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SheCanCode's Spilling The T
SheCanCode's Spilling The T
Thriving in Tech Without a Tech Background
In this episode, we’re joined by Alison Leightley, Events Marketing Manager at Redgate Software team who shares her unique journey into the world of tech - which wasn’t a straight, linear path.
Alison opens up about the challenges she faced, the triumphs she’s celebrated, and what it’s like to build a career in tech without being “techie.” We also dive into her experiences of joining Redgate, what stood out in the hiring process, and her perspective on thriving at a company that values diverse skills and experiences.
SheCanCode is a collaborative community of women in tech working together to tackle the tech gender gap.
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Hello everyone, thank you for tuning in again. I am Kaylee Batesman, the Managing Director, Community and Partnerships at Sheikan Code, and today we're discussing thriving in tech without a tech background. In this episode, I'm joined by Alison Lightley, Events Marketing Manager at Redgate Software. She is here to share her unique journey into the world of tech, which hasn't been a straight linear path like a lot of us. But we're lucky to have her here to open up about the challenges she's faced, the triumphs she's celebrated, and what it's like to build a career in tech without being techie. Hi Alison, thank you so much for joining us today. Hi Kaylee, it's lovely speaking with you today. It's a pleasure to have you on. Our community is going to love hearing your story because a lot of our community will be able to relate to your story. So thank you for joining us. But we'd love to start with a bit of background about you, if that's okay, how you got in, how you found your way to Redgate and where life started for you.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Happy to um yeah, chat through that. So um I'm the events marketing manager at Redgate. I've been at Redgate Software for about just under two years now, and this is my first role in tech and software. Um, and it's definitely not been a linear cruise for me. Um so I started my background. Well, my background is completely in life science. So I trained as a biochemist. Um, I worked in the lab as a microbiologist for at least 10 years. Um, and then during that time, this is a bit of an odd bit, but I also had a really keen interest in events and always have. And so I did a diploma in wedding and event planning just on the side as a hobby. Um, and I kind of didn't realise I told you it's definitely not linear. Um, and then I didn't kind of realize that would actually have quite an impact on my career journey because it really was just something I was just doing for fun. Um, and then I completed my master's in biochemistry, and then at that point realized that actually I wasn't really good at being hands-on in the lab, and I much preferred the theory and like the communication, like scientific communications. So that's where I did my kind of first pivot, which was out of the lab and into commercial roles. So I took my first commercial role as an event coordinator for a scientific company, and um, this is where I kind of first merged my two passions together, didn't even realise those jobs existed at the time. Um, and it was at that point that I decided to really move more into marketing. So I did a marketing qualification um and really learn about mark homes and digital marketing, all of that kind of side of things. And then I had a manager at the time who said to me, to be an amazing marketer, you've got to have um at least three years in sales. So I thought, okay, let's go give that a go. So then moved into sales and I did that for three years, which I absolutely loved. And I kind of thought I would stay within sales, but then I was approached by a small biotech in Cambridge who um gave me the opportunity to uh start and scale their marketing department, and so I thought, let's give that a go. Um yeah, quite all over the place. Um I stayed there for a couple of years, but it was at that point that I had a family and I had a really uh little boy at the time, and I just realized that actually, even though I absolutely loved my career and I loved doing what I was doing, it was just far too much to do that and be present as a parent. And I knew I needed to refine that balance that I'd kind of lost, or I could do when I was 20, but I couldn't do now with a young family. So that's where Redgate came in. Um, so Redgate has this exceptional reputation in Cambridge, even like outside of uh their sector. Everybody in that Cambridge ecosystem knows like how good an employer Redgate is meant to be. They're just really well known for that. I had no idea what Redgate did. Um, I just knew that they were a great employer, I knew that they valued uh work-life balance, I knew that they valued people and culture, and I just thought I just I just want to give that a try. And just at that moment in time, they had this role that came up, and I thought, I can do that. Like I didn't ever think I'd be, you know, suitable for tech, but I thought, oh, actually, I can do that. Um, so had my interview, um, realized that it ticked all my boxes for what I wanted, and I was super nervous because I just thought I've literally never done anything outside of science. But let's just take this jump, and that uh two years on, that's where I am.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. I I have so many questions from everything that you just said. I told you it was a bit odd. That was that was a real I I went on a real journey with you right then. Um, to it was very squiggly as uh as we say, squiggly Chris. Yeah. Um you have obviously picked up uh a whole range of skills along the way that all led you to tech because you sounded quite surprised when you it's like you saw that role and was like, actually, I can do that. Like all of like all the styles had aligned with all of the things that you had learned, and then you it sounded like you almost surprised yourself when you saw the role.
