Funding Circle @ The WeAreTechWomen Level-Up Summit 2022
On a chilly, yet sunny winter morning of December 6th, I exited the Westminster tube station, on my way to WeAreTechWomen’s LevelUp summit. The venue, QEII centre, was just a 5 minute walk from the station while passing by the majestic Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
I, along with some of my colleagues, had been invited to attend the summit, as part of our sponsorship package with WeAreTechWomen.
So what is WeAreTechWomen and the Level Up summit?
Just 17 percent of tech workers in the UK are female and even within this small percentage, one in five women are thinking of leaving the industry!
WeAreTechWomen is an organisation that has helped thousands of women in tech enhance their careers through their events, conferences and awards. The Level Up summit is their latest offering that has been designed to combat this representation issue by bringing together awesome industry speakers, panels, and personal stories to provoke thinking, answer questions and share sustainable solutions to help change representation outcomes in the tech industry.
My experience
Upon arriving at the reception, all attendees were given Blendology badges. It was a very cool piece of technology that the organisers had invested in which allowed you to expand your network through a simple tap with another person’s badge (and it was GDPR compliant 🎉).
I entered the main auditorium at the venue while the welcome speech was commencing and joined my colleagues at the table assigned to Funding Circle. There were about 400 people in the audience as well as countless joining in through livestream.
Immediately after the opening keynotes, a speed networking session was conducted in which each of us had to stand up and reach out to 3 different people from other tables and introduce ourselves, while tapping our Blendology badges to connect. Networking can be very intimidating however this was anything but!
Following this networking session, a series of keynotes and panel discussions began across various halls throughout the venue. You could see the agenda and the locations from the Level Up mobile app, so you were able to attend the session that most interested you. I attended a talk called “Tackling Imposter Syndrome While Climbing the Ladder” by Susie Ramroop and she had an excellent way of presenting her thoughts.
It was a very enlightening experience overall, hearing notable speakers talk about important topics such as the importance of male allyship and sponsorship for women in tech, inspirational stories around how women pivoted from non-tech fields, such as archeology and finance, to obtaining senior technical roles in leading organisations.
The cherry on top was hearing our very own Lakshmi Venkatraman, Head of Data Engineering at Funding Circle, speak in one of the panel discussions centered around panelists talking about their journey leading to their success in tech roles today, the hardships they faced and the lessons they learned along the way.
In between these amazing sessions, we went to one of the lounges at the venue where they served hot coffee and snacks and all the sponsors of the event had set up their booths where you could interact with them in exchange for exciting goodie bags. We had our own Funding Circle booth set up as well where I had the best time talking with my fellow colleagues whom I had not interacted with before.
There were numerous other engaging activities in the lounges such as head shots for LinkedIn profile, CV clinics, meditation etc. Safe to say, there was not a minute in the day where we were not doing something super interesting!
Key learning and takeaways
I left the venue at around 6pm with so many takeaways from this summit. Women were not always the minority in tech. Over the years, as gender roles became more defined, women were expected to conform to caretaking roles.
However, fast-forward to today, through organisations conducting events like these, more awareness is being spread about the lack of women in the tech industry and hence, more solutions are being drawn in order to combat this divide.
Men have one of the most important roles when it comes to combating this issue. Through their allyship, mentorship, encouragement and support, women can thrive even more.
Women should not be afraid of stepping up in tech even if they belong to a different industry. It’s never too late to try something new and there are no milestones that can not be accomplished!
Conclusion
This has been one of the most engaging, inspirational and motivational summits I have attended. The level of energy was outstanding and the networking opportunities were massive. There was an amazing selection of speakers with brilliant backgrounds, sharing their stories and thoughts that were thought provoking. I would definitely love to attend again next year!
