Eight thousand school pupils and their teachers tuned in to watch young people talk about their routes into tech jobs and how their experiences challenged the stereotypes.
The Spotlight Talks, focussing on inspiring digital careers excellence, were organised by WorldSkills UK, an independent charity that partners with education, business, and the government to raise apprenticeships and technical education standards.
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Huge demand for digital skills
BCS partnered with WorldSkills UK on the event, and Annette Allmark, BCS Head of Apprenticeships, told the audience: ‘There’s a huge demand for technical skills, and not just in tech jobs. A lot of the time, people think it’s all about working in tech organisations. But it doesn’t matter what sector you are in; digital skills are very much in demand and becoming more so.’
Going back to Buki, she works for a consultancy, Principle One, which provides digital systems for law enforcement. She couldn’t say much about what she does because of the sensitive nature of her work, but she did give a hint: ‘Essentially what we do is we tackle challenges within the threat landscape, so we are trying to make the UK a safer space. I can’t say much about it other than it’s enjoyable, exciting stuff.’
She told the audience she found her way into tech via the arts because she is, by nature, a very creative person. In the early years of secondary school, she joined Myspace, the social networking service. She designed pages for her friends using photoshop and found herself configuring HTML, the standard markup language for documents intended for web browser display. She said: ‘I didn’t realise I was coding. I was just making the pages look pretty.’
Tech Bootcamp
A tech career wasn’t Buki’s first choice. She took A-Levels in Art, Psychology, and Philosophy and studied Psychology at university. She got a job in sales when she graduated but then quit, took time out and joined a three-month coding Bootcamp. ‘That’s what kickstarted my journey into tech,’ she said.
She became engrossed in what she calls her ‘passion projects’ and designed her own role-playing Anime video game and an interactive travel destination app.
She said that passion powered her route from there to her current post. When it comes to learning to code, she said: ‘There are so many things you need to learn and keep on learning. You have to apply yourself and have a thirst for knowledge and be adaptable.’
Diversity
In her first job as a …….