Cracking the Code: Insights from women in APRA’s data and technology teams

At APRA, we’re committed to championing women to pursue careers in technology and data and we’re proud to have such a wealth of outstanding female talent. This International Women’s Day we want to celebrate the contributions and achievements of women at APRA and highlight the expertise and passion they bring to their roles every day.

This year’s UN Women Australia’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future’. Innovation is a driver of change and by embracing new technologies and championing the unique skills and knowledge of women in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM), we can accelerate our progress towards a gender equal future.

We sat down with Megan Fenner and Emily Doube, Acting General Manager and Senior Manager respectively in our Macro & Industry Insights team, and Bronwyn Tegg, Digital Services Manager in our Corporate Affairs team, to find out more on their career and advice to women pursuing a career in technology, data and financial services.

“At APRA, no two days look the same and I enjoy constantly learning and being challenged. I’ve been really lucky to work for an organisation that has supported me and my development right from the start. I’ve also been fortunate to report to many different senior female leaders throughout my time here, who have provided great mentoring and encouragement,” said Emily.

Megan agreed, adding that “we’re lucky there have been so many amazing female leaders in our data space who have really paved the way. They’ve worked very hard to lead, inspire and enable what we hope to achieve, and have been an incredible support and advocate for our team. On my pathway to leadership, I was very fortunate to be selected to participate as a mentee in the WILES (Women in Law Enforcement Strategy) program. This was a very rich leadership based mentoring program across the Commonwealth agencies and is one example of the way in which APRA supports and empowers women aspiring to be leaders.”?

What makes APRA an exciting place to work??

“Working on the superannuation data transformation project, we are constantly facing into new challenges as we evolve the data we collect and introduce new frameworks for consistent classification across the industry. We’re also learning how we need to adapt as an organisation to effectively use large volume data sets to empower APRA’s decision makers and improve transparency,” said Emily.

“I’ve been fortunate to work across several different roles in APRA and I’ve been involved with some fascinating and challenging work along the way. In the data space, we are on an ambitious and exciting journey to change the way we collect and use data. As we come to deliver on this, it will create opportunities we haven’t had in the past to work more innovatively and effectively, using data as our ‘superpower’. We have a huge amount of work ahead of us, but the future is exciting and I’m enjoying being a part of how we bring that to life,” said Megan.

On her role and experience at APRA Bronwyn said, “I joined APRA with a focus on delivering a new intranet for the organisation. Since then, I’ve also begun managing APRA’s website and our social media channels. My role now has more of a focus on communications than a traditional technology job. I love building cross-functional project teams to deliver digital projects that have a strong user experience focus. Placing the user at the centre of what we do ensures we deliver an engaging and streamlined experience.”

Advice for women wanting to pursue careers in data and technology

“Just get started and see where it takes you! There are so many different roles and skillsets you can develop over time, just bring a healthy dose of curiosity and a love of problem solving,” said Emily.

Megan’s advice is to “to chase what you are passionate about and put yourself out there. No one knows what you want or what you enjoy better than you do and being able to articulate this and share it with people around you?(leaders, mentors, peers)?will open pathways for you.”

“Say yes to things outside of your comfort zone. I’ve taken on roles and projects that have changed my career, but that were not always aligned with what I thought I wanted to do. This has allowed me to focus on the journey and not my intended destination,” said Bronwyn.