What's your background?
I was born in England and my family moved to Queensland Australia where I grew up in a place called Moranbah, which is a regional mining town with a population of about 8,000 people.
I attended school in both the UK and in Australia and from about the time I was 14 or 15 I knew I wanted to work with technology in some capacity. Originally I’d planned to join the Army, study IT and eventually go into the private sector, but that was cut short when I got injured in and got medically discharged. So I took a different route and studied both my degrees externally, whilst working fulltime in IT jobs and by the time I graduated I was working in a team leadership role in a small business in Canberra. Over the past 10 years or so I’ve worked in IT engineering roles, as a Solutions Architect and as a Chief Technology Officer to mostly government clients.
I applied for my current role at Leidos in 2020 as I wanted to get back to the Architecture and Digital Modernisation work that I’d loved throughout my career. Throughout the interview process, I really liked the culture, smart people and the mission that Leidos has, so it was a no brainer for me.
Now, in my current role within the Leidos Australia Digital Modernisation practice, I work with a team of architects and technology specialists to help design IT systems and capabilities in areas such as cloud computing, application migration, end-user computing and across lots of different technologies.
What's your job about?
Leidos Australia provides practical solutions that answer our federal government customers most complex challenges using Science, Engineering and IT and the team that I belong to is right at the centre.
My job is to help solve technical challenges, overhaul government IT systems to deliver better services to citizens and government customers. On a daily basis I understand problems, workshop ideas, design IT systems and explore different ways of doing things. I love the variety and the complexity of the systems we work with.
Did you always know you wanted to work in this field?
Pretty much. Since mid-high school, I had an inkling that I wanted to work with technology and I have done so throughout most of my working life. I really think it’s the best industry to work in and I’m never bored.
What is most rewarding about your job?
I get to solve new challenges every day and get to design and build complex systems. The single best thing though is working with brilliant people and I really value the team and the fantastic culture at Leidos. The work we do is important for our government, citizens and military, so it’s nice to be contributing to something bigger in some small way.
What were some of the challenges you faced in getting to where you are now?
Technology moves so fast and sometimes it’s hard to keep up. The thing I’ve always loved about technology is the change, continuous learning and being able to be creative in order to solve problems with technology.
The workload varies and sometimes it’s really busy and other times we have time to plan more strategically and work on longer-term efforts. I enjoy the variety, continual learning and it really feeds my curiosity at work, but some people may find that quite stressful.
3 pieces of advice you would give women who want to work in your industry?
My three pieces of advice to women who want to work in technology would be: