Day 3 of Techweek for our team began with a Women in Tech breakfast at Deloitte in Wellington. Krista Steenbergen, from the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, told her story to a rapt audience at Building Capacity in the Tech Sector.
At another Women in Tech event — this one in Hamilton — Louise Hutt, New Zealand's youngest electricity CEO (who is also running for mayor!) shared her stories of learning to embrace the discomfort of challenging stereotypes. "Trying to make people feel comfortable with our inclusion is what we're taught to do". Instead, she suggests, we can use our energy on staying curious — a good lesson for everyone!
There was more #womenintech inspiration this evening at MOTAT with How women are rapidly reshaping our world. Katy Pfeifer, Town Square Co-founder, opened the show by sharing her journey as a female in the male dominated tech world. Her advice for women in the workplace was to call people out, find a mentor, then be a mentor. Eleanor Da Fonseca, Technical Lead at Rush, spoke to taking a giant leap, having the confidence in yourself to achieve great dreams — and never giving away your power.
It was post-it note central at the Future of Work at AUT! The workshop, led by Sandra Otto from Enspiral, challenged ''work'' as we know it, shifting from a profit driven model to a purpose driven model. With case studies from successful companies who have adopted this new method of working, Sandra took participants through the reasons behind, benefits of and key outcomes of this new cultural paradigm. If you're in Auckland, there will be another session on Friday!
Today on Techweek TV we also heard the heartwarming story of how students from Hill View Christian School in Christchurch came up with a digital solution to a problem they saw in their community. Watch here to learn about the app they created to help an existing volunteer group more efficiently pick up and deliver food from local restaurants to the City Mission!
Enter the age of the digital employee, featuring Cowan Pettigrew of KPMG and Donnamaree Pakinga of Vexecute, looked at the impacts of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) on skills needed from us — the pioneers in a new world!