INWED 2020 - Our ​amazing women engineers

When I was asked “What would you like to be when you grow up?” the answer was always a Veterinary Surgeon. This answer always seemed so simple, simple enough that I based all my work experience and subjects around this very goal, up until I reached my AS-levels. During that year, as the stress built, my mental health took a turn and I had to accept that I wouldn’t be able to get the grades required to study Veterinary Science as I had always dreamed of.

For the first time in many years, I was left unsure of what to do and desperately seeking some form of guidance on what to do with my future, until my parents told me that a career needs to be something you enjoy, something you look forward to when you wake up, which made the answer much simpler to find than I had been worrying about. I wanted to be a Computer Scientist.

Growing up, I had lots of exposure to Computing as my parents were both heavily involved in that career, so I was fortunate enough to be taught it as a hobby. I took up the subject as a GCSE purely because I enjoyed the challenges it posed; the logic required to find a solution to unique problems in an innovative way. I also enjoyed the research aspect, looking into the various different areas of Computing and how people were applying it in the modern world - the one that captivated my attention most being the Human Brain Project. If you haven’t heard of it, I would highly recommend it for a fascinating read.

After a couple of weeks of work experience with family and enrolling to take AS-level computing in conjuncture with my other A-levels, I found myself unimaginably excited about what the future could hold. I was terrified to change career after all the time and effort I had put into my previous goals, but I’m so thankful now that I did make that decision, as it brought me to where I am today.

A month or so later, a friend forwarded the application for the Manchester GCHQ apprenticeship to me which I hastily applied for. This application was in spite of my belief that there was no way I would even get an interview, never mind a job. I suppressed that thought and encourage myself to apply just in case!

4 Septembers later, I have graduated from the apprenticeship, taking with me a 1st class BSc honours degree in Computer Science and graduating into a job I love. A job where I continue learning every day, where I get to research things that are of interest to see how I can apply that to my work, and a job where I get to use logic to solve puzzles. As with every job, it has its dull moments, it’s challenges, but the feeling of family away from home never ceases to amaze me. I am part of the Women’s group and part of the Mental Health group, both of which have helped me to feel more comfortable in my own skin.

During my time in the job, I have worked on a variety of projects, some with teams and a few on my own. My work varies from making ways to display data, to processing that data for my colleagues to use, and my current role is supporting other teams with their infrastructure, ensuring the systems we need stay up and running as much as possible. I’m proud of every project I have worked on, each having been different from the last, each coming with unique challenges and all of them allowing me to be part of teams of wonderful people.

That feeling of not being good enough, the one that almost held me back from applying for my current job, still lingers sometimes. Mainly when someone compliments me on a job well done, or I am given credit for some work that I have done. I second guess myself, my contributions, but a talk last year for INWED made me realise that I am not alone in that feeling. We all feel it sometimes. And as difficult as it is, you cannot let that hold you back! Don’t let that stop you from applying for that job you think you may never get, because much like it was for me, it may be the best thing you ever do.

I am a Mum of 4 working part time in Engineering. In the last 10 years I have been able to work many different working patterns, the flexibility has allowed me to put my family first.

I joined GCHQ as a Test Analyst after working in industry for 3 years. A Test Analyst is responsible for testing computer hardware or software before its ready to be used (these days testing tends to be done as part of the Software Engineering role). I have been exposed to several unique technologies and systems that I would not have dreamed that I would have the chance to work on. However daunting that sounds the training provided, and the support from colleagues allowed me to fit straight in. The training available is not just technical, we also receive coaching and guidance which has given me the confidence to be myself.

A few years into my career I started to think about what motivated me in my role, I found it was the people around me. My strengths lie in bringing people together, and bridging the gap between technical and non-technical language barriers. Since then I’ve worked in a variety of roles across Engineering including Technical Team Lead, Scrum Master (a coach/facilitator role that enables teams to meet their goals using an agile approach), Delivery Manager, Strategy Lead and now Optimisation Lead - a role where I help to continuously improve the working environment and cultures in Engineering, enabling others to flourish, whilst creating future leaders.

The main thing that links my variety of roles is the ability to work together with people to improve processes and ways of working to make everyone’s jobs easier. The best thing about my job is my support network around me, I am motivated by developing others, and finding roles that suit their skillset best.

In the future I don’t know what type of role I’m going to end up in, and I don’t mind that, as long as I am in a role where I am able to challenge and have the support and empowerment to creating collaborative working environments that help GCHQ make the world a safer place.

