Newb at WarwickTECH
A non-techie’s guide to Warwick University’s Tech Hub
I was introduced to Harry, co-founder of WarwickTECH, last year at TechNightLDN in the Shard. I was surprised to hear I had made any impression at all, but over the summer a mutual friend sent me a Facebook message asking if I was interested in a position at WarwickTECH, and to get in touch with Harry if I was. So I did.
After a bit of e-mailing and LinkedIn connecting, Harry and I arranged a phone interview. I was nervous -it was my first phone interview ever. In preparation, I Googled “phone interview tips”, practised answering common interview questions and changed out of my pyjamas -because I read somewhere that it makes a difference. The interview though was pretty casual. It ended up being an almost 50/50 split of me answering interview questions and Harry explaining WarwickTECH’s conception and direction. A week later, I found out I got the position as Partnerships Lead.
Over the next two months I was doing an internship in London, as was Artur, current President of WarwickTECH, so I got a chance to meet him before heading back to Warwick. I was given a few research tasks during this time and I got set up with WarwickTECH email, Slack, Trello and Hubspot accounts. I was really eager to start and I wanted to get as much done in preparation, before I had to focus on course work for the second year of my Management degree -good thinking, Elizabeth.
Since day one of first term things have been crazy. Within a month I met the rest of the team (finally), got freshers registered at our booth during freshers fair, and arranged meetings with all of our existing sponsors. Attended networking sessions at careers fairs with our flashy new WarwickTECH business cards (thanks again Duncan!). Followed by a crazy week in London for TechDay: partying it up at the Shard and casually running into the Vice Chancellor -and exhibiting alongside established tech start-ups and accelerators.
Our contacts for future events, partners and sponsors has grown considerably in a seriously short time. WarwickTECH has, and will no doubt continue to, run some seriously sick events with these connections.
It has been a huge learning curve for me. Two months after being admitted on the team, I had my first briefing call. With JP Morgan. Not to mention, the purpose of this call was to provide an overview of WarwickTECH and our event plans for the year. I barely knew what a hackathon was, much less what JP Morgan was to do for ours. Considering I had been nervous speaking to Harry for the interview, it goes without saying I was pretty anxious for this call. Since then, though, I’ve been on calls with CEOs, COOs, marketing directors -all of whom I still don’t feel qualified enough to talk to, but at least I kind of know what I’m talking about now.
The WarwickTECH team has been just fantastic. All of them are super supportive and helpful. How everyone is managing to do their final year -juggling dissertation planning with organising and attending events -I cannot understand. Their dedication to WarwickTECH is undeniable and seriously admirable. One piece of advice I have heard repeatedly over the last few months has been: “surround yourself with people who inspire you”. I feel like I’ve done that by being part of this team.
If you are interested in joining the WarwickTECH team, get in touch! We’re looking for someone who wants handle our email and social — please get in touch through info@warwick.tech with your CV. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
WarwickTECH on Facebook and Twitter
This article was written by Elizabeth Lam, Partnerships Lead at WarwickTECH, Warwick University’s campus tech hub founded in 2014.
