Author: Liz Scholfield

ICT’s EasyBuilders

Jörg Sassmannshausen, Research Computing Analyst at Imperial, hosted the EasyBuild User Meeting 2023 in April.

What is EasyBuild?

EasyBuild is an open-source software build and installation framework for installing scientific software on High Performance Clusters (HPC).

EasyBuild is a tool that helps provide consistent and high performance, and helps Jörg and team to save time by automating repetitive tasks, which can be tedious!

A quick overview of EasyBuild

How does EasyBuild work?

Jörg and his colleagues implement the software by means of several scripts, which can be best described as three different blocks:

  1. Framework is what holds the machinery together.
  2. Blocks give generic instructions of what to do with a particular installation type, e.g. unpacking a compressed file and copying the content to a directory. More complex installations have their own EasyBlocks, and can support 41 generic EasyBlocks and over 3085 different software packages (incl. toolchains, bundles).
  3. Config – EasyConfig files are the instructions sets of where to download the software from i.e. the home page of the software, what it is and how to install it.

Jörg and the Platforms Team is very actively contributing to configuration by either providing an EasyConfig file for a newer software version or simply creating EasyConfig files from scratch for  software which is currently not in EasyBuild.

Jörg says “Right now there are around  800 config contributions open in EasyBuild, with around 90-100 coming  from us in the Platforms Team.”

Jörg informs us, “Here at Imperial we are using EasyBuild for the software installation on our HPC cluster. So instead of  installing software manually, which is often not really reproducible and definitely time consuming, for software which is already included in EasyBuild we have a robot in place who does that work for us. Given we’ve got different CPU architectures on our cluster, we are building the software several times to these architectures.”

Building a community is easy

EasyBuild is not only the software, but also a large community. EasyBuilders come from all over the world, for example from the University of Birmingham and York University in the UK, to major international research centres, like Jülich or large computer networks like the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.

Easy Build community members group photo

EasyBuild User Meeting 2023

The annual meeting is a three-day event, and not only brings the users together, but it also the domain-specific experts together with interesting talks.

The talks are streamed live on the day via Zoom, so remote participants can ask questions, but are now available on YouTube.

Watch the content from the User Meeting online:

The second and third day were dedicated to a workshop of how to install EasyBuild, which was predominantly visited by UK system administrators.

Jörg said “Overall, we were really pleased with the event and both the meeting and the workshop were rated excellent in the user survey.”

As well as the EasyBuild meeting, authors can come along to TechTalks to discuss their particular software throughout the year.

Bonus materials

Easy Build interactive tutorial video – This video will provide a high-level introduction to the software build and installation framework EasyBuild (https://easybuild.io/). EasyBuild is focused on supporting the installation of software on High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms and is increasingly widely used as a tool to simplify this process. Jörg Sassmannshausen, Senior Research Analyst at Imperial College London, introduces how EasyBuild works with this interactive tutorial.

Audio Podcast – Listen to this Code for Thought podcast entitled ‘ByteSized RSE: Easy Does It – with easybuild’ with Jörg Saßmannshausen

Get in touch

If you want to find out more about EasyBuild User Meetings email: eum@lists.ugent.be

To discuss Imperial’s involvement or EasyBuild installation contact Jörg Sassmannshausen, Research Computing Analyst

Spotlight on: Maria Teresa Douglas, Product Owner

Maria Teresa Douglas

I’m Maria Teresa Douglas, the proud Product Owner for Data and Analytics here at Imperial.

I joined Imperial in January 2023, and in my role, I have the privilege of driving the development and enhancement of data and analytics products that fuel innovation and insights across our esteemed institution.

It’s an exciting journey where I get to leverage the power of data to enable evidence-based decision-making, which helps individuals at Imperial unlock their potential.

“Together, we will shape the future, where data insights drive transformative change, and our friendships make the journey even more meaningful.”

How did I get here?

