Edinburgh Women in Technology Conference Talk

1. How to Make it in Tech or how I
Accidentally Stumbled upon my
Passion
Sibylle Katharina Sehl
Disclaimer: This is my personal story - yours might look entirely different!

2. Who am I?
● Currently, Associate Product Manager at Skyscanner
in an Engineering team
● Web Development Instructor for CodeFirst: Girls at
the University of Edinburgh
● freeCodeCamp Study Group Leader for the Edinburgh
community
● A passionate learner and developer in my free time

3. What does Tech mean to me?

4. My first introduction and initial hurdles
● Technology was always fascinating to me
● But felt distant and unachievable
● Informatics labelled a “boys subject”
● Having always been interested in sociological and political
issues, I set out to study Economics along with French and
Spanish at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow

5. University: Build an App challenge
T

6. From studying one type of language to the other

7. Get experience and make your experience count!
● Look for internships in Technology and apply
● In many companies, Technology related internships are available
(without previous coding or programming knowledge which is great to
gain insights and first experiences)

8. Be bold and be brave!
For me: For you:

9. There are lots of ways to dive in:
● Self-study
○ Online resources, Nanodegrees, Certifications
● Bootcamps
○ CodeClan, MakersAcademy, Founders & Coders etc
● Postgraduate study
○ MSc Conversion Courses
■ Glasgow, St Andrews, Imperial etc
○ Related degrees
■ Digital Humanities

10. Learn and make use of online resources!

11. Don’t struggle on your own and join a community!

12. Most importantly:

13. Thank you for listening!
Questions?
Twitter: @s_ibylle
LinkedIn: sibyllekatharinasehl