Inspirational Woman: Temi Ogunkanmi | Senior Cyber Security Cloud Assurance Consultant, Gemserv

I am an Electronic and Electrical Engineer who loves technology. I started off my Cyber Security Career at Deloitte, where I worked in Resilience – Disaster and Cyber Recovery, Cloud and Infrastructure Security Assessments before I moved on to Network Security – Micro segmentation of Business-Critical Application and cloud network security design patterns.

I have recently joined Gemserv as a Senior Cyber Security Cloud Assurance Consultant. I am currently supporting various clients with their cloud security configurations or 3^rd Party provider’s configurations to align with best practice. I am also supporting our Business Development and Marketing teams to build our cloud proposition and go to market strategy.

You can check out our initial offering here: Cloud Optimisation – Gemserv

Describe yourself in three words?

Inquisitive, Determined, Chill

What are your hobbies?

Reading, Football (Chelsea FC), Basketball(watching), Hiking, exploring new cities, trying new restaurants without any prior research and many more.

Did you ever sit down and plan your career?

Not particularly. At various junctures I take stock of where I am, where I want to be and what I need to do to get me there.

In my second year at university, I sat down and thought about what industries or capabilities I would like to work in based on the modules I had enjoyed and my relevant work experience. I was able to come up with a list of 4 industries/capabilities, from there I developed a list of companies, researched, applied and so on.

Once I got into my first role at Deloitte, I thought about what I wanted to achieve (technical and business skills), I then shared that with my various managers, and we discussed what I needed to do to achieve that. I developed a plan and worked to make that happen. Rinse and repeat since then.

 Have you faced any career challenges along the way and how did you overcome these?

Working as a consultant is fantastic, but with my technical background, I have found that sometimes I’ve had to do a lot more advisory, and strategy related projects as opposed to my default setting: technical, find and fix the problem etc. I have had some really good managers, who encouraged me to step back from the detail and see the benefit in building stakeholder management, presentation and business development skills. Being able to look at client’s problems or requests from a different perspective, communicate better with the business and tell a coherent story enables better understanding and investment to make those fixes.

What has been your biggest career achievement to date?

My biggest career achievement to date was when I led the implementation of micro-segmentation for our client’s Business Critical Applications and Critical Infrastructure Services. It was my first time leading a team for a long term, large scale project. It was a perfect blend for me in terms of technical difficulty and stakeholder engagement. It was a fantastic learning opportunity in so many ways and we were successful, which is always nice following a yearlong project with many challenges along the way.

What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?

I think the work ethic my parents instilled in me plays a big role. From my time at university to now, I have a belief that I always must give my best. I also learnt that research is pivotal. Prepare yourself for everything. With the internet, there is so much information at our disposal and you can apply it to job searching, in your role, to build up your skills, learn something new etc. Prepare and execute – and do it to the best of your ability.

What top tips would you give to an individual who is trying to excel in their career in technology?

Regularly evaluate where you are – your role, skills, and level of satisfaction. Identify where there are gaps and what you can do about it. Develop a plan and then do it. Try to broaden your perspective, keep your finger on the pulse with regards to best practice, new technology etc. Utilise those ahead of you, talk to your managers, senior managers, directors etc. They have invaluable insight. Go to industry events and try to expand your network.

Do you believe there are still barriers for success for women working in tech, if so, how can these barriers be overcome?

I do think there are still barriers and that is mostly due to biases (conscious and unconscious) that women are not interested in tech or able to perform within tech roles.

To overcome the barriers, we need to push hard, we need to put ourselves out there and try and secure these roles. My fellow Women, find an area in tech you’re interested in. It could be machine learning, data analysis, data science, computer vision, cloud, cyber security, big data & IOT etc. Then do some research. Understand what it is, the roles available and the skills required. Then, start to learn the skills, there are so many free resources out there – Udacity, Udemy, YouTube. Upskill, be armed with knowledge, and apply for the roles!

We also need to be bold once we get into Tech. You are there because you are capable, continue to develop yourself and go for new opportunities as they arise.

What do you think companies can do to support to progress the careers of women working in technology?

I think cultural shifts from the top-down will help. If the leaders of companies show (in words and action) that they trust and respect women in tech then that will permeate through their companies and through the industry. More transparency about requirements for promotion would also help women advance more in tech, it’s not always clear how promotion decisions are made.

There is currently only 17 per cent of women working in tech, if you could wave a magic wand, what is the one thing you would do to accelerate the pace of change for women in the industry?

I think we need more seeds sown to encourage girls to consider tech. I would have every science or maths teacher in primary and secondary school encourage girls who show an affinity for the subject. Encourage them that there is a path for them in the future.

What resources do you recommend for women working in tech?

Podcasts – Science Vs, The Cyber Hacks, Let’s Talk Tech.

Websites – wired.com, Tech Crunch, Financial Times, CNET, Business Insider, Forbes, Android Authority

Conferences – Women in Tech, CES show, AWS re:invent, IET and Eng Talks, Tune in to the announcements from Samsung, Google, Apple

There are so many free resources out there – Udacity, Udemy, Youtube. Upskill, be armed with knowledge and apply for the roles!