I’ve been at GCHQ for nearly five years now, but it’s definitely not where I thought I’d end up working. Growing up, I didn’t know what I wanted to do at all, but I knew I wanted to help people somehow. I went on to study biology at university, and while I really enjoyed a placement year in a lab, I knew it wasn’t the job for me. I ended up working a string of temp jobs after graduating, and spent time reading IT blogs and websites to pass the time. I moved to the South West and quickly heard about GCHQ but didn’t think they’d want someone with my background – I wasn’t a brilliant coder or a highly skilled linguist. It turned out that, despite never having written a line of code in my life, they did want me, so I started in a general technologist role.

In my five years at GCHQ I’ve worked in various roles that fall under an umbrella you could call data science. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a wide range of people from all different backgrounds – from career computer scientists and mathematicians to apprentices and summer students. I’ve also had lots of training and development opportunities since I’ve worked here, and it feels really good to be given the support to develop my skills.

My job at the moment is writing analytics to support the teams of analysts I work with, and collaborating with other data scientists around the organisation to develop really cool new capabilities. An analytic is code that transforms, summarises, or enriches raw data to add meaning and context. There’s a lot of problem solving involved, so I have to have a good understanding of the data we use and the kinds of questions analysts need to ask of it. My job here is to help make their lives easier by enabling them to do more complex work more quickly. It can be really frustrating and challenging at times, but the feeling when a chunk of code finally works is hard to beat, and seeing the direct impact of my work is a great boost.

I’m really proud of how far I’ve come since working here – I’ve learned lots of new skills, I’ve co-ordinated complex projects and seen them through, and more things I wish I could share! I’m proud of my community at work too – I run a course to teach people the basics of programming and try to make it seem less intimidating, and seeing people realise that it’s not so scary or difficult and that they can program too is so rewarding.

I really struggle with staying confident in my own abilities. I’m much newer to programming and data science than many of my co-workers, so when a task takes me longer it shakes my confidence pretty hard. Over time I’ve learned to move past this taking the time to reflect on older projects to show myself how far I’ve come. I’m also aware that my teammates probably feel this way too, as lots of us are still new to GCHQ, our teams, or the work we’re doing. I feel that by being more open about when I’m struggling and by asking for help more openly, hopefully I can stop my colleagues feeling the same way.

There are development schemes within GCHQ for people looking to move towards technical leadership from all different backgrounds, and sometime in the future I’d love to have the chance to complete one. I’m really keen to help my colleagues as they meet the challenges that lie ahead, and having better leadership and mentoring skills to support my community will be useful to support that.

I joined GCHQ in February 2014 as part of the Technologist Campaign. At University, I studied Robotics which included a variety of disciplines including systems design, software, electronics and mechanical engineering. On my first day at GCHQ I really had no idea what I was going to be doing. It turned out to be software engineering, and my first task was to take a week-long trip to London, over my 21st Birthday (by myself!) to learn Java programming. I still haven’t forgiven my boss at the time for that! I met some people who also worked for the department while I was there, and had some great sightseeing tours of London with them in the evenings!

Over the last 6 years I’ve had three different roles within the department, I was promoted to technical lead and have had responsibility for a few different systems; this has included understanding the technical set-up for systems alongside working with customers on a day-to-day basis. I went from C and Assembly programming at University, to Java and Python with some Database management mixed in. More recently I’ve become involved with the web application and user interface aspect, with Javascript and React being at the forefront of my mind! Cloud development is also gaining a lot of traction with our team right now; there’s always something new to learn to keep up to date with the latest technologies!

One of the biggest successes I can claim to have been involved in was a project that took 3 ½ years of my time here to bring to a conclusion. There were tough times and points when it felt like things were never going to work out; perseverance saw a 30-year-old system decommissioned and a suitable alternative delivered to enable our users to continue their important work without interruption. The project itself really helped me get involved in different aspects of technology and work with lots of teams from around the business. At one stage I stood in for a Project Manager when we didn’t have one; that’s when I realised that traditional project management wasn’t for me, but maybe Agile was! I chose to train as an Agile Scrum Master and more recently as a SAFe Agilist (a type of Scaled Agile).

My current role is within the NCSC and is quite blended which suits my career aspirations to move to a more senior technical leadership role. Currently I do hands-on software development and am also the Scrum Master for our team, which suits me because I like talking with people and splitting my day across hands on technical work, building relationships with our customers and other teams, and mentoring other colleagues to help them build their technical skills. I’ve found that all the roles I’ve had have been very adaptable to suit individual styles and career aspirations. I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in lots of different things to really understand what direction I want my career to go in next!