Maria Teresa Douglas at the ICT ExpoI arrived in the UK in my early 20s, with little English but a passion for technology and embarked upon a degree in Computer Science.

On the back of this I have spent the past 25 years working in technology and data analytics for various companies; IBM, Microstrategy, Bank Santander, Sony, and Sainsbury’s. This journey has been a remarkable one, with each step contributing to my growth as a tech leader.

My homeland was originally Peru, once the home of the Incas. Funnily enough the Incas had an ingenious system called ‘Quipus’ for collecting and encoding data. They used intricate knotted cords to keep records and convey information, so maybe it’s in my DNA to work with data!

“It’s in my DNA to work with data!”

My future aspirations

As I continue my career path at Imperial, I am dedicated to fostering a culture of innovation and data-driven decision making.

My vision is not only to empower every member of our institution, but also to create a community of colleagues and friends who support and uplift each other.

Together, we will shape the future, where data insights drive transformative change, and our friendships make the journey even more meaningful.

My advice

To all aspiring women in tech, let me share with you the guiding principles I follow, drawn from the wisdom of inspirational figures.

“Be fearless in pursuing your dreams, ambitious in setting goals, and resilient in the face of challenges.”

Surround yourself with supportive allies and never forget your roots and the strength they provide.

Be fearless in pursuing your dreams, ambitious in setting goals, and resilient in the face of challenges.

Together, we can shape a future where women thrive and leave a lasting mark in the world of technology.

Want to join ICT?

We have some great and diverse roles in ICT, and we are always on the look out for the best tech talent.

If you want to join our team check out our current job vacancies.

Check out our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages and find out about or activities to remove barriers and create a great place to work.

Spotlight on: Caroline Carter, AV Installations Manager

Caroline Carter, AV Installations ManagerI am the Audio Visual (AV) Installations Manager for Imperial College.  I manage and control the delivery of complex technical installations in both new buildings and room upgrades/refurbishments.

I take responsibility for ensuring the needs and requirements of the users and departments are met and any change is delivered on time.

I am a subject matter expert on all AV matters at Imperial, representing this technical discipline as required within Imperial and at external events.

I coordinate with support partners and external suppliers to predict the College’s requirements and manage this to match market supply chain availability.  I help ensure that our students and staff have access to an evolving suite of products that meets their AV needs, as well as aligning future investments and technologies in a manner that supports the university’s overall progressive business strategy and desire for innovation.

“Show off your accomplishments, ask for feedback and take criticism as a positive.”

How did I get here?

AV team pointing at the word Ambition

You could say that I ‘fell into’ AV.  I joined Imperial as the Technology Manager in the Business School back in January 2003 where I was looking after IT in general.  When the new building was being built, we discovered that the AV as designed wasn’t fit for purpose.  Someone decided that AV was “techie, computer stuff” and so the problem was passed to me to solve.  I did what was asked and installed AV equipment that met the School’s needs.  On the back of this success, I was given 35 rooms across campus to upgrade to the latest standards.  This has snowballed into taking on more and more upgrades across lecture theatres, meeting rooms and teaching spaces to the extent that I have needed to establish a team to provide ongoing technical support.

I now have an amazing AV Team who I would be lost without.  

I have been at Imperial for 20 years! But before Imperial I had a number of different career highlights including;

  • Lotus Notes Database Administrator, Allsop LLP, London
  • PA to Residential Director/Lettings Co-ordinator, Allsop LLP, London
  • Media Assistant, The Collins Partnership, London
  • PA to Research Director, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, London
  • Assistant to Account Holders, Russell Warren Advertising, London

I also managed to squeeze in a year out to go travelling across the Middle East and Australasia

My future aspirations

 

Caroline Carter AV Installations Manager

I am really excited to understand how the student of today and tomorrow is going to interact around campus with the technology in a variety of different spaces and how collectively we can make that experience more seamless, more enjoyable, more exciting and stimulating for the students. 

