We interviewed Lilie Keen, Technology Business Engagement Manager, Service Management – Technology at M&G on her thoughts and experiences on women in tech.
As a Business Engagement Manager (BEM), I support various business areas (Corporate Functions, Heritage and Security) by driving business focused service improvement, chairing monthly service review meetings with key business stakeholders, and managing incidents and escalations.
I joined the Technology apprenticeship scheme with the intention to move into a more HR focused role – which is now one of the areas I support! When I became fully entrenched within Technology and understood the organisational structure, I thought the Service Manager role was a good fit for me. It became a long-term goal of mine to get into the role and I persevered to do so.
My A Level subjects were the traditional ‘creative’ subjects: English Literature, Sociology, Philosophy and Ethics and Drama. My favourite one being drama (not sure why!).
Prior to starting my apprenticeship in Technology, I had work experience at Aviva doing Events Management which although I enjoyed, I felt my skill set would have been applied better in a high paced/demanding environment.
Yes. Even though there’s been considerable progress on increasing female presence in the industry – there’s still a long way to go, particularly in senior leadership roles.
There’s a perception that careers in technology are just for extremely ‘techy’ roles which would appeal more to men, however the opportunities within technology are much wider that require a variety of skill sets.
Prior to my apprenticeship, I was unaware of the variety of roles/career prospects technology really had. Increasing the awareness of the variety of careers in technology will potentially inspire more women to study technology related courses.
Yes, this is due to the lack of visibility of the variety of career choices within tech.
Having more female representation at various forums and sharing the different opportunities available at careers fairs and on media platforms will really help inspire females to kick start a career in technology.
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