Kimberley McGill
Software Engineer at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence
Just go for it! It's one of the best decisions I made. I think girls should look to do a computing course or look to study computing at university. Not all courses are about the programming - you get a variety of different jobs in IT. So if writing code isn't for you, there's heaps of different ways to get involved, such as policy making and cyber security, the hardware side of computing and heaps of others. The mindset you should have is to be willing to learn and adapt to change - the world of IT moves quickly and is constantly being updated, so you need to be on top of the newest tech and solutions.
About Kimberley...
Who am I?
"I'm inquisitive and a quick-learner, so this fits both the Explorer and Investigator, as I'm always looking for new ways to do things and researching how something can be done. Developer fits perfectly - because that's what I am!"
What do I do?
"I write code, research how to do new things and correct mistakes. I've been lucky to travel and I like the variety of work and working with clever people. Opportunities to develop could be senior software engineer, team lead, tech lead, etc. Hopefully I'll become a Cyber Security specialist and move more into the Cyber Security side of computing. I see myself becoming a manager of my own security consultancy. "
How did I get here?
"I inspire myself - I like to base my next achievements on how I was able to overcome my past challenges and achievements."
The life I live
"In my spare time, I like watching TV, playing games and going out for food and drinks with my friends."
My typical day
"On a typical day, I’ll be writing code, researching how to do new things and correcting mistakes."
My qualifications
"Secondary education (GCSE/O-Levels) Post secondary education (College, A-levels, NVQ3 or equivalent) I did Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers. Higher Maths - B Higher English - B Higher Computing - B Higher Human Biology - A Undergraduate degree (BSc, BA, etc.) Post-graduate degree (MSc, MA, etc.) "