SPEAKER_00:100%. I would have never, whenever I was looking for job roles before, I only ever looked in the life science industry, never ever had I considered leaving the industry. Um, so yeah, and I would never have thought that I'd, you know, be qualified enough to go into a different industry. So yeah, I was really surprised. And I yeah, I really thought, oh, I'm gonna need to have a tech background, but actually, you know, you don't always have to.
SPEAKER_01:No, and some companies as well. We we have had that conversation recently with a lot of the companies that we work with. They are just looking for potential as well, they are looking for people that are willing to learn, soak things up fast. You don't have to tick all of those boxes to be seen by a company, but sometimes seeing that job application will put people off and then they'll just think, actually, I I'm just not gonna apply or I'm not gonna come over. And actually, those companies are sitting there just screaming out for people to at least put their name forward. Um I I'm so curious though. Had what happened with uh when you were younger? Why did you want to go into science and end up in a lab? Like what what happened who inspired you there? Was there something you saw at home?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, so the honest truth is I really wanted to be a doctor. That was my that was always my ambition because I love working with people, always have. I've always wanted to do something good for the world, and those kind of things came together. But when I was studying, I realized that my grades weren't quite good enough. And so my plan was to do medical biochemistry and then step in and then convert it into a medical degree. But after starting um my medical biochemistry degree, I realized actually, do you know what I don't like blood? I don't like breath. I wanted to go, you know, really deep into a subject. Um and I just remember one of my tutors at uni just saying, you know, you should just pick whatever you love doing. If you're enjoying it, it's much better to do a career in something you love than forcing yourself into something that you feel out of your, you know, enjoyment. Um, and I just really, really enjoyed the microbiology side of things, and I just kept going deeper and deeper into the subject.
SPEAKER_01:And I I'm curious myself now, what what is life like working in a lab? That was great.
SPEAKER_00:It was lovely. It was really, really good fun. Um, it's got a really nice um it's really great because everybody is there because they love it. So everybody works really, really hard in the lab. You can't eat or drink in a lab, so then every it forces everybody to take like breaks together. So you have this period of the day, unlike an office where it's quite chatty, everybody's just really deep into what they're doing, and then everybody exits, and then you have the tea break, and you're talking about all kinds of random things, and then you go back in, and it's just really flexible and fun, and just yeah, everyone's really passionate about what they do.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I love that. Yeah, the culture must be really unique because you're right in an office, most people don't really leave their desks, or they do when they come back, sit at their desk with a sandwich and yeah, and you and it's easy to kind of just work through um in an office, like you kind of think, oh, I'll just sit here and type and I'll eat and do everything at the same time, but you just can't do that in a lab, so yeah, yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, I love that. Um, I I wanted to ask you as well. I mean, you you have a background in in STEM, um at least, and then you took several other career routes as well, even through sales. I mean, that is um quite a baptism of fire, even going through sales, you know, and all the pressures that come with it. I mean, by the time that you reached Redgate, I mean, they say like pressure makes diamonds, so you also went through a sales route as well. Um, but obviously you face lots of challenges along the way, um and challenges going into tech itself anyway, because it's it sounds like it's going to be intimidating and there's lots of things that that come with that. But what were some of your biggest challenges that you faced when you did transition into uh the tech industry?