Not just in the context of one room or a particular technology it’s the whole eco system!

My advice

“Don’t be scared to speak out.”

Caroline Carter, AV Installation Manager testing a lecture theatre mic

I have learnt a lot in my 20 years at Imperial and here are some great tips I have to help you in your career:

  • Never stop learning or networking. 
  • Show off your accomplishments, ask for feedback and take criticism as a positive.
  • keep a good work/life balance and don’t burn out. 
  • Attend industry events to learn from others. 
  • Don’t be scared to speak out.

Bonus material

Want to join ICT?

We have some great and diverse roles in ICT, and we are always on the look out for the best tech talent.

If you want to join our team check out our current job vacancies.

Check out our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages and find out about or activities to remove barriers and create a great place to work.

Spotlight on: Ingrid Joannou, Technology Delivery Manager

I am a Technology Delivery Manager which means I work on activities and projects that support our community by delivering technology to meet their needs.

I am currently working on many activites including an identity and access project, finalising a telephony migration to MS Teams, and supporting migration work for OneDrive and from group spaces.

My main role in project work is removing obstacles for the team and ensuring all the steps fit together to ensure the best outcome for staff and students.

“Always be open to new things, always give your best, and approach everything with empathy.”

I recently won the ICT Award for Respect, where my colleagues nominated me for the work I am doing and how I work with them.

They said, “Ingrid goes out of her way to make meaningful connections and to collaborate. She works very hard to deliver quality results, and is a valued team member – always keen to learn”.

I am lucky to have been highly commended for my Innovation as part of the Unified Access project work.

You can read about all the ICT Award nominations online and check out the other winners.

How did I get here?

I have been at Imperial for two years, I was able to join Imperial via a returner’s program after taking a career break.

Prior to my career break, I worked in the retail sector for Habitat.  I started there as a Business Analyst and moved up to Senior Business Analyst and Business Area Manager.

I later started managing the UK IT team for the buyers of all stores (excluding UK and Ireland).

“A career break can feel like a lifetime in Technology, so there is still a lot of learning to catch up on.”

Ingrid JoannouMy future aspirations

A career break feels like a lifetime in technology, as things change quickly, so I feel like there is still a lot of learning for me to catch up on.

But my real passion is understanding social and cultural impacts on organisational behaviour and how to affect change.

I come from a Chinese Reunion Island Mauritian background and being married to a British Greek Cypriot, I am especially interested in the area of social impact.

My advice

My advice to aspiring women in Tech, and also women returning to work, is to always be open to new things, always give your best and approach everything with empathy.

Want to join ICT?

We have some great and diverse roles in ICT, and we are always on the look out for the best tech talent.

If you want to join our team check out our current job vacancies.

Check out our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages and find out about or activities to remove barriers and create a great place to work.

Spotlight on: Joyce Kadibu, Software Developer Apprentice

Joyce Kadibu

As a developer, I am dedicated to building various digital products that support the needs of Imperial. Within ICT’s products team, I engage in multiple aspects of the product life cycle, utilising programming languages such as JavaScript/React.js to construct robust systems.

“Recognise the boundless potential within you. Whether or not you realise it, your contributions hold significant value within the industry.”

How did I get here?

Joyce Kabdu showing her work in ICT
Joyce showcasing her work to a colleague in ICT

I embarked on a unique career journey, replacing a university spot for an apprenticeship. In June 2022, I began my career as a software developer at Imperial College. While initially drawn to media and law, I ultimately found my calling in the world of technology. Beforehand, I took a gap year, exploring various career paths to discover the industry that best aligned with my skills and interests. This path of self-discovery led me to pursue an exciting role in tech, where I continue to learn and grow.

My future aspirations

Looking ahead, my future aspirations encompass a transition into leadership positions within the tech industry, where I am able drive progress and shape impactful initiatives. Additionally, I wish to serve as a mentor, empowering the next generation of young girls to pursue STEM careers fearlessly.

