Asma's story

Within BT Group, we’re proud to partner with vital organisations like Code First Girls , the largest provider of free coding courses for women in the UK. As BT Group sign up for another year of working together with Code First Girls, we sit down with Asma Mohamed , one of our Cloud Data Engineers to talk about her experience with the organisation and her journey to a role at BT Group.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Asma

My name is Asma. I live in London, but my role is based in Birmingham at the BT Group offices in Snowhill. I’m in the process of planning a move to Birmingham in the next few months.

What do you do at BT Group?

I work as a Cloud Data Engineer within Network services, I got my role through Code First Girls.

What does a typical day in your role look like?

?A typical day would start with a stand-up meeting involving the whole team, we talk about what we’ve done the day before and what’s coming up. We set out what we need to do and then take it from there. I’m still only a couple of months in so I’m still very new! It’s been a lot of learning as I am introduced to new projects.

I’ve been making the most of the BT Group online learning resources, meeting with my tech buddy (my mentor who supports me with things like going through projects ahead of meetings etc). I’ve been problem solving, automating data, deploying pipelines, and getting to the bottom of why things might not be working as they should.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

For me, it’s the problem solving. I find it really satisfying when I can fix an issue with simple fix that I’ve gone to great lengths to find. It makes you feel really satisfied to get things working again and I think that’s my favourite part!

Can you tell us a bit more about what you were thinking when you were deciding your future career path?

I was in my last year of university, and I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do next, but I did have some ideas. I was thinking of teaching History or working within the Youth Justice system but neither option excited me enough to pursue.

What prompted you to change your mind?

I was researching online, when I stumbled across a video of a girl who had done a course through Code First Girls. The video showed how she got a role in tech within 3 months of doing the course, and that interested me. It’s something I logged in mind to come back to when I’d finished my studies.

I didn’t forget that video, and when I finished my degree, I signed up to that course. I gave myself a timeline, if I didn’t like it by the end of the year I would stop and apply for my PGCE.

We’re guessing you enjoyed it! What was it about the course that made you keep doing it?

It was something that excited me, the group projects and creating websites from scratch using code I learnt during my course. I actually went on to do another two with Code First Girls after I finished my first. It was during my third that led to me being sponsored by BT Group and starting in my current role.

How important do you think these free online courses and programmes are?

I think they are really important. I definitely wouldn’t have the job I have now if it wasn’t for these courses. As well as Code First Girls I found others online, like freeCodeCamp, #100Devs , YouTube tutorials?and a mentorship programme through Cajigo .

It was through this programme, through my Cajigo mentor that I found out a bit more about BT Group and that there was already an established Code First Girls Community here. ?

What was it about tech that made you think, this is something I want to try?

Number 1 it’s the problem-solving aspect of tech that resonates with me most, so I started with an introduction to web development course. It was perfect because I was able to be creative and make great websites but still able to problem solve while doing it. It also gave me an opportunity to think outside of the box and come up with different ways of thinking or doing things.

I also thought that tech will always be a constant, it’s the way forward as more and more of our lives move online.

So, taking all of that into consideration, it seemed like the best option for me career wise.

Would you recommend the route you took to a career in tech?

Yes, I definitely would. I would always recommend Code First Girls and I’d always recommend people giving a role in tech a chance. When I was growing up, I never enjoyed IT and I never thought I’d end up doing anything IT related.

Whenever I come across other young people who might not know what do with their future, I say to them they should give tech a go. A career in tech might seem daunting, and it can be male dominated but there’s definitely space for everyone.

Thank you Asma!

To find out more about roles at BT Group, click here

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To find out more about Code First Girls, click here

Code First Girls - learn to code for free