SPEAKER_00:Um, and how did you overcome them? My biggest challenge was definitely going from being like a real specialist in my field. So I used to be the one who could write the copy, I could approve the copy. You know, creating content for me was never an issue because I understood the subject matter. I was a specialist in it. So it was really, you know, it's really easy to now suddenly going into a place where I didn't understand the acronyms, I didn't understand the customer base, I didn't have a clue what Red Gate did at all. I didn't even understand like the layer below, you know, above that, where, you know, what even our databases, what our software engineers, what what do they do? Um, so just I think the biggest challenge was going from being that expert to suddenly just just not having a clue what's happening around you. Um, but I think for me, the way I overcame that was just by asking a lot of questions and being very, very curious and not being afraid to feel a bit stupid at times, even though you know they're not stupid questions at all. I think that um that kind of old age phrase of there's no such thing as a silly question, it's just so true. Um yeah, so I would literally just keep asking until I understood, and then I would ask different people as well the same kind of question, because everyone would be able to uh answer it in a different way. And some of them I'd find really relatable, others I still wouldn't be any wiser after asking the question. Yes. Um, and then what I really learned, and this is where I really enjoyed it actually, is part of the challenge was trying to work out how to bring different people together to get the result that I needed without necessarily being the one who could understand what it was that I was creating. So one of the things, uh one of the main parts of my job is kind of creating content schedules for our events. We do a lot of um hosted events, but obviously I don't really, I'm not I'm not that person who's coming to our events as an attendee. So I don't necessarily understand exactly what topics they're finding exciting. So my role is to kind of speak to the customers, find out what's exciting, speak to our other marketers, find out what they think is exciting from like a red gate point of view, and kind of bring all that together and then make and then find the right people who are going to say, yes, this makes sense, or this doesn't make sense, and yeah, just uh bringing everything together.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. I love and and being at a company where you're allowed to be curious and ask questions to to get to that point as well. It's how important. Um, and uh and I love the fact that you uh you have that tip there about asking different people because uh that that I learned that funny enough, this is a very strange example, but I learned that learning ballet because it's the same things over and over again, it's the same words that that is used that you have to learn in ballet. And somebody told me that and they said you should go to different classes to hear from different teachers because they'll say the same thing, but it will go in at different times from different people, and I hadn't actually noticed until that started happening. And you're right, because you can keep asking the same people, but you'll start doubting yourself eventually because you're you're asking and asking, you think about perhaps I'm not taking this in, especially in tech. It's really it can be quite intimidating in tech if you are around people that use a lot of jargon, and there's a lot of jargon, yeah, and a lot of acronyms, and and you're kind of like, is it me? Am I the only one that isn't taking this in? So, and also just realizing everybody else is thinking the same as you as well. Everyone else is thinking no idea what was this.
SPEAKER_00:And if you ask like a software engineer, you know, tell me about a database, you'll get a very different answer to if you ask someone in sales, to if you ask someone in marketing, and you've got to find the one that relates to you. I mean, I had someone earlier um quite recently actually describe, you know, how a database works in the context of like if it was a filing cabinet, and I was like, I get that, because I know what a filing, like filing cablets, I get. Um but when they try to go to techie, if you don't, you know, if you don't have years of this background or experience, it's just it's really hard to take in and just fully understand what they're trying to say.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and it's usually just trying to come together on a project. Um, we have that at our uh hackathon. So we always have a theme, like a tech for good theme. And last year it was um women's safety. So everybody created projects in aid or of refuge. And we always say to people, come along, even if you're not techie, and even if it's not your day job, but it will just get you used to what people talk about, how they bring a project together, and that it's not actually as scary as you think it is. So we invite everybody to come along and just be part of a team and you contribute in your own way. You might not be there building a database on the back end, but you contribute in your own way, and because so many people think that they they go to meetings and I have no idea what everybody's talking about.
SPEAKER_00:Sometimes though you need that like other world experience as well, because when when you're deep within you know your subject, you just repeat the same thing over and over again, don't you? So I I'm with you. I find if you get people from other spheres of life, they can contribute in a way that you suddenly go, Oh, I hadn't really thought about it in that way, and actually can make it better.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, exactly. And that's and I I love that because it's the as well, the whole argument for diverse teams, because if you keep having the same people say the same thing, you're just never going to move forward. Somebody at some point needs to say, Yeah, I don't think we should do that, or you know, at least save a company from a very bad PR mistake sometimes. Um, but have you tried looking at it a completely different way? Um, instead of keep repeating the same, but not always mistakes, but the same things you never you never move forward or or innovate. Yeah. Um, what about your experience uh working at Redgate? Can you tell us a little bit about that and what aspects of the company culture have helped you thrive?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um more than happy to. Redgate's like an amazing place if you've never been. It almost sounds a bit fake, but it's it just exceeds expectations. Um, I think one of the aspects which has been really amazing, which we kind of touched on earlier, is that everyone everyone's just so friendly, so and approachable as well. That there's no arseholes. Um, you know, that's one of our values. Um and it's and it's so true.
SPEAKER_01:Everyone should have that bullet point, but not everybody actually lives it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's so true. Um, so I feel completely empowered to go speak to anybody in the company to ask the questions that I need to ask to get the information I need. Um, so whether that is, you know, approaching the software team, or whether that's approaching um the senior leadership team, the sales team, finance, whoever I need to approach, everybody is willing to help you. And everyone, like one of our other values is that we do our best work in teams, and you just get that feeling at Redgate. It's it's really lovely actually how everyone's always willing to take the time to kind of help you for whatever you need. Um so definitely everybody breathing and living the values makes a huge difference at Redgate. That that is what makes you, you know, that's definitely what's helped me thrive.