 

“Trust that you belong and embrace challenges that provide opportunities for growth.”

My advice

Recognise the boundless potential within you. Whether or not you realise it, your contributions hold significant value within the industry.

Trust that you belong and embrace challenges that provide opportunities for growth.

Be confident and never stop learning, as your diverse expertise will propel you.

Bonus material

You can read more about Joyce’s early career journey on:

Want to join ICT?

We have some great and diverse roles in ICT, and we are always on the look out for the best tech talent.

If you want to join our team check out our current job vacancies.

Check out our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages and find out about or activities to remove barriers and create a great place to work.

 

Spotlight on: Shivani Gaind, Product Engineer

Shivani Gaind, Product Engineer

 

I work as an Oracle Payroll Functional Consultant at Imperial providing subject matter expertise to product owners and product technology specialists. I work alongside the Payroll and Pensions Manager on HR and payroll activities. The squad I work in is critical in ensuring everyone gets paid correctly at the end of each month!

“Go for what you believe is best for you. Be the best version of yourself, keep growing and enhancing your skills.“

Shivani Gaind demonstrating at the ICT EXpo
Shivani Gaind demonstrating her work at the ICT Expo showcase

How did I get here?

I have 13+ years of experience in Oracle Space – an eminent enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. During the last year and a half I have worked as an Oracle Payroll Functional Consultant / Product Engineer, implementing new payroll policies.

In my previous roles I gained exprience at the University of Manchester and Liverpool John Moores University in their finance, HR and payroll domains.

I started my career with a world-leading enterprise provider, where I was interacting with global teams which really helped me understand how business works. My work has spanned across Asia and the UK, and I have travelled overseas to train and support colleagues on new solutions. These worldwide experiences have helped me grow professionally.

“My work has spanned across Asia and the UK, and I have travelled overseas to train and support colleagues on new solutions“.

Shivani Gaind, Product Engineer, ICT outside Imperial Main EntranceMy future aspirations

I want to lead Product Development for a leading organisation in the next 5 years. I aspire to be a leader and mentor for my team.

My advice

You will get a lot of wonderful opportunities, go for what you believe is best for you. Be the best version of yourself and keep growing and enhancing your knowledge and skills.

Want to join ICT?

We have some great and diverse roles in ICT, and we are always on the look out for the best tech talent.

If you want to join our team check out our current job vacancies.

Check out our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages and find out about or activities to remove barriers and create a great place to work.

 

Spotlight on: Kam Chaggar, IT Service Management Lead

Kam Chaggar

 

While technology plays a key part in delivering Imperial’s digital ambitions I look at new ways to improve the service management function and governance around our processes. This includes all the activities to design, create, deliver, and support IT services.

My team recognises that the core concept of IT Service Management (ITSM) is to deliver IT as a service. As a team we design agile service management processes to help ICT deliver IT services that meets the needs of our customers, like you!

“My role gives me great satisfaction knowing I can share my knowledge and experience with my team and ICT colleagues to identify areas of improvement.”

How did I get here?

Kam Chaggar showcasing her work at the ICT Expo.
Kam Chaggar showcasing her work at the ICT Expo.

In March 2019 I joined Imperial College’s ICT division as a Customer Services Manager for Support Services. My role was to liaise with departments and ICT staff to ensure issues were being resolved. Along the way I met some talented and inspiring people that taught me a lot about what they do at Imperial and how they make a difference.

In August 2020 I was appointed as the IT Service Management Lead for ICT. I am responsible for ensuring the overall success of the service management function. My job includes producing knowledge articles to enable AI technology in the future, and to identify manual processes that can be replaced with automated functions – so you can get quicker resolutions to your IT enquiries.

My role gives me great satisfaction knowing I can share my knowledge and experience with my team and ICT colleagues to identify areas of improvement in order to deliver processes that help improve the quality and efficiency of our IT services.

