Stories from Women in Tech – Nicole Holmes

I’m one of the youngest Engineers in the Engineering department at First Focus and the only female filling an elite technical role. I’ve been working in the IT industry for over a decade.

I grew up working on and building computers with my Dad. He helped me build my very first PC and taught me how to program in Basic which I, of course, used to make very annoying little programs to send to my younger brother. My parents were big believers in making sure we grew up with the skills we’d need for life like driving cars, using computers and even made us build our own flat pack furniture. I credit them with my adaptability and my eagerness to learn new skills.

I love this job for the opportunities it gives me to learn and to become a better technician. No two days are ever exactly the same and I get to work with a lot of different technologies and be really on the forefront of Managed Services technology working here.

I was very lucky to be raised by parents who supported me in becoming whatever I wanted to be and who reinforced the idea that STEM fields weren’t off limits to women. Many young women are told early on that girls are bad at Maths or Engineering isn’t a field that is for them.

Even in IT women face a lot of problems with exclusion despite the significant involvement of women in the development, invention and early usage of computers. There have been many studies into the fundamental problems of getting women into STEM fields and the kinds of issues that they can face once they get there. There’s no simple answer for how to get more women into these positions but I like to think that as a company, all of us at First Focus are doing our best to give opportunities to the women who do manage to make it past these hurdles and follow their passion.