{"id":90913,"date":"2026-02-16T10:04:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/892753780"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:04:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:04:59","slug":"next-tech-fest-breaking-tech-role-misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/next-tech-fest-breaking-tech-role-misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Tech Fest: Breaking tech role misconceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cYou don\u2019t have to code to be a techie,\u201d claimed one of the many speakers at the 2025 Next Tech Fest, which was run and hosted by social enterprise Next Tech Girls.<\/p>\n

With more than 350 girls between the ages of 15 and 20 in attendance, the event aimed to give attendees a look at what tech careers involve and to break down misconceptions about the people who work in tech and their roles.<\/p>\n

Most of the girls in the audience raised their hands when asked if they thought coding was necessary to work in tech, but Next Tech Girls director Emily Hall-Strutt responded that tech is \u201cvery broad\u201d and spans \u201cso many industries\u201d that \u201ca vast majority of roles don\u2019t require any coding.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Misconceptions about what tech jobs involve<\/a>, along with being deterred from relevant subjects<\/a> at school, are often-cited reasons as to why the number of young women choosing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers is increasing slowly.<\/p>\n

In operation since 2016, Next Tech Girls has helped to provide more than 10,000 girls with guidance about tech sector careers, partly by helping them to fully understand paths into tech, available tech roles and showcase women already working in the sector. For example, many young girls claim STEM subjects are \u201ctoo hard\u201d<\/a>, but the speakers at Next Tech Fest suggested that this is because of the belief that coding is integral to a tech career.<\/p>\n

Naamua Dodoo, software engineer at Tesco, shared with the audience she doesn\u2019t \u201ccode for fun\u201d, and warned attendees off worrying about what they think someone working in coding should look like, adding: \u201cYou are who you are \u2013 don\u2019t worry about not fitting the software engineer stereotype.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lack of visible and accessible roles models<\/a> is a large reason as to many girls don\u2019t choose technology careers, as they don\u2019t see others like them in tech roles and therefore believe it\u2019s a place they will not be welcome<\/a>. As well as those working in software engineering, one of the panels at the event was made up exclusively of those whose roles don\u2019t require coding, offering different perspectives on what a tech career can look like.<\/p>\n

Many of the women on the \u201cno code\u201d panel also didn\u2019t initially realise there were tech roles that didn\u2019t require coding. Sumaya Ahmed, product designer at Just Eat, said she \u201ccried every time\u201d she had to do coding at university and admitted her career has been \u201csquiggly\u201d, but there is \u201cnothing to be ashamed of\u201d about an unconventional career path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to get into tech, so I thought the best way to do that was through a computer science masters,\u201d she said. \u201cVery quickly, I realised how much I hated coding \u2013 I would cry every time I coded \u2013 and I did that for the entire year, and then I learned about the wonderful world of UX.\u201d<\/p>\n

While technical skills are important for many technology roles, soft and transferable skills are harder to learn<\/a>, and the technical skills for a role can be picked up later, with the event speakers reiterating that employers do not expect people coming into the sector to know everything as soon as they start.<\/p>\n

With various different routes into tech that don\u2019t necessarily require a technical degree or background, Lilymae Prescott, senior UX designer at Sky, pointed out that someone\u2019s educational path only says so much about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpskill, grow your skills, grow your network, show that you care about what you want and the future that you want,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got passion for it, everything else will come later; employers don\u2019t expect you to know everything. It\u2019s the passion and the care that comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite advances surrounding diversity in tech, including a focus on building an inclusive culture within organisations<\/a> so everyone feels welcome, there are still numerous difficulties for people from underrepresented groups aiming to go into tech.<\/p>\n

Speakers at the event agreed that there can be prejudice around not using coding in a tech role, with Gayle Thompson-Igwebike, head of community at Next Tech Girls, claiming male co-workers may try to \u201cout tech you\u201d or make comments such as, \u201cif you don\u2019t code, what are you even doing?\u201d. But she pointed out that coding is \u201cnot really the only type of technical that we have\u201d, highlighting the multitude of different roles and projects people in the industry work on, adding: \u201cThere is nothing we do that is a waste, [there is nothing] that could not be taken into the tech industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Alianna Danise Bonifacio, junior software developer at EY, said that while the tech sector can be \u201creally scary because tech is always evolving\u201d, it is part of all industries \u2013 including art, fashion and music \u2013 and those looking for a tech career need to be \u201cfearless\u201d.<\/p>\n

This gives young people the opportunity to be creative and ambitious when it comes to establishing their technology career, especially in the age of AI where a future role may not yet have been created<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… young women choosing science, technology<\/span>, engineering and maths (STEM … technology<\/span> careers, as they don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t see others like them in tech<\/span> … are important for many technology<\/span> roles, soft and transferable … comes to establishing their technology<\/span> career, especially in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}