War Stories

It's a pleasure to introduce you to Amy Lynch this month. She's Head of Diversity and Inclusion at ThoughtWorks, a global consultancy company with one of the most diverse workforces I've ever come across.

In this episode I get to ask her what that means for her, the value that placing a priority on diversity brings, her thoughts on how to recruit diverse people, and how she manages to fit her love of photography in around all of this.

Clarification:

At one point in the discussion Amy mentions that at Afrotech fest she heard a quote that 2% of tech jobs in the UK are occupied by black people. It was actually a Silicon Valley figure, and we don't have the data in the UK yet.

Mark Goodfellow is a Project Manager with a difference. He's helping to bring Electronic Patient Records to people on the front line of the UK's National Health Service. He's also allowed to don the uniform and be on that front line as a qualified nurse himself. He has several desks, each reflecting his different roles and experience.

In this episode, we talk about Mark's career path up to now. It's been a winding road that has lead to a satisfying career that caters to his various interests. This episode is definitely for anyone who's looks at people with a clear vision of what their career will be and thinks, "how the heck do they know?" If Mark's experience is anything to go by, it's ok not to know.

Jennifer Williams covers political and social affairs news at the Manchester Evening News, as Social Affairs Editor. She's broken important stories around failings of the NHS in the northwest of the UK, as well as coverage of the 'spice' drug problem haunting Manchester's homeless population.

In this episode, we talk about how she got into journalism, how a personal interest in politics helped her get to do what she loves now, and how she'd tell her past self to just knuckle down and learn shorthand. We also talk about some of the ethics of the role of journalists, the impact of social media, and how 'papers of record' are potentially becoming a thing of the past.

In this episode, we talk a lot about Matthew's work because it's really cool. One of his current interests is around how we remember cinema-going. We also talk about work/life balance, teaching technique, and the value of empirical research.

In this episode, we talk through Stephen’s colourful career path, and he shares some of his learnings on becoming a better people manager, and tailoring his approach to different people’s needs.

In this episode I talk to Martin Bryant, Community Editor at Tech North, and previously Editor In Chief at The Next Web. We talk about his career, an early love for Manchester's public transport system, hussle, and the importance of empathy.