My future aspirations

Kam Chaggar outside Imperial Main EntranceThis summer I am excited to be taking on a new challenge to broaden my skill set further by taking on more technical and complex activities as the Software Asset Management Lead in the ICT Digital Infrastructure team.

This role will be focusing on a new automated software delivery strategy that enhances the end user experience for staff and students.

My advice

Continue with your aspirations and never stop learning.

Set yourself challenges and goals to keep you motivated and don’t be afraid to ask questions – everyone learns and digests information in different ways.

Most importantly maintain a good work life balance.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions, everyone learns and digests information in different ways.”

Bonus Material

You can find out more about Kam Chaggar on Imperial People.

Want to join ICT?

We have some great and diverse roles in ICT, and we are always on the look out for the best tech talent.

If you want to join our team check out our current job vacancies.

Check out our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages and find out about or activities to remove barriers and create a great place to work.

 

Building a CRM community

Creating the Imperial Community CRM

ICT have built and launched the Imperial Community CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform in collaboration with a number of departments across the College, including the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment.

The Governance and Community CRM activity team, headed up by Squad Product Owner Caroline Westbrook, have been working directly with users to create a collaborative tool that allows you to record, monitor and improve all the interactions that you have with external business and community partners, so that you can leverage those relationships for the benefit of the wider College and society as a whole. 

The CRM features a contact database for people and account database for business tracking interactions. You can log phone calls, emails, letters that you send to your contacts and track if they’re engaging with your communications.  

show a 'Contact' (i.e. People) view
The Sandbox development version of the CRM showing the Contact view (People view).
A screen shot of the 'Accounts' (i.e. Organisations) view
The Sandbox development app showing the Accounts view (Organisations view)

The team work in an agile delivery model, where work is completed in two week sprints and therefore iterative improvements are made – which will include; email marketing, events and process management in the near future.

Benefits to you 

The major benefits for building a Community CRM include:

  • Customer data and interactions or interests can be shared to ensure engagement is optimised. 
  • Saves time and resource via automations and reducing repetitive data inputs across the College.
  • Increased compliance with data protection and GDRP, removing the need for locally saved spreadsheets or the reliance on external systems like Eventbrite.
  • Removes the need for paying for additional external clients, e.g. MailChimp.  
  • Centrally provided training and guidance for new staff.

 “The best bit of the new CRM is the fact that all of our contacts will be streamlined in into one system – it helps us see our reach and how wide our network is.” Rhea Samra, Project Coordinator, The Grantham Institute

How is the CRM built?  

The CRM is built on Microsoft Dynamics, this is a great as it compliments Office apps like Outlook. The Outlook plugin is synched so you can send and receive emails, share your emails across platforms, and update contact information seamlessly. 

A screen shot of the record of an interaction
The Sandbox development site shows the record of an interaction.

Caroline is also testing an app using Microsoft Dynamics that can scan business card and upload instantly saving time and resource.

Caroline says “ At the moment Directors are going to corporate events and collecting business cards from all the contacts they’re making, taking them back, and then their PA is laboriously typing those business cards into spreadsheets. This new phone app can scan and create an entry automatically. So we’re making that a lot quicker. And the app can quickly look up event attendees so you can see any logged history of the interaction Imperial has had with them, which is great for philanthropy!” 

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of the CRM for the Grantham institute was built by listening to their requirements, and working closely with them. The Grantham team were able to test and feedback on the CRM, and iterative improvements made. 

Rhea Samra, Project Coordinator for The Grantham Institute, was integral to this activities success as she was able to explain the issues they were having with collecting various types of data about contacts. Rhea explained “This information is at the heart of what we do, forming the basis of our invitations to events, and the core of our broader communication. Our current tools include multiple Excel databases, distribution lists in Mailchimp and attendee lists in Eventbrite. We needed to improve the design of our data management tools, one to be GDPR compliant but also, to be more personalised in our outreach, measure and record impacts and to be more efficient!”

