From Tech to Wellbeing
I pop a poll on my linkedin every month to see what people want me to write about, and the winner this time was From Tech to Wellbeing, so here we are.
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I’ve never had career goals, really. Life’s never been one to go along with any plans I made, so I never made any long term ones. I found tech by accident.
After uni (I have a biochemistry degree, lol), I found a job in a pharmacy while I waited for my then partner to finish up their degree. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I didn’t enjoy lab work, I didn’t want to teach, so I was a bit lost. University had been a way for me to escape my parents more than anything, really.
I really enjoyed working in the pharmacy. It was hard work for me to be on my feet all day with my collapsing arches and dodgy ankles, but the work was rewarding, and it was nice to be able to leave my work at work when I went home. The hours weren’t terrible, but the pay was. Eventually, the pain got too much for me to deal with, and I needed something that wouldn’t have me on my feet all day.
My partner at the time was a developer, and tried to teach me some coding. I knew I didn’t like writing code, but tech was something I was interested in. I knew I liked helping people, so when I wanted to move from working in a pharmacy to something more physically possible for me, tech support seemed like a good start.
I found a little startup, and started on tech support. It gave me the things I enjoyed from pharmacy (close knit team, helping people), but with less pressure to make sales, less pain, and more money. Win-win.
The sole tester in the company was overworked, unsurprisingly, so I started helping them out in my down time. Then I did some googling around software testing, found the community (including Ministry Of Testing), and that started my first proper career.
Software testing is fun, interesting, and difficult, and taught me so much. I discovered I’m good at facilitating meetings and workshops. I can put workshops together and make them interesting enough to get some good outputs. It was less anxiety inducing than dealing with the public, and interesting enough to keep me on my toes. So I started software testing as a career.
I started talking about my own mental health in tech openly around 2017. The first Ministry of Testing Manchester conference was my first ever main stage conference talks. I still remember Richard Bradshaw (then BossBoss/CEO) telling me that ‘there’s only going to be around 250 people there’ (😱)
I loved it. I got some really good responses. One of the questions I got was the catalyst that started SelfCare Backpack. I’ve told this story before, but Vernon Richards said something along the lines of ‘I know how to look after my physical health, but not my mental health’.
That made me realise that this wasn’t something only I had issues with. It was something I could help others with. I started turning my processes into tools and resources to share and get feedback on them.
I got some good feedback, and did more talks and workshops.
I realised that I was interested in wellbeing and mental health in tech. I worked with a bunch of people in a huge number of contexts and roles, and the industry wasn’t (and still isn’t in some circles), good at looking after it’s people.
I don’t normally do statistics, but here’s some numbers:
A Tech Nation report on diversity shows that 19% of people in tech are women. 15.2% of people in text are underrepresented ethnic groups, and roughly 9% of tech workers are disabled. The report didn’t include numbers of LGBTQ+ folks, or people who are neurodiverse specifically.
The industry trends male in the UK, and there are plenty of initiatives to work to equalise this.
We also know that burnout is high in tech. The fast moving nature of tech means imposter syndrome is high. The pressure to keep on top of things, to learn new things, to lead, etc, is high.
In the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 45 and 64. This has changed from the biggest killer of men under 45, but this number is still very high.
We know that LGBTQ and neurodiverse folks are also at a high risk of suicide, regardless of gender or ethnicity.
I’ve not even included social mobility here, but that’s also something to think about.
What I’m saying is, tech can be a diverse space. We want it to be more diverse, which is great, but the more we do this, the more we need to look after all of these people. This means providing space and care, but also acknowledging the different things that different people need.
Helping people with their mental wellbeing became something I wanted to do more of. I knew people responded well to how I spoke about my own mental health, and the resources I made.
I started by getting Mental Health First Aider training, to give myself a bit of grounding to help people when needed.
In 2019, I worked with my first business coach to get some ideas about how to turn all of my ideas into a business, and I started to work on SelfCare Backpack.
In 2020, I launched the business, just in time for the pandemic. I worked a fair bit during that year. I sold a bunch of resource packs, I did virtual talks and workshops, and started really thinking about how to develop more.
In 2022, I did my first counselling course. I wanted to get more training if I was going to make this an actual career. I wanted to be morally and ethically sound, because I know how dangerous it can be to spout things without any knowledge or grounding.
It was during this course that I did some mock sessions and realised I wanted to do this as a career. I wanted to be a counsellor.
My goal/dream is to be a counsellor, focusing on the tech community. I’m still in the community enough to know the broad context the people are in, the challenges they face, things like that.
I feel like talking to someone you know is qualified, but also worked in the trenches, so to speak, will feel comfortable for the tech workers who may come to me for counselling. The fact that I’m also queer and chronically ill means I have a wide array of experiences that I can share, to help people be more comfortable when starting their journey with me.
I still have a long way to go. Two years until I’m able to work as a counsellor, then another couple before I can open my own practice. It feels both really close and a long way away.
The journey is brilliant though, challenging and rewarding. I’ve enjoyed doing something a bit more academic again, reading textbooks and breaking out the highlighters.
It feels very odd to plan a career, just in general, never mind that I’m the other side of 35. I’ll be close to 40 before I’m qualified, probably closer to 45 before I open my own practice. I’m reminding myself to enjoy the journey, to be present and proud of myself for my progress, not just focusing on where I need to go.
I am proud of myself, I’m proud that I have a brand that feels real and true. I feel like I’m laying the groundwork for something important (it’s already important, but when I’m qualified, I feel like I’ll be able to really push this further). While I more than occasionally panic about making money and being self-employed, overall, I’m happy and grounded, and the path feels true. I just need to keep going.