SUZI GODSON What advice would you give to a woman considering a career in tech or what you wish to know before started your career?
What do you think we should be doing more of to encourage more girls to consider a career in tech?
A career in tech is like any other career. If you don’t think about your work 24/7 and wake up in the night thinking “Eureka, I know how to solve the problem that puzzled me today” you are probably not going to hack it long-term. The only reason Kerstyn and I keep doing this is because we are beyond passionate about the work we are doing, and the young people we are supporting.
Working in tech is a great career because it is highly paid and jobs are plentiful, but tech is just a medium. What we need to do is to get more young women thinking creatively about inovative ways to use technology to solve global problems. Whether its an app that helps women share childcare, or access education in remote areas, novel ideas will always be more valuable than coding skills.
In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle to women succeed in the workplace/business? The gender pay gap has narrowed, but it certainly has not closed. Flexible working, job sharing and workplace creches are still a pipe dream, and despite working full time, most women still shoulder most of the domestic burden too. Gender inequity in the workplace means highly qualified women end up working part time in low income jobs so they can raise their kids. Its a terrible waste of talent. Fun fact about you? When I was 8 years old I was sent to an Irish convent boarding school. During my entire education I never received any sex education at all. As an adult, I have written several award winning books on sex, published the first ever sex column in a UK broadsheet newspaper and had a weekly sex column in The Times newspaper for 16 years. Could there be a connection?
How do you find inspiration in your life? I am in the process of finishing my psychology Phd and I write weekly for Times, but I spend most of my time working on MeeTwo. From researching, to writing, to designing, to helping a suicidal teenager access real world care, my work is so varied that I never get bored. At home I have four kids, three dogs, two building projects and a very patient husband to keep me busy. What's your favorite quote? "If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life." Brian Chesky, Cofounder of Airbnb.
In your opinion, how could the tech industry be more inclusive for women? The problem is not the tech industry, it is the UK education system which is simply not fit for purpose. Girls swerving on STEM subjects is not just about gender stereotypes. It is about the fact that these curriculums need a complete redesign from primary level upwards in order to make them feel relevant to girls. To what do you attribute your success? MeeTwo has been a success because it is an intelligent, well designed, carefully executed and engaging app, created by two women who have an authentic concern for young people. Kerstyn and I are very different as people, and we have very different skills, but we work and think in very similar ways. We also have very similar eithical and moral values which inform every decision we make together.
Meetwo was recently recognised as the winner of the Samsung Connected Society Award at the 2019 Tech4Good Awards.