Follow me here on LinkedIn or over on twitter and you’ll see me use the phrase “I love my job” quite often. This is particularly true when I have weeks like this one, when my role at Escape gives me the chance to meet new and inspirational people, encourages me to do something I’ve not done before and makes me stop and take time to think about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.

Tuesday

I was invited to attend the relaunch of Girl Geek Scotland, a fantastic organisation founded by Morna Simpson which aims to support and inspire women in the world of computing, creativity, and enterprise in Scotland. With workshops, dinners and mentoring opportunities alongside Morna’s popular series of interviews with women in technology I’m always inspired whenever I talk with her. On the evening we also heard from the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who spoke passionately about her commitment to gender equality in the workplace. I particularly enjoyed her response to a comment about how men still hold all the purse strings, “not all of them” she smiled.

I also had the chance to meet some of the Girl Geeks themselves and spoke about career paths and working in predominately male or female organisations. This included one woman who had started her career as a trader in the stock exchange, then became an architect and civil engineer, and currently works in digital technology. As someone who has switched careers, albeit within the same industry, it was great for me to hear from an individual who has had success across such diverse professions.

Gosh, are we still just at Tuesday? Hang on, there’s more…

Wednesday

My colleague Dan, who heads up our Engineering division had arranged for us to take part in the World of Work event at Larbert High School. A full day of workshops for first year pupils to get them thinking about the variety of career opportunities out there and what they might enjoy doing after school.

With The James Dyson Foundation, HP, Amazon, Strathclyde University, Webhelp, Xmos, Reuters, Royal Bank of Scotland and others all taking part, the students were certainly in for a varied day. Everyone we met, from the 6th year guides who made sure we didn’t get lost on the way to the staff room, teachers, other employers and the 1st year students themselves, told us this was a big event for the school and one that everyone was really excited about.

We ran an exercise which allowed them to take on the role of being a recruiter and review mock CVs for a job. There were certainly a few tough recruiters in the room who weren’t letting applicants away with anything but when they spotted someone who had what their client was looking for, they couldn’t wait to tell you why they should get the job. “They speak Spanish and the company is international so that means they might get to work abroad!” one pointed out,“She says she’s ambitious and our client says they want someone who wants to develop their career, she’s perfect”.  A pretty great way to spend a Wednesday, roll on next year!

Thursday

It had been a while since I’d gone along to the New Media Breakfasts run by Fatbuzz and WeDoScotland so I was looking forward to a bit of networking over those famous bacon rolls and to hear what they had to say about blogging. As always, great information was shared in a way that was easy to understand and action back at the office. What was particularly inspiring for me was taking time to reflect on what I was currently doing, what was I doing right, what can I improve on and what answers did they have for problems I was experiencing. Taking a couple of hours away from my desk and thinking about my work also got the creative ideas flowing and gave me a boost in confidence to keep going at something I’m still relatively new at. Before I’d even left the building I’d started ticking off things from my to-do list by arranging a guest blog swap with someone I met at the breakfast who works in career counselling. Perfect!

Today

So, it’s been a busy and productive week and I’ve still got today to go!

Would love to hear what’s inspired you at work recently and I’ll leave you with a few memories from my week which will keep me inspired in the weeks and months ahead:

  “Anyone can work in technology. All that matters is your ability, aptitude and attitude, not your gender”
First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, talking about the importance of equality in the workplace

  “If you want something to happen, you make it happen”
Advice given to, taken and shared by Morna Simpson, Founder of Girl Geek Scotland  

“Paleontologist, graphic designer, professional drummer, performer in the West End, working with children with cancer, vet for horses, mechanic, teacher, chef”
Some of the things first year pupils at Larbert High School want to be when they grow up.

 “Work is the thing you do, not the place you go ”
Gordon White, from Fatbuzz at the New Media Breakfast 

“I’ve had it said to me before that I’m really lucky to have a job that I love… it’s not about luck, it’s about working hard, figuring out what you love doing and then chasing it.”  
A friend of mine when I mentioned writing this blog and how I love my job.