IT's all about Choices

📽 Another 3-minute short. Answering a question I'm often asked: Why do you write books?

📺 In this video, I briefly cover how I got into writing, my doubts, worries and feelings when someone tells me they've read one of my books.

⏭ I also briefly cover the next book I'm co-authoring with Lucy Grimwade 👀 this space. 

My thoughts on my own self-doubt and how i handle it. 

Questions from mentees: I get asked many questions, but this one often comes up. 

My answer to 'Should I become a freelancer?' is based on my experiences, warts and all. 

In this episode, two incredible women, Sophie Hussey and Lucy Grimwade ACC 💥, will join us; both have been nominated for 2024's Women in Tech Excellence awards. 

Together, Sophie and Lucy spearhead a groundbreaking initiative - launching a new community dedicated to Women in IT Service Management: 'Women of ITSM'. 

🤲 On this #allyship special, I'm joined by a panel of special guests discussing the choices involved when seeking or offering allyship.

Georgina Otubela (Payne) - A seasoned service delivery leader. Georgina is passionate about developing teams and empowering them to achieve their goals through dedicated leadership and mentoring.

Jag Sohal - An IT Business Partner, and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Early Careers Ambassador. Jag is an early careers myth-buster who co-hosted the 2022 IT & Digital Apprentice Awards for the BCS.

Lucy Grimwade ACC - Lucy is a career coach, an IT Consultant, Speaker, Author, Social Media guru and the co-creator of the Women in Technology #ITSM Community of Practice. Lucy is the person you want in your corner; Lucy's fortnightly 'Are we there yet?' newsletter on LinkedIn dares to ask questions and make points needed in today's world.

Kevin Dainty - Kevin is why our panel met, as the creator and ambassador for the Women in Technology Mentoring Programme sponsored by Reed

This global programme of over 2000 people is the basis for #mentoring and #allyship that brought us together.

In Episode 10 of IT's all about Choices I'm joined by an old client, Arthur Barnes.

We discuss working in IT Security and Learning from your mistakes. 

Arthur and I met in 2015. I had chosen to give up the security of full-time employment to work as a self-employed contractor, not only did I give up a good job, but I also chose to work in what was to me a whole new part of the industry - IT Security Operations. 

I'd spent the best part of 5 years wondering whether to give up full-time employment. Choosing to do so is the best professional decision I've ever made - though it didn't feel it at the time. Working with Arthur was a great choice. 

We kicked off 2023 by covering a lot of ground, including:

In Episode 9 of IT's all about choices I’ll be joined by my former manager and mentor Liz Lyne.

Liz and I met in 2010 working together for several years.

In my career, I've been lucky enough to have some great mentors. Working with Liz and learning from her was pivotal to my own self-development and I hope I now pass this on to others. Liz was especially helpful when it came to my ability to read through the lines using listening and empathy.

In this episode, we'll discuss Liz's career choices and her own journey working in the technology sector, our time working together and Liz's future choices now she is recently retired.

IT's all about Choices

In Episode 8 of IT's all about choices I’ll be joined by a mentor of mine, Dave Laycock.

Dave and I met in 2010, back then I worked for Dave, and if I'm honest this time working together reset and challenged so much of my thinking and approach to work.

I'd grown confident, considered myself experienced and I wasn't shy in my belief. Working with Dave showed me that you could blend approaches and styles to achieve even better results.

Dave and I will discuss the choices that led to us working together, how Dave changed my approach, and Dave's future choices. 

In Episode 7 of IT's all about choices I'm joined by Ricky Raithatha.

Back in August 2008, I interviewed Ricky, offering him a role in my London-based Service Management team. Ricky was excellent, the missing piece of the jigsaw, in fact, Ricky was so good that my job was done and I chose to move on to pastures new 3 months later.  

We will discuss the choices that led to us working together and whether Ricky thinks I left him in the lurch! 

Ricky has since gone on to have an amazing career, we'll cover how he switched from employee to consultant, and back again as well as his decision to switch his career from Service Management to ServiceNow developer. 

So please join us on IT's all about Choices as we reflect on a myriad of life and career choices, working our way up to the present day, as well as exploring those choices Ricky is planning for the future. 

IT's all about choices

In Episode 6 of 'IT's all about Choices' I speak with Bec’s Doherty and James Doherty, all the way from Auckland, New Zealand. Today, Bec’s works as a People & Culture Manager, and James as a Project Delivery Leader.

Back in the mid-2000s, we all worked in and around the City of London. Bec’s working with a team of highly skilled coordinators with James and I supporting the critical information technology of the same investment management business, each of us choosing to operate in this highly pressurized environment.

We will discuss the choices that led to us working around one another and how this show led to a rekindling of memories such as how Bec’s and James went from sitting in their sun-kissed Auckland lounge reading the morning papers to being on a flight from New Zealand to the UK 9 weeks later, or how attempting to ‘fit in’ to a new country can lead you to choose an alternative place to make your home or indeed the impact act of choosing not to fit in when life holds another path for you.