Awards Alumni – Jessica Bevan

Jessica Bevan is a Senior Consultant at Capco, which specialises in helping financial services firms to drive technology transformation by leveraging the best solutions in the marketplace. She won the 2022 Tech Leader Award.

Now part of our illustrious alumni, we wanted to catch up with Jessica to find out how winning the award impacted her, her career path and more about Capco’s UK’s Women in Technology initiative.

What did winning the WIBF Tech Leader Award mean to you?

The Tech Leader Award brought a new sense of importance to the whole Capco Women in Tech community initiative. The community had been the centre of my attention for a year and was so important to me personally. Post the award, I felt like all that hard work had been recognised and now mattered to a wider group. The award also enhanced my own sense of credibility and has given me confidence to push everything we do even further this year.

What did it mean to your colleagues, do you think?

My colleagues recognise that women are underrepresented in technology and financial services (FS) and it is exciting for women to see other women being celebrated for their achievements and the value they bring. Access to female role models in technology/FS is still limited, and having such a role model inspires women to take the necessary actions to achieve their own success. I hope that, by hearing about my achievements and story as a leader, I can motivate other women to overcome any obstacles to their advancement.

Your nomination showed the passion and compassion you have for supporting your colleagues. What was the starting point for you? Was it a conscious decision? Or was it something that developed organically?

Since my A levels, I’ve been in environments where men outnumbered women. Moving from STEM to FS services didn’t change that and, now I’m working in tech within FS, it is a double whammy. I feel I’d become accustomed to this status quo and am somewhat accepting of the consequences. It wasn’t until Maddie Howard, a managing partner in Capco’s Tech Practice, approached me and asked if I could help her do something about that imbalance that I realised it could be better – and that I could be a part of the solution.

Capco is still small enough and ‘flat’ enough to allow you to do almost whatever you want to do, so I was quickly able to set up the Women in Tech community. From there, I identified areas where support or attention was needed and found talented individuals to help me address them.

As leader of Capco UK’s Women in Technology initiative, what do you think is its most significant success in creating an inclusive and diverse community? What are its next steps?

There was a real turning point in the community after we hosted listening forums (opportunities for women in the tech practice to share their experiences in a safe space). They fostered a sense of community as they gave room for us to feel heard and provided a constructive way to highlight key areas for improvement for us to address.

To address these areas, we launched a buddy scheme, rolled out allyship training, organised breakfasts with leadership and worked with marketing to celebrate our technologists for their work. Feedback has since shown that these initiatives were successful in creating a more inclusive environment and the listening forums provided the platform we needed to get started.

Going forward, we will continue to listen to the community as its needs evolve. Our immediate focus is on ensuring that the fantastic technologists at Capco get recognition they deserve through an internal awards scheme as well as through external awards. We also plan to add schools’ outreach to the mix, to highlight that a career in tech and/or FS is for anyone.

What are you most proud of in your career? Both as an individual and as part of a wider group.
Since becoming a solution architect, a very proud moment was when I took the first design that I’d created through a technical design authority and had it approved by a forum of around 20 senior architects in the bank. It was the culmination of months of work and validation that I could do this as a career.

As part of a wider group, I’m proud of the way everyone in the Women in Tech working group has thrown themselves at the challenge. We gained leadership buy in and built a lot of the structures from scratch, which could be a daunting task. Instead, each of us brought our enthusiasm and own perspectives to the table and, from this mixing pot some great ideas have formed, we are really pushing boundaries within Capco and externally.

Is there any advice that you wish you had been given earlier in your career?
Don’t subscribe to the idea that all successful people are extroverts. I spent a long time wishing I felt more comfortable speaking to groups and was more outgoing. Now I recognise that introverted traits, such as thinking before I speak and being a great listener, are very valuable and help me succeed in a different way.

You have not had a traditionally linear career, moving to your current role as a solution architect from a successful career in business consulting and academia – what do you think you have gained from that? What do you think your organisation and colleagues have gained from your wider experience?

With each step I’ve taken, I had exposure to a wide range of people and challenges that have shaped the way I think. I’ve also had exposure to areas of work that were entirely new to me. I learned Python because I sat next to a bioinformatician during my PhD, and he set me some fun challenges to do in my spare time. On one of my first consulting projects, I became interested in automation because my team were doing repetitive tasks that felt like a waste of time.