SPEAKER_01:Um I think like the that doesn't sound fake, by the way. I've actually heard that from quite a few Red Gators, but it's almost as um you have your interview and then you're kind of thinking, like, well, you know, that sounds like a great job, but it's probably not actually like that. And then you get in and you're like, oh wow, it's better. I've never experienced this in a job before. What's going on?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's honestly even it's even better than what they put in their, you know, marketing materials when when they're trying to employ you. Um, Redgate are great as well at supporting families, and that's you know something that's super important in this day and age, um, where you do have like two parents who have to work. You know, there aren't many people now who can afford to have one person not working, and so it's been the only company I've worked for that's truly set up for flexible and hybrid working. So we're given all the tools, so it makes it easy. You know, we all actually do quite love coming into the office. So most people do come in once, two, three times a week, but there's no expectation. So if you know, suddenly your child is sick or your car breaks down, that happened to me the other week. You know, no one bats an eyelid. They're like, no problem, like just join digitally. Um, and then we have like core working hours, but then apart from that, we can flex where we need to. So for me personally, it means I can do my pickups, I can do my drop-offs, I can be there for school plays, I can then put my son to bed, and then I can log back on in the evening if I want to, and I can completely shift my hours to really make it work for me. And I'm not saying everybody does that, but I know for me that was one of the biggest things that I wanted. I wanted that kind of being treated like an adult, being trusted, and just being able to work what makes sense in my life.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, you just said the magic word they're trusted. I think that was something that we all realized about the companies we were working at during lockdown as to whether or not you were trusted. And then suddenly it was like, maybe I'm not, or I was very lucky where I was, but lots of people after COVID decided to move around because they thought, I can't, I can't. You know what? I heard a terrible story about that the other day. Somebody said during lockdown, they all had to be um on a Zoom call the whole day. They had to be present, and if you were going to the bathroom, you had to write a message to say where you were going because you weren't at your screen. So there were some companies that really got that wrong because I as you just said there, when you're trusted, you do more as well because you don't see it as a chore. You think I'm so lucky to work for a flexible company, I can go and do what I need, and then it's not a chore to lock back on and do a little bit more or like go above and beyond for that company, but you can really get that wrong as a oh yeah, it's definitely it's definitely a give and take.
SPEAKER_00:And I also find as well, sometimes when you're working from a different location, actually you work even better because it's just it's just completely different, isn't it? It takes you out of your norm. Like yesterday, I was coming back from a red gate event and I worked on the flight. And once again, I don't have to, you know, we're not told we have to work on the flight, but I absolutely just love working on a plane where I'm disconnected and I can completely clear my inbox. It's the best feeling. It's like the only time where you don't have Slack going, um, you know, other meetings joining in in the day, emails pinging in. So, yeah, so I just really enjoy that kind of freedom to work where works best for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah, and a completely different mindset that you want to log in and you want to do 100% than thinking, oh great, I've got uh got some time to myself, I'm not going above and beyond for that company. Um, so you're obviously enjoying your time, thankfully, coming over to the tech industry with the experience that we like to share um that you're having a good time and don't regret it. So, um, what advice then would you give to somebody from a completely different field who is thinking about moving into tech?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I mean, I would say just acknowledging that it will be overwhelming, potentially, it definitely was for me. Um, you know, it it really for me was like if you're coming from a very different industry, especially, um it's literally like going to a different country where there's a different language and you don't understand what other people are saying. It's you know, it's it's such a vast difference. Um, and also in the tech industry, I always really lucky because I would say the life science persona is fairly similar to tech. It's more introverted than extroverted generally. Um, you know, it yeah, it I think they're very similar, but I think if you came from like a really extroverted sector, I can't think what that would be, but something, you know, really bold and and loud, then even that could be, you know, like a big change. So it's just accepting that it could be a bit overwhelming to start with. But as long as you kind of keep asking those questions, um, keep being curious, don't make it feel like you know, that you shouldn't be there because I think anybody can learn this stuff. It's just it just takes time before you feel comfortable. And kind of just remembering, like, I knew, you know, even though I didn't understand the tech, I was still, you know, a very accomplished marketer, an advanced person. Um, I knew that I would be able to learn the tech. It just would take a matter of time. No one knows stuff straight away.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, exactly. Yeah, just being kind to yourself a little and thinking. Oh, 100%. I need to, I need to, um, it's just a process of learning. Um out of curiosity, were you surprised as well when you spoke to other team members about their own journeys? Because I think it's sometimes surprising when you get in tech that you think everyone else has a computer science degree. Yeah, and then you realize everyone else is just like you.
