Kelly Simkiss, CEO, Cybit
How would you summarise your role?
I get to lead the wonderful people of Cybit who are supporting our customers with their amazing expertise in cyber, data and analytics, cloud and broader IT day in, day out.
Do you feel the industry’s gender-diversity deficit something that needs to be highlighted and addressed
I definitely feel it’s something that needs to be highlighted (and I do think it’s pretty well recognised within tech that as an industry there is a deficit of women). I also believe it needs to be addressed, but equally recognise that this isn’t something that can be changed overnight, rather, it’s something that we need to continue to chip away at, and focus on attracting women into tech both at the start of their career, but equally anyone looking for a career change.
“There are times when [being a female CEO in a male-dominated industry] really bothers me – a few months ago I was attending a very highly regarded industry event primarily aimed at CEOs within the industry. When I received the guest list and saw I was one of only three women out of almost 100 attendees (and neither of the other two were CEOs) I was heartbroken.”
Kelly Simkiss
What’s it like being a female leader in what remains a male-dominated industry?
Most of the time I absolutely love it, and don’t notice the male domination, especially when working within my own company where we have been gradually year on year attracting more women. However, there are times when it really bothers me – a few months ago I was attending a very highly regarded industry event primarily aimed at CEOs within the industry. When I received the guest list and saw I was one of only three women out of almost 100 attendees (and neither of the other two were CEOs) I was heartbroken. Iactually felt really uncomfortable about attending the event for a couple of hours in the lead up (when I got there, it was actually completely fine and I had a great evening talking to lovely men from the industry but the imposter syndrome in the lead up was not nice/enjoyable!)
Is the industry as welcoming to women as it could be?
I’m not sure an industry can in itself be ‘welcoming’, I think it can be ‘attractive’ or not and I do think that tech (which probably starts with gaming or computing when young) is becoming more attractive than it ever was before for girls and women. The welcoming part, I think then comes down to specific individual organisations.
Do you think the industry has made any headway on recruiting, retaining and promoting women over the last five years?
I’ve certainly seen improvement in my own business and hope this is a reflection of the industry as a whole.
What’s your top piece of advice for women following in your footsteps?
This is industry agnostic, but surround yourself with mentors (they don’t need to be in your own company or even industry) but people who inspire you, and who are happy to listen to you rant if you’re having a bad day or offer some independent advice if you’re struggling with something. I guess this isn’t even advice just for women, but leaning on my own mentor network is what has supported me through all the ups and downs of my career to date.
“I believe there are still too few women in technical roles”. Chorus IT MD Nicola Saner shares her views on the following page…