Each experience has influenced what I’d like to do next and helped me become adaptable to new situations. As a consultant, being adaptable is crucial as no two projects are the same. My colleagues often tell me that I don’t approach things in the same way as others. I think this stems from my academic need to know “why” and can create interesting conversations. In general, I think the teams I work with have gained a different perspective from someone who isn’t afraid to ask questions; a crucial skill in the ever changing world of technology.

What advice would you give to someone looking to move to a different type of business?

Firstly, go for it. It’s never too late but it might take some work depending on how big the change is. If you find you get knock backs from the area you’d like to move to, listen to the feedback and act on it. That could mean looking at the transferable skills you have and rebranding them to the new area’s “language”, or it could mean having to take some training courses. You’ll probably have a few rejections before you figure out how to adapt so don’t apply for your dream job first, start with those you care a little less about. Another option is to work alongside someone who is in that area already. That way you can start to pick up skills or ways of working directly whilst keeping your day job.

What approaches do organisations need to take to make IT and technology more attractive to women, and indeed girls, as a career choice?

In my opinion, there are two things that need to happen. Firstly, organisations need to encourage girls of school age into considering a career in tech by actively showing them role models. This can be done through simple career talks or partnering with organisations that already work with schools.

Then firms need to make technology an attractive proposition to career switchers and returners. There is an untapped pool of talented women who might not have considered a career in tech. To do this well, organisations need to embrace skills-based hiring and pay attention to skills like the ability to learn, looking past the more traditional technology CVs.

Your passion for developing your career in technology and your unstinting support to build a network for promoting the needs of women in the workforce were very clear in your nomination. Do you think that these go hand-in-hand? 

I don’t think they have to go hand-in-hand, but I think it can help. For example, I think my experiences have helped me shape the network as it was something I needed five years ago. I’d like to think that having women in technology gives other female members of the community someone to look up to, or relate to. I hope I inspire the trust that I want to see more of that change, too, as it impacts me personally. However, not every woman will share my perspective and some face other challenges. That is where our central diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) team come in, as they have a wider perspective and can affect change outside of technology that will indirectly impact it. We work closely with our central DEI team, Women@Capco and Women in Data to co-ordinate our approach and ensure it has been thought through.

What is the biggest challenge for women working in tech?

There are obvious challenges like the lack of role models or being under sponsored, but I think the biggest challenge is that we’re often judged by different standards to men. This one is hard to solve as it’s ingrained in society as an unconscious bias. It can be tackled by teaching people to monitor and question their behaviour, ensuring safe environments where bias can be addressed and creating processes that reduce room for bias. Ultimately, everyone can contribute to tackling it.

As a working mother what do you find trickiest to manage in your career, and have you found a way through it?

It’s been said by many people, but I find that when I’m excelling in one area – work or family – I am often sacrificing the other. I’ve had to accept that and make sure that I score in both areas at some point every week. Whilst weekend work used to be my norm, I’ve had to draw a line on that. That means becoming more organised, selective about the work I do and focus on ‘fewer but better’.

I don’t think I’ve found a perfect way through this because the adaptation to being a working mum evolves with your child’s needs. Perhaps my ‘way through’ is by acknowledging that and making the most of the advantages at each stage.

Something I’ve found hard is seeing some of my peers’ progress in their careers whilst I was on parental leave. You can’t plan a child around a performance schedule, and I knew I wanted the full year off, so I am happy with the choice I made. You don’t get that time back with your children, but your work will always be there.

What is the best career advice you have ever received?

The best advice I’ve received is “say yes to things that scare you” or the similar “if an experience makes you feel uncomfortable, you’re growing”.

I’ve had to get out of my comfort zone a lot in the last year. Leading the Women in Tech community meant I had to talk to large groups and raise my voice more, against my introverted nature. Despite the temporary discomfort, this has helped me to grow as a leader and learn about fostering an inclusive culture.

I’ve also pushed myself through projects, changing specialism to something that interested me more but where I lacked experience. Each time my inner voice questioned if I was capable and I had to remind myself that if someone gave me the chance to do it, they believed that I could.

I also believe that you stop learning when you get comfortable, and I don’t ever want to stop learning.

Are you a WIBF award winner? Do you want to be part of our amazing Awards Alumni network? We’d love to be in touch, do drop us a line at [email protected].