Women in Data & Tech: Career Insights
At EDF, we want to celebrate the Women in Data & Tech. Members of the community have shared their insights, reflections and learnings on different aspects of their careers — thank you for sharing & we hope you enjoy!
Balancing Career and Personal Life — Neda Shahid
As a working mother with two kids who recently resumed my career after a seven-year hiatus, I have come to realize that striking a balance between personal and professional life is not a destination but rather a continuous journey of growth and adaptation. With each passing day, I find myself learning and evolving, finding new ways to balance my career and family responsibilities.
Transitioning back into the workforce after a prolonged career break of 7 years brought up many emotions and adjustments. On one hand, I was excited to get back into my career and contribute meaningfully to my growth. On the other hand, I struggled with guilt and worry, especially due to “mom guilt” as I tried to manage both work and my responsibilities as a mother and caregiver. It was challenging to juggle work commitments with unexpected situations, such as when my children needed extra care, particularly during illness. However, I believe I am fortunate to work for a company that offers excellent flexibility, which has been invaluable in navigating these scenarios. It is reassuring to know that EDF values the well-being of its employees and supports us in managing our personal and professional lives. The company’s dedication to creating a supportive and flexible work environment makes it stand out and allows employees to thrive in both their personal and professional endeavours.
One invaluable lesson I have learned is the importance of “me-time” and socializing. With the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s crucial to carve out moments for self-care and relaxation. Whether it is indulging in a favourite hobby, taking a leisurely stroll in nature, or simply enjoying a quiet cup of tea, such moments rejuvenate my energy, enabling me to show up fully present in both my personal and professional life.
As a working mother, I know the balancing act is an ongoing challenge. But if I can navigate it, I believe all of us can. Together, we can support each other and thrive in both our career and personal lives.
Navigating Challenges: Bev Manz
What common challenges have you faced during your career development journey, and how can they overcome them?
My most memorable challenge was dealing with people who did not have my best interest at heart, this happened to me personally prior to joining EDF, I have fortunately not experienced this since, however think it’s important to discuss.
Navigating manipulative behaviours in the workplace is unfortunately more commonplace than you might expect, and its often one of the most significant challenges to your career development. When your performance gains attention from other departments, it’s not uncommon for your current employer to attempt to retain you through various means, sometimes resorting to manipulation tactics.
One effective strategy is to maintain transparent communication about your accomplishments and aspirations with key decision-makers, such as senior management, or even up to the directors of the company. By openly showcasing your skills and contributions, you not only reinforce your value within your current role, but also create opportunities for advancement or transition to a department aligned with your interests, as it becomes evidently undeniable that would greatly benefit another department. Additionally, cultivating strong relationships across the organization and seeking mentorship can provide invaluable support in navigating such complex dynamics.
It’s essential to remain resolute in pursuing your career goals while diplomatically handling manipulative situations. By prioritising professionalism and integrity, you can successfully navigate these challenges without compromising your principles or workplace relationships. Remember, resilience and strategic thinking are key to overcoming obstacles and advancing in your career with confidence.
How do you recommend handling setbacks and rejections in the pursuit of career goals?
Navigating setbacks and rejections in pursuit of career goals is a natural part of professional development, albeit emotionally challenging. It’s crucial to acknowledge and process these emotions before seeking constructive feedback from decision-makers. Direct and open communication with those involved in the decision-making process is key to understanding areas for improvement and charting a path forward.
Consider maintaining a personal feedback journal to reflect on your performance after significant events, such as interviews or public speaking engagements. This practice fosters self-awareness and facilitates continuous growth.
Recently, I found myself losing out of a highly sought after position at №10 Downing Street, a role that would have doubled my salary and fulfilled many career ambitions. While initially disheartening, I seized the opportunity to solicit feedback directly from the department’s Director. His insights not only provided invaluable guidance but also inspired me as he clarified I really was only cut out due to the presentation I provided, the technical tool I had built surpassed many others in the assessment. This has now clearly guided me toward enhancing my presentation and public speaking skills.
By embracing setbacks as opportunities for growth and leveraging feedback to refine your skills, you can navigate career challenges with resilience and determination.
Networking and Relationship Building: Evie Skinner
My career journey has been higgledy. I never knew what a software engineer was at school: it was certainly not something any careers advisor encouraged me to be, so it was never on my radar. I studied French and Arabic at university and left to pursue a career in music, playing with several bands in my region. When this dream faded I went back to university to train as a secondary school teacher in Modern Languages, and unfortunately that career turned out to be not for me. I dropped out of my teacher training after six months, taught myself to code, and the rest is history!
Professional networking has helped me massively, both in person and on LinkedIn. I took a bootcamp course to get into the tech industry, and I got to create a strong network out of my fellow trainees and the bootcamp organisers, who have now gone on to become QA engineers, architects and thought leaders! I would say that networking doesn’t have to be over-complicated: it’s all about cultivating and maintaining warm relationships with others by being a nice but equally strategic person. Get yourself out there and attend meetups, conferences and panel talks: you never know who might be mingling around the pizza and beer during that event. Perhaps you could approach someone and introduce yourself; or better yet, make it even easier by speaking on the panel or helping organise the event, and people will naturally gravitate towards you to learn more. I once attended a panel event where my main contribution was running a short meditation session: all I had to do was run a workshop for ten minutes, and people flocked to meet me afterwards to introduce themselves because they knew I was someone influential with a different type of skill to offer.