Rhea enjoyed working with the ICT team as they were “so patient and thorough to really understand our different audiences, why we talk to them, how we talk to them and made sure we ultimately have a system that we can all use and get the most out of it.”

“Having a demo/test site before launching was really useful for us to figure out what it is that we needed, and being able to feed all this back to Caroline and team via regular meetings was really important”. Rhea Samra

Rhea feels reassured because Dynamics is part of the Microsoft suite, and is user friendly and works well with all existing tools.

“Being able to add contacts via a Outlook plugin when you’re sending an email is perfect! We’re able to have data centrally with just a few clicks and you don’t even have to leave Outlook to do so! We hope that by having a system that isn’t onerous will help us keep on top of using it effectively.” Rhea Samra

Register your interest and join the CRM working group 

Caroline has a number of interested departments already who are being prioritised for roll out, but if you would like to get involved and utilise the CRM please let Caroline know, and she will book in a time to talk.

Caroline is excited to see how the new CRM will change the working practices across the College to create a more collaborative and sharing culture to improve engagement.

“You can see a lot more about how one external contact is interacting with multiple parts of the business and that’s where we hope things like the working group will use the same agile process to iterate and improve the product.” Caroline Westbrook

Rhea said she is looking forward to using the Marketing app within the Dynamics tool “as it will give us a chance to unlock insights into our audiences, information on emails sent, received, opened, events registered for and attended. It will really help understand what our audience engage with the most so we can make our outreach relevant to the those interested in what we do as an Institute.

It will help us target our communications, hopefully help us see our gaps in our network and where we can improve. These personal touchpoints will help us make the most successful relationships. The Marketing app is beyond our initial ask of a contact management tool and that’s great!”

Want to know more and see the CRM in Action? 

Join Caroline and team at the ICT Lunch and Learn on 4 May 2023 at 12.00-13.00 for a demo, to ask questions and register you interest further. 

A collaborative effort 

Caroline couldn’t do it alone and congratulates her amazing ICT colleagues in launching the new CRM MVP: 

  • Stephen Squires, Product Engineer, ICT
  • Andy Doe, Product Engineer, ICT
  • Lindani Ndou, Software Developer Apprentice, ICT
  • Rhea Samra, Project Coordinator, The Grantham Institute

With honourable mentions going to those who supported the activity:

  • Brendan Whitfield, Head of Cross Functional Product Line, ICT
  • Nick King, Solutions Architect, ICT

You should never be the one to tell yourself no!

Women in tech: A digital career for all

As part of Women at Imperial Week, ICT hosted a webinar to spotlight a variety of digital careers, focussing on women in technology.

Our ICT EDI Lead, Robert Sprigens, introduced the panel of guest speakers who spoke about their career journeys and aspirations for their futures in tech:

  • Tanya Powell – Co-CTO at Coding Black Females
  • Gemma Seabrook – Information Insight Analyst, ICT
  • Caroline Carter – Audio Visual (AV) Installations Manager, ICT
  • Joyce Kadibu – Software Developer Apprentice, ICT

Watch the webinar recording

This session was a great way of busting the myth that a career in tech is just about fixing laptops or coding. The panel showcased the variety of roles available when starting out in tech as an apprentice all the way through to becoming a tech leader at the top of a division or organisation.

Caroline Carter
Caroline Carter, AV Installations Manager

Caroline’s AV role is particularly varied and not one you would think of as a traditional career in technology, but the Installation Manager is instrumental to understanding how students engage with technology and Caroline leads a team with a modest budget to ensure the whole AV ecosystem at Imperial works together for the best experience.

Caroline told us that technology can also have its glamourous side. Caroline has met the late Queen when the Business School opened new lecture theatres and even supported the filming of The Kingsman in one of our Royal School of Mines rooms. But there is the more unglamourous side too, including once when Caroline had to deal with burst pipes and raw sewage spoiling equipment!

