数字她 was set up to address the gender imbalance in the digital and tech industry in Greater Manchester. Our programmes aim to inspire the next generation of women to join the industry, 并支持当前在这个行业工作的一代人.
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阿米莉亚Bampton, 区域主任, 英国Codurance以北, 向我们讲述了她为什么喜欢在数字和科技领域工作, 她的职业生涯, the challenges she has faced along the way and balancing life as a working mum of two.
Tell me about your journey into working in the digital and tech industry?
所以我的科技之旅是非常出乎意料的. When I think back to college and starting to think about what my career might look like, 我对科技绝对不感兴趣. 我只是觉得这不是我的职业. 我肯定看到自己在公司工作, 但那将是什么仍然是非常不明确的.
我去利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学攻读商学学位. The course had quite a modern approach and taught us that business and tech go hand in hand, 它们不是分开的. It was very much the theoretical view of how organisations like Amazon, 那时候还有哪家网上书店, were disrupting the market and harnessing tech to really change the way things were done. 我继续攻读硕士学位, which was a little more hands-on with tech but still heavily weighted towards the theory of business and this really shaped the direction I took in my career.
我一开始是在logicaCMG做业务分析师, one of the large global tech consultancies and soon realised that role was about using my interpersonal skills and my knowledge of the theory of tech. I found that I had this gift in the tech space of understanding stakeholders, 能够用他们能理解的语言交谈, but having a technical mindset that enabled me to relay this information back to the tech teams so I became the conduit between the two. 这就是一切开始的地方，我从未回头.
你现在是英国科杜伦斯北部的区域主管. As a senior leader within the industry, what challenges have you found along the way? 你是如何克服它们的?
If I’m honest, I’d say one of the biggest challenges I faced was myself, with imposter syndrome. 几年前, 没有人真正知道这个词是什么意思, 但在过去的几年里，它的播放时间很长. I think that's because one of the biggest challenges is believing in yourself and that you can do this role, 无论你处于职业生涯的哪个阶段.
在我快30岁的时候，我第一次担任了领导角色. 我是队里唯一的女性, 我是队里最年轻的成员, and here I was managing people that had worked together for a long time. 我从外部预约过来, and one of the people I was now managing had also gone for the role. 这是一个具有挑战性的动态, 还有一个陡峭的学习曲线, 但让我挺过来的是，我知道我的经理信任我, 随着时间的推移，我也开始相信自己.
跟随我的直觉，做正确的决定, 让我意识到我做的决定是正确的, 我是那个角色的合适人选. 这给了我继续前进的信心.
同时也领导着Codurance的团队, 你也是两个孩子的妈妈, what has been your experience as a mother working in such a fast paced environment?
I love what I do when I show up every day, and I do my best, that’s part of who I am. 但当我休产假的时候, 两次, 我可以休息一年, 我真的很感激.
People knew who I was and how hard I worked, there was a perception that that would change. When I came back from one maternity leave, it was into a brand new position, due to promotion. 我认为这是一个值得分享的重要故事, because I think there are some pre-conceptions that going on maternity leave and having kids is going to hold your career back. However, that isn’t always the case and I think that's important to share, and to champion.
我一直都很注重事业, 所以当我第一次休产假时, 人们过去常常问我，我回去工作后会怎么样? 我唯一的回答是我不知道. 我在公司里一直都很自在. I needed that time to understand who I was as a mother, and what I wanted. 事实证明我并没有改变. I was just Amelia who loves what she does, and very much still wanted to work in the corporate space. 是的，我现在有了一个孩子，世界对我个人来说已经改变了. 但我对上班的态度并没有改变. So for me it was about setting my boundaries and parameters and understanding what my core values were.
I’ve been on a bit of a journey with it, especially when I first returned to work. 一开始我回去了4天, in fact I've probably tried every combination of working hours along the way. What I found was I was a better mum by being at work and having that time. 这是我价值观的核心.
I'm back full time now, they're a bit older and I don't feel guilty, I feel energised. 我想成为我女儿们的榜样, 为了表明你可以拥有一份让你满意的职业, 不要让社会让你因为做自己而感到内疚.
事实上，做兼职妈妈并不是一条容易的路, 做一个全职妈妈, 做一个全职妈妈. 你总是很忙. 没有捷径可走. 没有正确的路线. I think it’s about working out who you are, and setting those boundaries. My boundaries are that I turn up for work, I do a good, honest, hard day's work. Then when I'm with the kids at home, that's their time, and that feels right for me.
这个行业仍然存在巨大的性别失衡, 作为一个身居要职的女性, 你认为游戏行业如何才能更好地解决这个问题?
当我回想起20年前, 我是队里唯一的女性, 那时候我从没质疑过这一点. Now there is so much more awareness of diversity and inclusion within the industry. It’s something I would definitely question today - which is a good thing. I've definitely seen a change in the number of women working in the industry, 但我们还有很长的路要走.
A lot of the work I’ve done over the last 10 years is around graduates, 年轻人和鼓励非男性进入这个空间. 我热爱我的事业, 如果这条科技行业的职业道路可以向其他人开放, 它也会照亮他们, 这让我眼前一亮.
Promotion of the industry needs to start much earlier than graduates, 必须是小学水平. We need to be showing better tech role models and female role models in the primary school space. 让他们编写代码，打开不同的机会, 所以他们知道这是他们可以得到的.
Why do you think it's important that we're reaching out to those younger ages?
现在的科技行业有很多不同的职业形式, 但我认为年轻人并没有意识到这一点. There are definitely still those pre-conceptions of what a role or career in tech looks like. I think people believe you have to be a developer to work in tech, and it’s simply not true. 老实说，我相信这是一个发展迅速的行业. 这个行业在不断发展, 总会有不同形式的角色出现, so there's so much potential for you to find a role that you enjoy, 可以成长和发展.