Mentorship and Guidance: Kate Hale
Back in 2021, I joined EDF on the Data and Technology graduate scheme after finishing an Earth Sciences degree. Switching into tech from a code-free background was not a straightforward decision for me, and I had plenty of questions and doubts. My research advisor offered me some career mentorship, and it ultimately set me up for a career that I love! Since then, I’ve been both a mentee and a mentor, and I’d like to talk about the three things that have helped me the most so far.
1. Define how long the mentorship will last and how many meetings you will have:
Working towards an end date provides focus and drive, along with a natural reflection point in which to review progress and make a conscious decision about where to take the mentorship next. An individual’s personal and professional development over time means that they will generally benefit from mentoring and being mentored by a range of people over their career, and starting out with a stopping point in mind makes it easier for both people in the mentorship to act on this.
2. Take abundant notes and share them with each other:
Mentorship sessions often take place at protracted intervals, and this can make it difficult to build a strong relationship and cover new ground in each meeting. By recording not just outcomes and actions, but also information and feelings from each meeting, the notes become a memory aid and a tool for reviewing progress. Sharing a condensed version of these notes surfaces the other person’s perspective and priorities, leaving less room for misinterpretation.
3. Accept and develop mentorship wherever you find it:
I think we have more mentors in our lives than we realise, shaping our decisions in ways that aren’t always obvious. Many people view mentorships as solely professional, unidirectional, and transactional — but that doesn’t have to be the case. I would encourage you to reflect on how your friends, family, and coworkers have also been your mentors and mentees. Professional mentorship is one piece of the puzzle, but guidance and support can come from many places.
Career Transitions: Nelly Skinner
I am part of the short-term trading software engineering team working on applications to support the shift traders within WMS. My job involves working as part of an agile team to write code and make improvements to the software for users. I used to work full time as a speech and language therapist in the NHS. I liked the idea of a career in something creative where I would be faced with challenging problems to solve and never get bored! The tech industry is innovative and creative and there are so many opportunities to progress. Some of the skills I use in my current role are problem solving, team collaboration, and coaching others. These are all skills I’d honed in my previous career which I transferred over. It’s easy to feel like during a career change you’re starting from scratch, but consider your own transferable skills and what you have to offer that makes you different to everyone else.
Navigating a career change can be daunting but it is important to plan, stay organised and be flexible. Personally, it really helped me to get a lot of exposure to the tech industry before committing to a career change. Before changing career, I would recommend getting as much exposure and speaking to as many people as possible about the new industry and potential roles. I did this via networking events, workshops, evening classes and tech meetups. I also gained hands on experience through short courses (online and in person) that I could study alongside my full-time job to determine whether the career move was for me. It may feel like a big risk, but if you read up, find learning opportunities, and speak to as many people as possible you will have enough to decide whether it is for you! I would recommend seeking roles where the people have a learning-mindset and there will be plenty of on-the-job up-skilling available, which is something you can ask at interviews. Expect challenges and setbacks along the way but stay focussed on your goals and your motivation for changing careers.
Skill Development: Cici Whitcomb
Skill development is an important part of career progression, particularly in such a dynamic and continuously evolving industry. I’ve found it can be hard to know which skills to focus on and how to develop them in a meaningful way. Here are some thoughts I’ve gathered on the topic:
Working out which skills to focus on:
I think that recognising and then aligning personal attributes, such as strengths, weaknesses, and interests, with career objectives is a key part of professional growth. It can be hard to identify your own strengths and weaknesses, but I’ve found it helpful to regularly ask for feedback from a wide range of peers. This brings a broader perspective, and can sometimes differ from personal perception.
Once I have gauged my current strengths and weaknesses, I have found it useful to compare my present skillset to that required to reach my next career goal. Competency frameworks can be useful here. This method of setting short-term benchmarks has helped me identify areas of development that I can focus on to help me reach my professional goals. I would highlight that it’s important to get a mix of both soft and technical skills to ensure a well-rounded balance.
How to develop these skills in a meaningful way:
After homing in on which skill(s) to focus on, the next hurdle is working out how to develop them. Acquiring new skills needs dedicated time and a deliberate planning, which is definitely easier said than done! It’s really easy for skill development to fall by the wayside so it’s important to plan how you will keep the momentum up. Different skills will suit different ways of learning. For example, it can be helpful to block out regular time in your calendar for things like training courses and self-paced learning, or another strategy is to deliberately work on projects that will develop these skills on-the-job. Accountability can also help keep the momentum up for self-development so being vocal about your goals with your manager, signing up to take an exam, or doing a training course with a peer are all useful ways to help make sure your skill development remains a priority.
To summarise, I have found the strategy of recognising and aligning my strengths and weaknesses with career objectives, identifying gaps in my current skillset, and implementing deliberate development plans a useful way to ensure I keep developing and growing towards my career goals.
