Pauline Woods started coding in 1973 and is what you might call the ‘original girl geek.’ She was naturally curious about programming, so she taught herself the basics from books and bagged herself a job in a technical team; despite the fact that they usually only recruited men with University degrees at that time!
Skip forward 40 years and she is now working as a technical mentor at Doris IT, which is a brilliant organisation working across the North West and Midlands, employing the next generation of IT and Business apprentices. We couldn’t resist finding out more about her journey.
Tell us about your programming journey, where did it start?
“I left school at 15 years old and would describe it as an experience that I simply ‘survived’. In the 1970’s it seemed there were limited career choices for girls, you could become a shop assistant, hairdresser, bank clerk or nurse and none of these appealed to me! University was unheard off in my school and I never considered it as an option.
I managed to get a job at Royal & Sun Alliance, which is a Liverpool based insurance company. Once I got my foot in the door I was determined to better myself, so I started educating myself in computing as I could see it was a growth area. Also there were a lot of men working in computing which appealed to me as a young girl (I actually met my husband at work so that strategy worked out well!)
I was very shy and introverted at 15 and on the first day I was terrified. But as I sat on the bus I thought; ‘nobody knows me. I can be anything I want to be from this moment on.’ So I walked into that office and forced myself to become chatty and outgoing. That was the start of my new character and also my new career.”
What did your job in the technical team involve?
“I worked in data inputting initially. We were moving all of our records from paper into digital format. Afterwards other opportunities came up working with the mainframe computers Scheduling Team, using scripting languages (JCL). I really wanted to be a coder, so I asked the programmers for help and they gave me some tips.
I was not deterred by the fact that the programming team was mainly male. I went out and bought a book, teaching myself the basics and when the test came around, I passed it!
The manager told me that they usually employed people with degrees, but they were willing to give me a chance. Once I got that chance, I was out to prove I could do it. I started doing batch (procedural) programming using PL1 and Assembler code and that was the beginning of my technical career.
I was with the company for 40 years, but moved around different departments, so it always held my interest. I was in Operations, Programming, Tech Support, Oracle DBA, and I worked on many data migrations and system upgrades. Eventually I just became known as the IT Consultant because of the systems and data knowledge I had gained.”
What was it like working in a mostly male team in the 80’s?
“In the 80’s it was not politically correct in the workplace, it was normal to receive what would now be considered unacceptable comments as a woman. It was mostly in a joking fashion but nonetheless not acceptable.
We did challenge the sexist behaviour and give it back, it never went unchecked. As a woman, you need to be resilient and stand up for yourself.
By the time I retired in 2012 the team was 50% women compared to about 25% in the 70’s. In the 90’s, the company had a good benefits package which was attractive to women. They supported working mums and I was able to go part-time and have school holidays off, which meant taking a pay cut but having flexibility to look after my child. A lot of women took advantage of that offer. I believe that this type of policy is essential in the modern workplace.”
How did you end up mentoring at Doris and what does it involve?
“When I finished work I took my pension and retired early, but after 9 months I was bored! So when Chris McHugh, MD of Doris, offered me the chance to be a Technical Mentor to the apprentices and trainees I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to help the next generation.
As a mentor, I help apprentices and trainees who need technical advice or support, for instance if they are struggling with a particularly technical problem. When you break it all down the principles are the same no matter what the system or technology is. I can relate to them and help them solve the problem they are facing.
For me it is about giving something back. I think what Doris is doing is a win – win - win situation. If the candidate is the right person with the right attitude, it’s a win for them as they get an opportunity and they rarely let us down. It’s a win for the customer as they get amazing talent at less than market rates, and of course it’s a win for us at Doris because we all have job satisfaction. We get a big kick out of seeing our team grow and develop.”
How does Doris differ from a recruitment agency?
“We get to know our customers very well. We come from a similar background ourselves so we understand their needs. We’ve become very skilled at picking candidates for specific companies and cultures. As a result many of our customers have been with us for years.
For our employees the main benefit is that we give them a full-time salaried position and a more nurturing experience. With recruitment companies the candidates are effectively ‘sold’ from one company to another. At Doris we have much longer lasting relationships with our team, we support them to develop through training and mentoring. They are also financially secure as they are employed by Doris and they get flexible benefits and pensions. After a customer assignment finishes, they are still employed by us and we find them their next project.”
How often do you see your mentee?
It depends on the individual, at the beginning of a project I see them more often and as they get busier I fit around their work schedule. Of course we’re always at the end of the phone and we’ll drop in and see our team whenever we’re in the area. I really encourage self-development too, as the individual has to take initiative and responsibility for their own learning.
Everyone has different strengths and weakness, some team members are more confident than others and we work to raise their self-belief.
I’ve also noticed a difference sometimes in the levels of confidence between the males and females. The girls I mentor can doubt themselves and I’ll need to give them extra reassurance. However they do learn very quickly and they absorb our advice.”
On that note, any top tips or advice for anyone looking to get into the industry?
Yes, as a mentor I have plenty! I’d say the main points are:
- Be open to learning and be flexible.
- Have a good attitude – that’s key.
- Never say no.
- Even if you have to pretend to be brave, just go for it, it will all fall into place!
Find out more
If you’d like to find out more about Doris IT, visit their website.
You can also view our coding courses on the events page.
Written by Jo Morfee, Director at LGG