‘When you see kids have that aha moment, you know you’ve got them for life’
Tags: Technology, Women In Tech, STEM, Careers, Tech Education

How did you get into tech?

I moved to New Zealand from England around 13 years ago and started temping as a receptionist in a tech company. When they called about the job, my first thought was: oh god, that sounds terrible. They’re all going to be socially awkward and boring. It was classic stereotyping. But on my first day, the lift doors opened and the first thing I saw was the Office Manager in a fit of giggles because the General Manager had said something funny. It wasn’t what I expected at all. That’s when I thought, you know what, I think I was wrong. This is going to be good fun.

That job gave me a really good foundation in tech and opened my eyes to the possibilities that the industry offers. From there, I moved to another software company and made my way from receptionist to office management and then into events and outreach. When I saw the tech outreach and engagement role at Xero, it was perfect because it combined my newfound love of tech with other areas I’m passionate about, like giving young people access to education and inspiring people to achieve career success.

What does your role involve?

I do tech outreach, which is almost like long-term recruitment. So I engage with schools and educate students on what it’s like to work in tech, showing them that it’s not just about coding. The goal is to encourage more students to pursue a career in STEM, because we are going to need a lot more people joining the sector in the years to come. I also go to career events, run workshops for kids — anything that will show young people what opportunities there are if they work in tech.

The engagement part of my role is about supporting our tech teams within Xero, so they can all come together and share ideas, learnings and inspiration. We hold Xed talks (a play on TED talks), run hackathons, host meetups for the tech community, and bring teams together from across the business to work in really creative and collaborative ways. As a global tech company, it’s our responsibility to support our own people. So my role is to foster that culture and do what I can to empower them.

What are the challenges of getting kids into STEM?

One of the biggest challenges is the false stereotypes associated with people in tech. That you have to be male, or a super nerd, or spend all day hunched over a computer. In my experience, if you expose kids to STEM in primary school, they’re really open-minded about it. They have no fear of failure and will give it a go. But something happens around the age of 12 — I don’t know whether it’s going to high school or the hormones kick in — but kids tend to be a lot more conscious about how people see them and their identity. So false stereotypes can be really challenging to overcome.

Related to that is the fact that in mixed schools, it’s generally the boys who take up opportunities to study STEM. So if you’re the only girl in a classroom of boys, that’s tough. For me, it’s about recognising that we don’t have enough women in tech, so we need to support girls at school and encourage their curiosity. In New Zealand, we also don’t have enough Pacifica and Maori representation, as well as people from low socio-economic groups. One of the things I love about Xero is that our leadership recognises we need diversity of thought and an inclusive culture, which is an important step in the right direction.

The other challenge is making sure they’re learning tech at school and have a teacher that inspires them. In the next few years, it’s going to be compulsory for New Zealand primary and high schools to teach a digital technology element, which is great. But there’s a need to support these teachers and make sure they’re confident about teaching the latest tech, so they can become a champion for their students. Let’s be honest, we all remember having a teacher who didn’t inspire us. We dropped that subject as soon as we could. So empowering teachers is really important.

What do kids need to spark their interest in tech?

One of the things I’ve found in my role, is that unless kids have a parent or older sibling who’s in tech, then generally they have no idea about the opportunities available. There’s this mindset that if kids are bright and have potential, then they should become doctors or lawyers or accountants. But tech is disrupting every industry, and it’s not happening in the distant future, it’s happening now. So they really need champions at home, at school and in the community who can encourage them and inspire them to learn more about the opportunities available.

A few years ago, I was running tech workshops for kids. This one woman was fine with her son doing all the activities, but for some reason she was hesitant about her daughter learning robotics. She didn’t say why, maybe she thought it looked hard and assumed her daughter couldn’t do it. But it turned out robotics was her daughter’s favourite activity. So it’s not necessarily just about educating students and teachers, it’s also about getting parents on board and reassuring them that it’s a fantastic career choice — they can earn great money and travel around the world while being really creative in areas that make a difference to so many people.

What kind of impact can a champion have?

It can make a huge difference. For example, I first met Penelope when she was seven. It was at an event in Auckland and she was really curious about what we were doing. So we paired up and did some robotics together. She really enjoyed it and even brought her mum back later on to show her what we’d done. I emailed her mum some activities for Penelope to do at home, but about two months later, she called me saying ‘Help! She will not stop talking about this robotics thing!’ She’d even been to Samoa for a holiday and was talking about it over there.

Dr. Michelle Dickerson (Nanogirl), Penelope, and Ruth James

From then on, I would catch up with Penelope and her mum on a regular basis and we would do basic coding stuff together. She’s 12 now and I see her once or twice a year. I’m not an engineer, so she overtook me pretty quickly! But it’s amazing how planting that seed and having a champion really made a positive difference. Penelope’s mum is amazing at finding opportunities and encouraging her to participate in things that will improve her coding skills and learn more about tech. No one in their family is an engineer, so it was quite incredible to see.

What’s the most rewarding part of your role?

I love working with kids who are going to be future engineers and designers and leaders. But the most rewarding thing is witnessing the moment when they truly get it. Their eyes light up and you can see they finally understand. I love that. I used to volunteer at a Code Club and we would be explaining computer science — not on a computer but talking through the logic and how code works. And you would see them have that ‘aha’ moment. Once that happens, you know you’ve got them for life.