SPEAKER_00:Do you know what? It was exactly like that. Because in my old roles to be in a commercial organization, um, we all had to have degrees in life science. So there literally wasn't anyone I used to work with that didn't have the same kind of background that I had. So when I moved to Reggie, I was thinking, oh my goodness, everyone must have a computer science background. You know, they must be coding since they were like 10 and all of this kind of thing. And then actually, you know, there's so many of us that don't, but everyone's learned to pick it up. So yeah, exactly what you just said. I was really surprised. I really thought I'd be the only one, but really not.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. And and we are obviously at Chi Kako, we just wish that more people knew that. Like we try and spread that word that like everybody else is thinking the same, you know, not everybody came out of university knowing what they wanted to do. It's the other thing. A lot of people think that the first career you pick after university is what you're gonna do for the rest of your life, and that's also just such a a myth. It really is.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think I don't I don't know if anybody ever knows. I mean, they're lucky if they do, but I mean, I've never known exactly or I fit for a moment in time I feel like yes, this is me, but then you don't know what other opportunities are even out there, like like Redgate. I just had no idea about it that it existed. So there's no way that I could have ever known that I wanted to go there until it kind of just landed, you know, landed in front of me. So, and I've had loads of my peers um from my old roles in life come up to me and just say, So, what's it like working in a different industry? Because so many people I know also have just stayed in that one industry for their whole career.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but you know they're thinking it, you know, they're thinking, could I? And and we always get asked, not the not just the could I do it, but where do I start? That is yeah, people were just never sure. We always say if you do want to be, if you do want to try the techie side of things, we always encourage people to try free boot camps, free training, there's loads of really good resources because it's not for everybody. You might do a few and think, actually, this isn't for me. And it was something I was thinking about, but at least I didn't waste a lot of money or give up my job or you know, go in a direction that's for me. So there are loads of free things just to dip your toe in the water and then just think actually that isn't for me, but I did like life in tech, so I might find a role that's suitable. But um, yeah, it's always people people just kind of get stuck in in their day role, in their in their day jobs and think, oh, another year's gone by and I didn't didn't go.
SPEAKER_00:I think reaching out to people as well is a great thing, you know, use your LinkedIn network um or or use things like this where you know I'm always happy for people to connect with me and like ask questions. Um, because otherwise you just don't know. There's no way to know if you don't have anybody who you can ask. But that's always, you know, that's where you're gonna get like the honest answer of what it what is it really like? You know, everything that happens.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what you need to hear. That it's not it wasn't plain sailing, and these things happened, and it, you know, it came with its challenges, but it was so worth it once you landed in the right company doing the right thing. Um, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I found it to be like the most inclusive environment I've ever been in as well, you know. Um I don't I've never been in an environment where literally everyone is so welcome. Doesn't matter background, walk of life, you know, what you're into, who you are, like everyone has been very, very welcoming. And I think that's I don't and I don't know if that's across the whole of the tech sector. I hope it is, but it definitely is a red gate.
SPEAKER_01:We would hope, but it's definitely not, unfortunately. But there are there are just some really good companies that that notice how do we, it's not a we we've noticed from um some some companies that uh not that we've worked with, thankfully, but we've noticed those that get it wrong, they think it's like uh an overnight thing, or you can just kind of um we always say uh oh we started a women in tech slack group. Oh brilliant, but how do all of your employees feel coming to work every day? You know, it's a completely different feeling of you you can't just inject a company culture in a in a couple of things or a few drinks at Christmas, or you know, and I kind of get it just wrong in that sense. It's it's throughout everything that happens for the the company and even things like that flexibility that you see leadership doing that, management is going to pick the kids up, and it's just you see it.
SPEAKER_00:I've got a great story. So on my interview, I like I said, this was one of my biggest kind of reasons for changing. So on my interview, I kind of asked um one of I had someone quite senior on my interview, and he just went to me, let me just share my screen and show you my calendar. And he literally showed me his calendar in the seam interview, and it had you know, it had every single pickup in it blocked out, and then he said, I don't take meetings past five because that's the time I have with my family. And I just thought, wow, well, if if you can do it in a senior position, then there's no reason anybody else can't do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I love that on an interview, yeah, and just seeing it actually, it's not something that you've read on a website, it's you actually saw it in his diary, and it's like we're just it's fine.
SPEAKER_00:It was lovely, just so open and transparent. It was just so different.
SPEAKER_01:Amazing. Well, um we I could keep talking to you and kicking your brains on your journey um because uh we are already out of time, I'm afraid. But Alison, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting with you. Thank you so much for sharing your journey and for inspiring our community today. It's been a pleasure.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Kaylee. It's been really lovely chatting with you too.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, and for everybody listening, as always, thank you very much for joining us, and we hope to see you again next time.
