Panelists and Speakers
Our panelists are volunteers from different areas of the technology industry and at different stages of their careers.
Applications Talk
Tor Abrams is a 26 year old who got his first job at Google at age 21. Since then he has gone on to launch multiple business projects, and is now earning over six figures each year. He helps students get their first step on the career ladder with online teaching, talks and mentoring.
Different Routes into Tech
Shaan Aucharagram is enrolled in a Data Science Degree Apprenticeship at Santander UK and is currently working in CIB Financial Crime Analytics. His passion for technology was ignited by helping out his family business and he has not looked back since. He is particularly interested in how data can be leveraged to improve decision making at an executive level as well as the various applications of AI. Outside of his role, you can find him travelling or spending too much time with his dog.
George Taylor is a recent graduate with a Masters in Computer Science, currently working in the financial industry developing trading systems with a focus on metal and agricultural commodity trading. His passions in technology have been focused mostly around mathematics and machine learning approaches to developing intelligent systems but he has gained a broad range of experience over the last few years. In his personal life he is an avid climber and mountaineer and I’m currently working through qualifications to take this to a professional level.
Hassiba Boukari is a 2019 graduate working as an Analyst at North Highland Management Consulting. She also has a strong passion for data and technology, and has recently started studying her part-time masters in Computer Science at the University of Bath.
Tara Suran followed an untraditional path from being a Private Client Legal Advisor to now a Tech Consultant, whilst undertaking a Junior Management Consultancy apprenticeship.
Kate Narciso is currently a postgrad student at Goldsmiths studying MSc Computer Games Programming. She did her undergrad in Linguistics, and most of her projects focus on NLP within games (like NPC dialogue systems!). In her free time she does archery and draws comics.
Amina Aweis is a writer, content creator and Software Engineer. She is also an ambassador for London Screen Academy which is a sixth form founded by names in the industry behind the production of the Harry Potter series, James Bond and Paddington. She is also 1/3 of The Black Muslim Girl Podcast (TBMG) which is a space for Black Muslim girls to vibe, elevate, educate each other. Amina is passionate about authentic storytelling and believes it’s what connects people together. She is also pushing to get more women into the tech industry.
Lightning Talks with Industry
Adewunmi Awolesi is a Junior Developer at the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). BEIS is a government department that was created in 2016 merging two different departments together (Department for Business, Innovation and skills and Department of Energy and Climate Change). She began her job at BEIS in 2019, after completing a degree in Financial Management at the University of Hull in 2018.
Bernard Kambasha studied Computer Science at the University of Hull and is currently working as an Enterprise Architect for Vodafone Group. In his spare time, he is debunking the confusion that is 'Tech' and helping people understand the industry and how to get in.
Tiwalade Elegbede is a data scientist at Vodafone. She studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham and after graduating joined Vodafone on their technology graduate scheme. On her first placement, she was a SIEM Analyst in Cyber Security. For her second placement, she was a Technical Programme Manager and she is now a Data Scientist on her third and final placement.
James Penson currently works as a Data Engineer at Facebook on a team looking at account integrity. He spent most of his career at PwC first as a technology consultant on enterprise IT projects, then as an engineer in an internal data analytics team. He's worked on problems such as how to schedule auditors to minimise travel time and building a search tool for tax teams to sift through large volumes of annual reports.
Kemi Iyaniwura is a Cyber Security engineer, which means she delivers new cyber solutions for key accounts including designing, building and configuration solutions. She is also passionate about making security easily understood and applied to the everyday person.
Charmaine Mabika is a test analyst and tech advocate. She currently works for a global IT consultancy where she has worked in different sectors in different cities. She aims to inspire the next generation of people in the tech and STEM industry. Whether this is by speaking at events, mentoring or writing her experiences to inspire people into get into the tech industry.
Buki Thompson is a software developer and founder of the masterclass codexhiphop where the aim of the masterclass is to make beats using plain code in order to show off all the creative possibilities that tech can provide.
University Life
George Baker is a Computer Science student at the University of Birmingham going into his second year. He is currently learning iOS development with Swift and has previous experience with Java and Python. His hobbies include photography, listening to alternative/indie music and playing tennis.
Kevin Roice just completed his first year of Computer Science and Physics at Durham University. He's passionate about research, tech and data science and hopes to go into these fields in the future. Having never formally studied computer science until his first year at university, he understands how daunting and competitive this subject can appear to be. He's open to questions about everything from UCAS applications to the sort of coding and theory he encountered in his first year. Feel free to ask him questions about combining Computer Science with other subjects (particularly the natural sciences!) He's looking forward to meeting you all!
Keerthi Rachamallu is currently a Degree Apprentice studying Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. She has recently finished her 2nd year and looks forward to starting her placement year in September. Within technology, she's interested in AI, and when not working she's usually binge-watching TV or baking.
Shubham Jain is a first year undergraduate studying Computer Science at UCL. Prior to this, he took a gap year to work in industry where he worked on the front-end, back-end, and DevOps aspects of various projects. He's a mobile and full-stack developer with experience in Flutter (Dart), and JavaScript (Node/React). He's also an MLH Fellow contributing to open source projects with other students from around the world.
Henry Wright recently graduated from doing a BA in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge. During university, he did a programming internship in Munich and a consulting internship in London. Next year he'll be doing a PGCE in Secondary Computer Science (teacher training) at the University of Reading and he has no idea about what he wants to do in the future yet!
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