Getting into tech careers

Our audience was very interested in the career pathways to get into tech roles, and the kind of skills needed to get into a digital career.

Gemma, Information Insight Analyst, let us know that she had no educational background in analytics at all! Gemma studied American Studies at Uni and her tech journey started with a summer job space planning in Tesco’s head office. This was her first taster of analytics and using data to make decisions. Gemma did a role in the NHS doing clinical audits and then went onto some higher education roles where, due to her love of spreadsheets, she was given more and more analytical responsibilities.

Joyce Kadibu
Joyce Kadibu, Software Developer Apprentice

Joyce, who is at the very start of her career journey shared her pathway to a Software Developer Apprenticeship.

“At 17, I was finishing my A-Levels and I was quite burnt out doing it through Covid and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to pursue. I applied to do a Law degree at Warwick University, but with no real passion for the subject. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I took a gap year instead to think about my passions. I wanted to see in what industry my interests lay; I started to lean into media, but kept going back to coding, developing and building platforms. Although coding is not in the creative arts, which I love, it allowed me to let out my creative urges.

Last year I decided to go into tech – I landed on software engineering after much research and speaking to people for advice. I came across Imperial’s ICT Software Developer Apprenticeship programme and initially I didn’t think I was smart enough, so I sat on my application for 3 weeks, only to apply to the day of deadline. I always told myself…

“You should never be the one to tell yourself no!.” Joyce Kadibu

 I hated that I was going back on my word, so I applied and now I am really grateful that Imperial has given me the building blocks for a big career ahread!”

A special set of skills

Gemma Seabrook
Gemma Seabrook, Information Insights Analyst

Gemma describes herself as having a ‘Trifecta of skills’ which are:

  1. Data skills – Spreadsheets, PowerBi and Insights (data driven decisions, identifying trends)
  2. Business analysis – understanding customer needs and model design
  3. Management and Strategy – Prince2, Agile SCRUM Product Owner, Product Management

Gemma also has an A-Level in maths that gave her an understanding of statistical analysis. Her work in clinical auditing did require stats analysis courses to be completed. However, Gemma suggests that many of the skills required for analytical jobs can be learnt online and are easily accessed.

Tanya, who has worked in tech for 10 years and is a career changer – moving from creative media production to software engineering – has an MSc in Software Engineering, and experience in games development, backend engineering, fronted engineering and fullstack engineering.

Tanya suggests upskilling yourself in a variety of ways andnot just through traditional education routes. Tanya runs voluntary workshops including games development and building apps for non-profit organisations. These kinds of activities can help with your own development, but also supports others in their learning – so can be very rewarding.

Soft skills are just as important

Tanya Powell
Tanya Powell Co-CTO Coding Black Females

Tanya suggests Software Engineering skills can be taught but employers are looking for other soft skills.

“I got my first software engineering role not because I had the education or could code – it was because of my soft skills. I had previously run a team, I was considered a team player, I had project management experience – the employer said they can teach me software engineering skills.”

Gemma suggested gathering examples of anything you have done outside of work. Get good examples of non-work-related projects that you have done. You may find courses and apprenticeships can be done as personal development through your employer.

“ Enthusiasm for what you want to do is the driving force that will get you to where you want to go”. Gemma Seabrook

Supporting a digital career for all

Caroline is doing a lot to support women into AV roles. She is one of WAVE’s first cohort of mentors. WAVE is a six-month UK based programme where experienced leaders guide and mentor women with expertise, knowledge, and support. She also sits on the AVIXA Women’s Council Forum to encourage women into AV tech equipment roles and judges the AV awards (The Sport Personality of the Year for AV).

Tanya is now co-Chief Technical Officer of Coding Black Females which started out as a meet up in a pub for black female developers and has grown to over 12,000 members worldwide. This network offers support for women to get into tech roles at all levels with mentorship and networking events.

Tanya says the best thing to do is go out and meet people and find out wat they like and don’t like about their job; this will help you decide what is right for you.

