Supercharge your software career in eight decisions

New technologies and unparalleled evolution are reshaping the world of tech — and creating myriad opportunities for female software engineers to be part of the revolution. Kainos tech leaders, Hilary Bannister, Principal Architect and Catherine Paul, Lead Software Engineer share eight decisions they’ve made to build a successful and exciting career in this fast-paced industry in the age of digital transformation.

 

Choose to join a culture of inclusive innovation

A culture where all voices are valued and perspectives considered is one in which innovation — and careers — can thrive, notes Hilary. ‘[At Kainos] we have a pillar around innovation, looking at the different technologies that we can use and how we can deliver more effectively and provide better solutions for our customers. We also look internally to see whether there are more effective, efficient ways of working. ’As an inclusive and collaborative organisation, anybody can have these ideas — we have an ideation process where if we have good ideas, we can throw them into the solution, then people can vote on them and some are actually taken out and implemented. So it’s not just people like me who have to come up with all the ideas.’

 

Decide what success means to you

With such a variety of paths to choose, challenges to take and ways to work, a career in software engineering is full of possibility, says Catherine – and defining what success means to you as an individual is vital. ‘Some people will decide that they want to be quite focused in an engineering role and they don’t want to move into architecture, for example. They can stay quite niche and do well there. Other people will need to do that move upwards, and quickly, to feel that they are being successful. And some people might start doing those moves and realise they actually want to slow it down a bit. It’s so important to remember that what success looks like differs from individual to individual.’

 

Know your values and choose the team that aligns with them

For Hilary, choosing a company that aligns with your values is crucial to success and to finding an environment in which you can thrive. ‘At Kainos, we have five values and they are all really important to me and meet my own values. Try to see what a company stands for and if it’s ‘like you’ and aligns with what you value, then it’s a match made in heaven.’ Catherine agrees, ‘One of the most important things around working in a company for me is how it treats its people,’ she notes. ‘Kainos is extremely people-centric, and it’s not only their engineers, but all their staff that come first. If you treat your people well, you will get good outcomes and good solutions and you will be successful. I wouldn’t even consider working somewhere if I got an inkling that the people didn’t come first.’

 

Let your passion lead you

Take advantage of the opportunities in technology and engineering to really explore and find the area that you love, says Catherine. ‘It’s about working to your preference — you can decide whether you want to be in an area that’s around legacy systems, or at the bleeding edge of technology, and that’s a fantastic opportunity that isn’t the case in many other industries where you have one path to progression or stay where you are.’ For her, one of the most exciting things about progressing at Kainos has been the chance to be the master of her own career destiny. ‘You can start in an area and think ‘this isn’t quite for me’. Or decide to move from a strictly engineering role to more customer or product-centric areas. It’s really important in the technology sphere to find a company that is competitive and able to provide those opportunities.’

 

Choose to become a team player

For Catherine, the move from individual to team focus is key to personal and professional development in a technical career. ‘When you start out you need to be analytical, able to problem solve and be a sponge for information to build your own knowledge. Those skills are very self-centric though and I’ve found that the longer you’re a software engineer and move up through the ranks of software engineering and technology, the more those skills have to shift and change.’ She notes that soft skills such as being able to communicate with different audiences, to speak to both technical and non-technical people in a way that they will understand, and knowledge-sharing become increasingly important — as does the ability to see more junior engineers coming up and being able to lift them up.

 

Foster a feedback habit

Taking — and giving — feedback well is one of the quickest ways to fast-track a career in tech, says Catherine, especially when innovation is continuous and technologies are changing at such a fast pace.  ‘As an industry, we’re good at giving positive feedback and telling people when they do well, but where we struggle sometimes is giving good constructive feedback.’ She recommends seeing constructive feedback as a gift, both in giving it to other people, framing it in a way that helps build them up to be a better developer and a better engineer, but also welcoming it yourself throughout your career. By asking for, and taking on board, insights about your performance, skillset or other areas from trusted people, you can give yourself a strategic advantage that keeps you ahead of the game.

 

Ask for help, be the inspiration

‘Find your allies and your sponsors to help push you forward. My university tutor, a professor at the computer science department, was always challenging me to see that nothing is impossible, and to set the bar high,’ says Hilary. Actively seeking out inspiration — or seeking to inspire others — is an investment for women in an industry that is still male-dominated, adds Catherine. ‘In this space, I’ve generally been one of the few females on my teams. Within Kainos, we have a female CTO, Aislinn McBride, and she’s a fantastic role model. I can look at her, or Hilary as Principal Architect, and see people like me ahead of me on those career paths. But not being able to see people you relate to being successful in roles in front of you is one of the leading causes of impostor syndrome in the tech industry, so there is a challenge. We need to keep that drive so we have the success stories and role models that we can look to ahead of us.’

 

Commit to continuous learning

‘The whole world is going digital — there has been a huge change from 10 years ago to today and because of that, software engineers are in higher demand than they’ve ever been,’ says Catherine. ‘The range of possibilities for work within technology is broader than ever and it’s such an exciting time to be working in this space.’ However, she notes that the pivotal skill in such a fast-paced and ever-evolving industry is being agile, and making a decision to commit to continuous learning will determine success. ‘Society is going to continue to evolve and technology will have to keep up with it. This career is not a static path; it will change and you have to change to keep up with it.