We love coding! Datitude relies on it: that and the exceptional team behind the programming. It’s the backbone of our business – seamlessly connecting, integrating, and unifying client data from multiple source systems and transforming it into intelligence, insights and actions for our clients.
Coding and technology touches all our lives in many positive ways. It’s also a vital part of the global economy. As advances in technology continue to accelerate, so too is the demand for digital skills, and this is why we need to inspire as many people as possible to learn new digital skills and get into tech.
So, in celebration of National Coding Week, we’re showcasing how some of our team got into tech.
We want to emphasise the diverse experiences and the many paths to get into technology, irrespective of background.
A traditional entry route with a less traditional trajectory!
James McLaughlan, Datitude’s Chief Operating Officer, is an inspiring example of how far a career in tech could take you. James may have started his career following one of the more traditional routes – he left school at 16, completed a one-year IT foundation, and started in first line support – but his career progression is anything but traditional! He bagged his COO role shortly after turning 30! Continuously developing his tech skills and expertise, studying for a degree in Business Management in his spare time, and working for fast-growing companies has given him many opportunities in a broad range of roles and fast progression into more senior, leadership roles.
A stay-at-home Dad with a mid-life crisis finally comes back home to tech
If you’re a stay-at-home Dad and having a bit of a mid-life crisis, take heart in Dave Rondeau’s experience. He was always into computing and even started a degree in the subject, but then he took a different path and went into music production and sound engineering. A large part of his first career was spent managing audio services for major live events. And we mean major… like the London Olympics 2012, shows for London Fashion Weeks, plus numerous shows for some global brands! This type of work wasn’t conducive to a young and growing family (4 boys!) and Dave chose to take over the full-time child-caring responsibilities from his wife. It was then that Dave started to regret not completing his computing degree and decided to learn to code in his spare time. He started with some online web dev courses (Udemy and YouTube) using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, and gained experience with a couple of projects. Dave then chose to join Datitude in a first line support role as an entry route into the tech industry. And we’re so glad he did! He was promoted to Platform Technologist within the year, and he's getting to use and develop his coding skills every day.
Don’t let barriers affecting more women stop you from getting into tech
Moving to a new country and childcare responsibilities can often mean having to change or put your career on hold. This was the case for Saeeda Mazar, our First Line Support Analyst. She moved to the UK from Pakistan not long after graduating with a degree in Psychology in her home country. To help her career prospects in the UK, she enrolled in a few Microsoft courses. This whet her appetite to learn more and led her to complete an HND in Computing, later securing a role as a Software Tester with a financial software house. She was also able to put her coding skills to good use updating the company’s website. Starting a family then meant a career break for Saeeda. As much as she wanted to return to a part-time tech role whilst her children were growing up, the working hours and limited flexibility (in those days) meant she had to change career, going into teaching. Fast forward a few years, Saeeda’s family can look after themselves and she’s focusing on her career in tech again. Joining us in first line support is a brilliant way to get up to speed with advances in technology, refresh knowledge and develop new skills, as the role provides a thorough grounding in all aspects of our business operations - our technology, data platforms and clients.
Never stop being inquisitive and learning
And then there’s Stephen’s story about how he got into coding and how it’s helped his career progress. His naturally inquisitive nature and relentless pursuit of ways to do things better sums up why he’s such a brilliant developer!
"Whilst attending college studying IT desktop support, I began playing an online multiplayer game (Space4k if you remember that?!). The game was due to be shut down and it got me thinking, how do you make a web-based game? After some research, I found that PHP, HTML and MySQL are underneath many online websites, and I began learning to code in these languages at home.
These languages proved to be very beneficial to my career as I was then able to secure a position as a support analyst with an E-commerce software house. The company’s software was developed in Java, and although I did not know anything about Java at this time, I was able to use my PHP knowledge to get a grasp and rise in the ranks of the support team.
While working in the support team, I was given an opportunity to train on some software called "Talend", based in Java. This kick-started my career in software development and ultimately into Java development. I spent a few months supporting code built in Talend, soon becoming a Talend Developer in the next stage of my career."
It’s never too late to learn a new skill or change career and get into tech. What are you waiting for? Go on, use this week to learn something new about coding, and what you can do with it. Who knows where it could lead you?
Here are a couple of great resources to help get you started.
National Coding Week. They also have a useful blog on how to get started.
About Datitude
We do data! Datitude's managed data platforms and solutions are transforming how businesses connect, integrate and unify their data. We master the underlying technology so you can master your data and get what you need from it, when you need it - quickly, easily, reliably and securely.
Our managed data platforms - the Datitude Integration Hub and Datitude Data Lakehouse - enable businesses to automatically integrate data and analytics. We provide managed solutions for Ecommerce and Retail and custom services for systems integration, data analytics and machine learning.
Managed solutions for Ecommerce and Retail include retail and digital systems integration, a retail and customer data platform, and direct mail campaign execution and analysis.
If you need to unlock your vast data volumes and make sense of your data, give us a call today on 020 3003 5000 or email: hello@datitude.co.uk.