 “Take a gamble on yourself, once your foot is in the door you don’t know where that will take you!” Tanya Powell

Find out what jobs are available in ICT and why not ‘take a gamble on yourself’ and apply today.

ICT Expo – from ‘Technophobe’ to ‘Tech’Xpert’ in 2 days!

ICT Expo servcie desk standOur ICT team came out from behind their laptops in Sherfield and went on the road with our first ever ICT Expo.

The ICT Expo took place on Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 February in the College Main Entrance at the South Kensington Campus.

The ICT Expo is a showcase of our support and products, and is a great space for collaboration and innovation enabling you to achieve your learning, teaching and research ambitions.

The two day event was a great way for the team to get talking to you – our customers, colleagues and our brilliant students.

It was really beneficial for our staff to talk to you about what you are trying to achieve and how we can support this, with many of our teams saying that had insightful chats that would impact the work we do.

We helped support many of you on the day, be that from our tech support at the Service Desk, or with Office 365 tips and tricks. We discussed digital accessibility, GDPR to High Performance Computing and data analytics. There were many opportunities to talk about the future of our current products, services, tools and apps with our Product Teams, tooling team, cyber security team and with Heads of Functions and the roaming CIO, Juan Villamil.

Phew, we talked so much my voice got hoarse!

Adrian Mannall, Office365 guru showcasing at the ICT Expo

Our Office 365 guru, Adrian Mannall, was very busy on the day training and supporting our staff and students.

Adrian really enjoyed the event, “The best thing about the day was the opportunities for staff and students to come and meet members of ICT and the Business School’s Ed Tech Team in person and to have a chat, ask questions and take away some answers. We got great feedback from attendees saying that they loved the fact they could come and ask lots of different parts of ICT about things that were either causing issues or for which they wanted a bit of a chat and they could do that all in one dedicated space.

“I covered everything from To Do lists for personal planning all the way to resolving SharePoint and OneDrive issues and confusion.” Adrian Mannall, Microsoft 365 SME, ICT

Staff member using VR headset

The Business School’s Ed Tech team Stephen Vaz, Senior Learning Technologist, Phil Tulip, Senior Online Developer and Joe Pollard, Senior Online Learning Designer were a special VIP guest team who came down with their Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and telepresence robot showcasing what the future of education may look like in the virtual classroom.

It was great to meet lots of students, faculty and professional services staff to try out VR and to see our robot. It also provided a great opportunity to meet other individuals and teams across the College who I may not have met otherwise. Joe Pollard, Senior Online Learning Designer, Business School

ICT Expo goers wanted to know how VR could be used in a business education context/wider education context. It was nice to speak to both those who were keen to see it used within their learning and those who were sceptical about its use case in a business education context.

Stephen said, “it was also useful to see how students responded to VR in action and to also hear their pros and cons of its use. It was a great opportunity to try out a new technology and get in front of students and some faculty members in person.

I spoke a lot to attendees about how VR would be used in education in future and they wondered when this would happen.”

It was a great showcase into the types of technology being used now in the College and what the future might hold. Stephen Vaz, Senior Learning Technologist, Business School

What did you think?

It was great to hear your feedback on our products, services and roadmap’s for the future.

Our customers said “ I liked being able to talk to someone in person about IT issues I have been having”

What did you think? We would love to hear your feedback on the event so please do complete this survey.

“It was really well organised and fun, with lots of engaging materials.” Anonymous

Future Expos

We ran another Expo in May – watch our roundup video:

 

The ICT Comms team were also on hand at the event to welcome guests and to hand out exclusive fun badges that indicated if you were a self-confessed technophobe or a savvy tech’xpert.

Don’t worry if you missed out on a badge or the Expo event, we will be coming to a Faculty near you very soon.IT Savvy #ICTExpo

We intend to take the ICT Expo on the road to other campuses very soon, and to create smaller fringe and online events throughout the year.

Watch this virtual and physical space 😊