Being a role model for girls and women in technology

For Women’s History Month, Jane Kenny, Lead Delivery and IT Service Manager, DWP, shares her career journey and the technology pioneers who inspire her and the next generation of women in STEM.

Created by VERCIDA for the Department for Work and Pensions

I never studied IT at school and never went to university. My IT career began by accident more than 20 years ago. After working in several operational roles within the civil service and getting promoted, I applied for a job in IT. Too often, women don’t apply for roles because they don’t tick every single box in the job advertisement – but I knew I had some of the skills and applied anyway. 

My application was successful and the rest is history. Since then, I have obtained qualifications in IT service management, project management, portfolio delivery and Agile methodologies.

In my current role, I oversee the development, implementation and management of IT services for a business unit within DWP Digital. It’s a busy job – I manage several teams responsible for delivering digital products and services, as well as being the service owner for 36 services and managing support teams so incidents are resolved with minimal service downtime.

Last year, I won a TechWomen 100 award, which was a wonderful recognition of my career achievements and efforts to support girls and women in IT. As a long-time advocate of women’s participation in STEM fields, I have been involved in a range of initiatives to promote gender equality and encourage girls to pursue IT careers. 

It is so important to address self-limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome among women in IT. These negative mindsets hold so many women back. There is so much more to IT careers than just coding and programming. As well as encouraging girls to study STEM subjects while they’re still at school and to consider IT careers when they leave school, there are so many transferable skills that women can use to move into IT careers, such as project management, communication and analytical skills. 

On 25 April, I will be part of a We Are Tech Women panel discussion at One Tech World 2024, which is a global conference. For me, this is an opportunity to confront and overcome my own imposter syndrome and realise that I have every right to be part of this important conversation.

Raising awareness about the diverse career opportunities available in IT is so important. There is an enormous need for storytelling and sharing experiences to inspire and empower girls and women in this field. That’s why I will get involved with initiatives, such as speaking with schools, internal and external events – and even writing this blog post. 

Role models are so important for girls and women and it is important to recognise them during Women’s History Month and beyond. There are so many women whose work in technology over many, many years still has an impact today. 

Ada Lovelace is a great example – her contributions to computing make her one of the most important people in the history of technology. Her writings on the Analytical Engine, essentially the concept behind the computers we use today, were based on her realisation that computers can follow a series of instructions – what we understand as a programme – to perform calculations. She was amazing. And Katherine Johnson, whose work as a mathematician at NASA was depicted in the film Hidden Figures, is another woman whose contributions are immense and far-reaching.

Then there were the women who supported the war effort during World War II, such as the women of Bletchley Park, who played such a crucial role in codebreaking – and my own grandmother. She supported the war effort in Greater Manchester, where so many highly skilled women were working in factories producing the latest equipment for aircraft and ships. 

The legacy of these incredible women will live on in the girls and women who are the present and the future of technology. I am proud to do my bit to inspire girls and women to pursue STEM careers, especially when it comes to continuous learning and self-development in the ever-changing world of technology.