Careers in Technology

On Tuesday 7th March, employers from businesses of all sorts and sizes, from small start-ups all the way to Google, came along to share with parents and students their experiences working in technology.

We welcomed back Old Lyonians spanning many decades: Andy Burgess, (1983), Nick Matthews (2001) and Vishay Karia (2018), and it was fascinating to hear about Andy’s, Nick’s and Vishay’s journeys into technology careers with Google, Culture Amps and as founder of Project Housing respectively. All three succeeded in technology despite having studied subjects such as business and politics at university, which goes to show that a successful career in technology goes beyond subject requirements – it’s passion, skills and attitude that really count. In addition to the guests from our School community, the Careers Department also had the pleasure of welcoming Aleks and George, from Xapien, an artificial intelligence software development company, Leena, a Global Cyber-Threat Intelligence Lead at Simply Business and Mizu and Richard from Colt Technology Services. This impressive array of panellists made for a particularly informative Q&A session, which was followed by much browsing of employer stands, where parents and students had the chance to engage more fully with our technology representatives.

“I found the talk on technology very interesting. During the panel Q&A, I sat close to the front. I came with my family; my brother was very inspired, as was I. I think that this was an amazing opportunity to try and learn something new. I usually go to all the Careers talks to widen my horizons and get a better understanding of my future choices. Afterwards, I talked to many of the visitors about what they did and how they achieved success in their fields. I got many different answers. The main one was, ‘follow your passions’ as it is easier to succeed doing something that you love. I am glad I went.”

McKenna (8AJM) n