March 8 marks International Women’s Day – a moment to celebrate the achievements of women. But at Made Tech, we’ve been celebrating their impact all year round.
We’re lucky enough to have a community of thought leaders who actively share their insights and highlight the impact we create in society. From in-depth blog posts to engaging interviews, they’ve consistently shared their expertise.
This March, we’re highlighting their contributions. Showing off the brilliant work of the women of Made Tech as a testament to their expertise, leadership and influence.
Women driving user-centred design
Building effective services means finding the problem and designing the right thing to solve it. A crucial part of this is putting users at centre.
Over the past year, Made Tech women championed accessible design that does just this. During last year’s National Accessibility Week, Nicola, Ellie, and Mieka came together to write a piece on how to make sure the digital things we design, create and use everyday are built for everyone.
Helena reinforced the importance of user needs – this time in technology adoption. In her post she reminds us that even trendy tools like chatbots require thoughtful design to truly serve society. Throughout she reminds us that good content design is fundamental to implementing a product that meets user needs.
This is a topic Jude is also passionate about. In her piece, she challenged the misconception that content design is only about finding the right words for your product or service. In reality it’s about driving much deeper to truly shape positive user experiences.
And finally, Made Tech Academy alumnus Ciara, shared her honest account of how using humour makes her a better senior user researcher. And why fostering creativity and building meaningful user relationships means she can bring her whole self to work.
Women leading with expertise
At Made Tech, our women thought leaders don’t just share opinions. They bring deep expertise, real-world experience and a track record of delivery. They provide practical guidance and advice specific to our work with the public sector.
Over the past year, our delivery director Laura has spoken about how to create services that not only meet citizens’ needs but also deliver benefits for organisations too. She’s also turned this into a brilliant webinar – more on that below. Continuing to share her insights, Laura also wrote about leaning on digital to deliver more with less. She explained why, with the government facing a growing ‘to-do’ list, digital remains the obvious answer.
Practical tips from the team is always a welcome topic, with Tess writing about identity in government. In her blog she explores the challenges that come with managing identity in government organisations – from preventing fraud to protecting citizen data.
Kelly has a deep understanding of the challenges local authorities and housing providers face. Her recent housing report draws from extensive research and insights from conversations with our customers, housing leaders, and resident engagement groups. It explores how they have successfully tackled these challenges by implementing new technologies and processes.
The journeys that shape us
Last year we launched Made Tech Insiders. This blog series is all about getting to know the people behind the roles. Through candid conversations with some of the women at Made Tech, we uncovered their motivations, the lessons they’ve learned and what drives them in their work.
We spoke to Sonia who explained how transferable skills from the public sector make the shift to private sector possible and rewarding, offering new challenges and opportunities for growth.
We also heard from Dani on the importance of bringing your authentic self to work. She shared how building confidence, especially in areas like public speaking, has been a challenge, but one she’s tackled through practice and a supportive environment at Made Tech.
More recently we sat down with our new managing director, Vicki and got to understand why her passion is working alongside the public sector. She spoke about the improvement we can make to UK citizens and our communities, her leadership style and working “with great people to do great things.”
Finally, we spoke to Tess, who gave us her perspective on leadership in engineering and the importance of creating safe learning spaces to foster growth. Her take on the value of work-life balance is a key part of her approach to sustainable career growth.
With Insiders season 2 releases coming every 2 weeks, we’re excited to share lots more stories with you.
Events and talks from women in STEM
Over the last year we’ve had a calendar packed full of events led with vision, passion and a desire for change. And the great news – you can watch them on catch up. We’re delighted to have been involved in events highlighting the importance of women in STEM. Many of these are hosted on madetech.com but also in collaboration with our partners:
- Tech careers unlocked: senior software engineer
- Our never-ending tech and career growth paths: how much is enough?
- Career roadmaps: meet the women of Made Tech blog post and webinar
- Best practice: how to build digital services that deliver
Delivering positive impact
Our community of women and their passion for inspiring the next generation of women in tech was reflected in our recent company-wide vote for our charity of the year – Tech She Can. Tech She Can works to close the gender gap in technology by inspiring and educating young women and girls to pursue careers in the industry. They partner with schools, universities and employers to create free educational resources and initiatives.
Over the last 12 months the women of Made Tech have made significant and impactful contributions. As strong and supportive leaders with wonderful insights and passion for change, we can’t wait to see what the next year brings.
If you’re interested in joining a team with purpose take a look at our open roles.
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