Fire up with Tech skills

A few of the speakers talking to Hannah Maude during Fire and Forte’s Tech Week.

One of the best bits of being in our forties is the experience gathered over the years.

However the world moves at pace. Many, if not all jobs are being impacted by technological advancements.

Passionate about combining this invaluable experience with today’s in-demand skills, Tech Week ran from 20th March 2023.

TECH WEEK, IT’S A WRAP!

Georgie Hubbard kicked off the week asking us to not to “wait until there's a massive change in your industry, look ahead to the next 10 years, and think how can I secure my future”.

Georgie and business partner Pam Caldwell run CH Solutions and founded the Sisterhood club when they saw the scale of the issue “we were making great placements, they were getting promoted fast and on good salaries, but where were all the men?

She advises women to be proactive, looking into the best course to take and broadening your network. Georgie expressed the importance of a great LinkedIn profile - if you want to change careers, you need to demonstrate you really mean it.

Anna O’Dea from boutique Marketing and PR recruiter Iceberg gave a similar perspective “an employer wants to know you really want this new career so getting some real life experience to show you genuinely know what the role entails is a must”. She went on to give examples from gaining experience in a start-up, a family business, part time for a charity or business.

To be successful in a technology role, Iain Waugh of Zip Co, the global ‘buy now, pay later’ technology company said agility was needed. “The pace of change is very rapid. You need to be open minded and flexible”. 

His advice however was a can-do attitude - “rather than thinking ‘I can’t do that’, instead think “I can’t do that YET”.

Our guests from Tech Week had shared this attitude. There was an awareness that learning would take time, and some discomfort not knowing the answer. Cos, Nicole, Jeannie-Marie and Helen had all found their own methods of learning, but patience & perseverance were shared attitudes.

Cos R - Cyber Security 

Cos R shared her personal story of identity theft that was a key motivator to move into Cyber security. As well as a personal interest in crime & catching the bad guy.

Still after 20 years as an Executive Assistant, it was a significant move. Educating colleagues on how to avoid risk had required many skills including communicating messages in a way that was truly understood. “My EA skills have never gone to waste” she says reassuringly.

Nicole Crivelli - Immersive Events and NFT’s 

Going from Accountant to Digital art & Blockchain technology is one unique career step. Nicole Crivelli told Hannah however that her curiosity had led her throughout her career - meaning a number of steps that were out of her comfort zone. From ecommerce, diversity and inclusion to cloud computing!

“I used to record meetings and listen back to help me learn what they were talking about!” she says of her time project managing cloud acceleration at a mining business. 

Nicole’s approach to learning new skills was complemented by her knowledge of key business processes, resulting in the very cool NFT project Street Art Alive event.

Jeannie-Marie Noyce - Health Tech Founder

It was lived experience that gave Jeannie-Marie the sense of mission to build Brenna, the communication app named after her late mother who spent 4 years in an Aged Care home. “I witnessed the experience of families and also nursing staff, the insight came to and I could quickly see it”.

The move from corporate lawyer to tech Founder was a big leap, however Jeannie-Marie shared how having a signed legal agreement from her first customer meant she felt comfortable to start building.

A strong network was invaluable also.

“I am a female founder yes, but I got such a strong team around me, the developers, the team at Tech Ready Women, my network, it had never felt as if I’m on my own”.

Helen Cross - Omni-channel Commerce

The switch to omni-channel was almost overnight for many retailers during the pandemic. Helen Cross had moved into the digital arm of a major supermarket 2 years earlier. Although the technical side was new, her 25 years of buying experience from bricks and mortar further helped embed process as sales quickly surged.

“Don’t underestimate the experience you have from a business perspective”. True of many tech businesses, ways of working may still be evolving - your experience can help lay down a strong foundation.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

We will be back with more careers specials in the coming months. 

Please get in contact if you have questions, or just want to say hello!

Hannah M.

Guests and Contributors

Guests

Georgie Hubbard - Co-Founder of CH Solutions and The Sisterhood Club, Georgie Hubbard hires tech talent for roles across Australia. Driven by a passion to bring more women into Tech, Georgie along with business partner Pam Caldwell, launched The Sisterhood Club in 2021. Starting out as a Web 3 focused business, the platform helps to educate women on areas of technology through in-person events and online content.

Cos R - As an Executive Assistant for 20 years, Cos took the decision to retrain and move into Cyber Security. As an analyst and educator in one Australia’s largest super annuation funds, her role is critical in protecting the business from cyber crime.

Nicole Crivelli - Starting her career as an accountant, Nicole’s career journey has been an interesting and varied one. From accounting Nic moved into sales, and then into e-commerce. Her next role was one of her most challenging - cloud acceleration at a mining business. A fascinating tale! Her latest project merged real life events, with the most emergent of technologies NFT’s (non-fungible tokens and the blockchain).

Helen Cross - A buyer in a bricks and mortar business for 25 years, Helen moved into a digital, omni-channel role in 2018. Two years later, Covid hit, having an unprecedented impact on the Food retailer she worked for. She shares the behavioural skills needed in this environment, along with how her commercial acumen acquired over the years have been essential to succeed.

Jeannie-Marie Noyce - Former corporate lawyer turned Tech Start-Up Founder, Jeannie-Marie built her application-based service out of a real life experience. The service enables family to get updates from aged care facilities about their loved ones via the app, helping both carers and family avoid the challenges the system currently faces when it comes to communication. She shares her journey building a Tech business and the lessons along the way.

Hannah Maude - Host Hannah shares how she began to upskill in digital and online skills outside of her day job, and landed a job in e-comm after almost 20 years in Marketing and Sales. She shares the top 5 activities she undertook to move into this field.

Contributors

Anna O’Dea - Founder of Iceberg Recruitment agencyiceberg.com.au

Morley Muse - Co-Founder of iSTEM CO istemco.com

Iain Waugh - Talent Acquisition Lead for FinTech business Zip Pay. Zip.co