A Massive thanks to everyone who turned up last week to our Tech UpSkill event. It was lovely as ever and great to see some faces that we know and lots of new ones that we didn’t. It was a great day to find out about the apprenticeship and skills bootcamps out in the region to give people new opportunities to upskill into the industry and to let companies know where they can get free or affordable training. BIG thanks to all who supported, attended, presented and simply came along.

Also a big thanks to Thanh from Future Space (and Women’s Tech Hub) for hosting the speakers for the day – you were FAB!! Future Space has never had so many mentions and great to see great collaborations with local industry and UWE and WECA in action.

Christmas season is here

There’s various events to go to and we know how we all like a networking event. Check out this one on the 10th of December

SaaStock Local – Bristol | Christmas Drinks & Networking Evening

Join us for a festive evening designed to bring together Bristol’s vibrant tech community for relaxed networking, reflection, and holiday cheer. Enjoy a laid-back atmosphere with mulled wine, mince pies, and a spread of seasonal treats as we gather local SaaS, tech and digital professionals passionate about the tech landscape in Bristol.

Women’s Tech Hub final Workshop Wednesday on the 11th of December will also be Christmas drinks, so we hope to see you all then at Workshop Wednesday Christmas Drinks

We’ve long been a fan of apprenticeships and free training options, so after having a chat with UWE and WECA we have decided to put on a one day conference on the 8th of November at the Watershed to share information on them with the wider Industry in the Area.

A big thanks to UWE and WECA for sponsoring us and to WTPN for supporting the event also.

Want to get into Tech?

We are aiming the event at women (and minority groups or people trying to break into the tech industry) so you will have the chance to meet with the sponsors and any exhibitors to find out possible affordable paths.

The current outline for the day is on our website here and the link to attend is on eventbrite – this will change as we get more information to share.

The careers fair is for the people wanting to get into the industry or move within it, return after a family break etc. For that you are just welcome to come along as the careers fair will be held in a separate room. The event itself is for if you want to find out more broadly what the options are.

Want to Upskill your employees?

A key piece we believe is for companies to understand what opportunities they have to upskill their current staff to higher tech roles. This supports people that are already members of staff and love your company but want to expand their horizons. We believe that if you support your current staff – which can include admin and other personnel as well as tech ones without the future skill set then it leads to greater engagement and loyalty. SME’s can use the apprenticeship levy and the boot-camps (who knew?) so please come along and find out how. These are the groups able to support and help you – the more companies using them then the better the offering and the more diverse and profitable your company can be – its a well known fact that diverse companies achieve above non-diverse groups .. i could share info graphics on this but guess you know them already!

Want to exhibit?

We’re currently still putting the day together and the marketing but would be keen for any companies who are offering apprenticeships, or re-skilling or simply looking for great quality candidates to come along and support as an exhibitor as we will be running a careers fair alongside it.

The details for anyone wishing to Exhibit and support us are here we welcome anyone wanting to support the group with jobs, training or who just want to support Women’s Tech Hub and show you care.

Yes, we have the next one set up just before Easter to allow you time to ruminate on the information that the very supportive Torchbox are going to share with us.

GGD #96 Empowering Women in Tech: Strategies, Role Models & My Personal Journey

27 Mar 2024, 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Join us for a compelling session with Naomi March, a seasoned professional with over a decade of experience in tech recruitment and a passionate advocate for women in technology. This talk will dive into Torchbox’s initiatives to support women in the tech industry, spotlighting the company’s female role models, its mentoring scheme, academy programme, and leadership collaboration sessions designed to nurture female talent.

The discussion will extend to Torchbox’s engagement with the local tech community and provide actionable advice for women looking to make their mark in the tech world. Skills development, opportunity scouting, and making a noticeable impact as a female geek will be covered.

Naomi will share her personal journey, shedding light on the challenges and successes of navigating the tech recruitment landscape, while maintaining a positive outlook. As a self-identified geek, Naomi values the opportunity to share her knowledge and engage in meaningful dialogues.

The session will wrap up with a Q&A, inviting attendees to probe deeper into the subjects discussed and share their experiences.

This is a women only event but men may be invited as a guest (they just can’t be members – as this assures we keep a Female majority)

UWE Bristol has been offering organisations in the community, voluntary, and social enterprise sectors the opportunity to receive free consultancy on information management, business planning/strategy, training, IT, systems analysis, websites, social media, or other ICT-related matters, in exchange for hosting a final year UG student project team from UWE Bristol.

During the past years, our 100+ successful projects have provided clients with advice, strategies, and artifacts. The projects begin around October and run until March/April.

The teams are composed of final year BSc(Hons)IT Management for Business and BSc(Hons)Software Engineering for Business students, who take part in this Community Action and Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) scheme with the aim of making a difference in community settings whilst enhancing their knowledge and skills through meaningful, relevant community action. Find out more about the consultancy and see examples of what our students have provided for many other organisations on our website. 

The deadline for this year’s applications is Thursday 24 August 2023.  To apply, please complete the online application form available at http://go.uwe.ac.uk/cake which can also be accessed from the main page http://go.uwe.ac.uk/cake 

 *If you had previously applied or were part of this scheme then you are most “welcome” to apply again.