Sophie (she/her in girl mode, he/him in boy mode)

Cyber Assurance Manager

Although my move into tech was almost pre-destined (already programming at 6!), my move up the value-chain from pure techie to the much more lucrative world of Assurance was driven by the part of me that has now (more recently) emerged as Sophie, the girl-mode half of myself. Sophie has always been the inner voice which challenges me to do things I'd never otherwise dare to do. She is braver by far than the rest of me could ever be, more outgoing, more gregarious, possessor of far fewer cares about what other people think. Without her, my progression through working with Government/Policing/ Civil Nuclear systems would probably not have happened. Because of the hostility & violence towards one of my friends - purely because she presents in public as female some of the time - I have deliberately become more visible and spend more of my time as Sophie, even though she's only been visible at work for a fairly short period. 

Tech is a fantastic career, and you don't need to be a hard-core techie to do well; much of the work is about compliance and assurance, and involves understanding people more than understanding technology alone. The UK desperately needs more people working in technology and if we fail to tap the talents in half of the population, we will not be competitive (or as wealthy) as a country as it can be if we tap the talents from ALL of the population.