, meet familiar faces, network, receive support and build relationships through having regular meetups.

Speakers

A Non-Techie's Journey To Software Engineering

by Elle Hallal

Considering a career change to software engineering, without a STEM background? In this talk, we’ll embark on a non-traditional journey into tech. If you're on a similar path, or have been considering carving your own, this talk will help you with starting and planning for your own journey.

About Elle

With a background in Client and Crisis Management, Elle transitioned into tech a couple of years ago. She is currently a Software Engineer at 8th Light, a software consultancy.
Her journey into STEM was via a non-traditional route. She became a Software Engineer a year ago, and has contributed to projects in a number of industries since.
Elle is a member of Coding Black Females' leadership team, mentors, and is passionate about enhancing visibility, and increasing the number of Black women in the sector.

An Overview of Infrastructure as Code

By Solange Gasengayire Umuhire

An overview of Infrastructure as Code - What it is, why it is important, and how to get started.

About Solange

I've been a software engineer for 10 years now, mostly doing Java/JVM backend development. I am currently working as a consultant for Codurance - a technical consultancy company based in London, Manchester and Barcelona. Prior to that, I worked for a health care product company in Belgium. Outside of software engineering, I love learning all sorts of things, sharing knowledge and learning from STEM communities, playing sports and travelling.

Follow Your Dreams

By Emma Mendez

Talk details coming soon.

About Emma

Vocal coach, studio owner and tech entrepreneur Emma Mendez is a woman who talks about her work, dreams and passions openly. Emma Mendez is an entrepreneur for social change in the music and tech industries, recognising that there needs to be employment opportunities for people in the arts, reducing suppression leading to crime and unemployment. Born in UK to Caribbean parents (Barbados, Jamaica), Emma sees Birmingham (#0121) as a city of diverse cultures, and a beautiful melting pot of creatives. Her area of expertise is vocal training / coaching, motivational speaking, employment advice and business start up consulting. Becoming the CEO at ARAIVR Systems Ltd, an AI focused software and hardware development collective. Emma has recently set up Umoja Community Interest Company (Swahili for Unity) to provide opportunities to up-skill for BME youth in tech. Owner of the Anyone Can Sing Vocal Academy, and the co-owner of Dime Studios C.I.C, a multi use creative hub for young people and adults in the community. Dime Studios is a epicentre studio for incubating choreographers, photographers, engineers and pioneers starting at just £6ph to incubate and to help local creatives nurture their talent. In a time of closures and rising prices, the co-owned core C.I.C sustains incubation prices for the creative economy.

Self sabotage

By Carolyn Still

Working as a woman in tech is challenging enough without having to worry that you are not good enough, that you are not technical enough or that you do not know enough to succeed. If left unchecked, giving in to these feelings can lead to high levels of self doubt and sabotaging the very careers we have worked so hard to become successful in. We can look at this gremlin in the face and call it out for what it is. A liar. Imposter Syndrome affects 70% of us. It's time we started talking about it openly. It's time we ditched it.

About Carolyn

Carolyn Still is a transformational coach and mentor, and the founder of You, Only better. She is an advocate for driving greater inclusion and diversity in tech and passionate about seeing women succeeding and thriving in and outside work. Carolyn is a strong believer that being technically savvy is not enough to get us recognised and promoted within the workplace. She specialises in providing women in tech with the tools, skills and strategies that help prevent them from making unconscious mistakes that sabotage their careers. She works with women in areas around mindset, confidence, assertiveness, and combating imposter syndrome. Carolyn’s mission is to see more women enter and stay within tech, and go on to become the next C level executives. On top of working as a transformational coach Carolyn holds an MBA from Warwick University. She also works full time as a client facing Project Management Consultant, a role that involves delivering auto finance software to major car manufacturers. Her tech career spans over 15 years, and has seen her working a number of roles within data management. Carolyn is well versed with the challenges and pressures faced by women of colour in tech. Carolyn is Kenyan born and raised, and calls the UK her second home.

Being a Tech Person in a Creative World

By Christine Osazuwa

Opening yourself to the possibility of tech roles outside of tech companies but understanding the unique challenges of working in a creative industry (like the music industry) while working with tech & data.

About Christine

From running street teams to making a music documentary, Christine spent most of my adolescence deeply entrenched in the music industry and went on to receive an undergrad degree in Music Business, followed by an MBA in Marketing and a Masters in Data Science. She managed to combine all of her passions into roles consulting and working with various music startups, venues, festivals, radio stations and labels bridging the gap between music, data & business. Originally from Baltimore, MD, USA, Christine spent 2 years in Stockholm most recently as the Head of Data & Insights for Universal Music Sweden and now calls London home working as the Director of Data & Insights for Global Marketing at Warner Music Group, where Christine uses data to tell stories & help guide artist's journeys.

Developer Advocate throughout pandemic days

By Laís Carvalho

Developer advocacy is a relative new path in the tech industry. In this talk, I will tell you all about the role of a devrel (for the intimates), and how was my experience of being the first Developer Advocate for a company, throughout the last few pandemic months.

About Laís

With a background in customer service and civil & environmental Engineering, I currently work as a Developer Advocate for an Advanced analytics management consultancy company. I am studying last year in Information Technology and have a vast interest in Machine Learning. I am also an enthusiastic member of the Python community. Part of Python Ireland's committee, EuroPython volunteer and a Python Software Foundation contributing member. I also love hosting conferences and events (now all online).

Finding your ‘why’ and achieving it

By Bola Ajose

In this fast-paced world, we often find ourselves just going with the motions. How often do we get the time to reflect on why we do what we do? During this talk we will delve into how to find your ‘why’, the importance of it and steps to achieve it. Using examples of Bola’s journey into tech, we will also explore how to maintain confidence and motivation during difficult times

 About Bola

Bola Ajose is a self-taught programmer who recently made her transition into Tech and is currently working for Permutive as a Technical Operations Analyst. With experience as a Logistics Manager for Stemettes, and as a Programme Manager at Coders of Colour she is passionate about STEM communication and amplifying Black Women’s voices in these spaces. Outside of work, Bola is a keen Baker and loves to experiment with cooking, she is currently working on a catering project with her Mum.

JOIN US ONLINE!

Due to Government advice regarding COVID-19, we’re hosting our events remotely for the safety of all our staff, venue staff and community members. You can read more about our policy for COVID-19 here.

This event is remote via Zoom, the link to join will be made available here shortly before the event is due to start.

We’ll also be following along live on the #women-in-tech channel on Slack for general event chat and Q&A.

You can join from your computer, phone or tablet - all you need is an internet connection. As we’re using both Zoom and Slack, and we’ll be running interactive activities, a computer or tablet would work better.

You can sign up to Slack right now at technottingham.com/slack

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Join in with the Nottingham Tech Community online

The conversation continues online in the Tech Nottingham Slack group, which is a bustling, friendly online community with a channel for (almost) everything you can think of from #pets-corner to #devcorner, #podcasts to #design and everything in between. We'd love to see you there!

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