Welcome to our Women in Tech series, a series of articles that aim to highlight the wonderful work done by the women involved in the technology behind LetsGetChecked.
This week, we spoke with Shannon Mulgrew, our Technical Support Engineer. Shannon has always loved the creative aspect of the tech industry and has always wanted to work in a place where she felt her work was contributing to something meaningful.
When did you join LetsGetChecked?
I started in LetsGetChecked in August 2020 so I've been here over five months now and I'm really enjoying it so far.
What is your role in LetsGetChecked?
I work as a Technical Support Engineer.
Tell us a little bit about the role and what you do
As a Technical Support Engineer for the FLOW team, I make sure everything runs smoothly when receiving data from the laboratories. I play a role in addressing any technical issues that arise from patient results and make sure that our customers get their results as quickly as possible.
I also get to work on adding new features to our code that will help us become more efficient. In doing this, I get to learn and expand my skills as well as make customers happy!
What motivated you to pursue a career in technology?
I like the creative aspect of technology. I know people may not think that coding or programming is creative, but it is! Trying to come up with ideas and solutions is really hard sometimes but it's quite enjoyable, and I also really enjoy problem-solving.
Why did you decide to join LetsGetChecked as opposed to any other organization?
I had a long think about what kind of area I wanted to go into within technology and I always wanted to work somewhere where I could give back, I wanted the work I do to have meaning in some way.
I chose LetsGetChecked because it helps people with their medical concerns, it could really help someone if they catch something at an early stage or find out something that they weren’t aware of. I feel like that’s really giving back to people - that’s why I chose LetsGetChecked and I’m over the moon that I get to work here!
What advice would you give a woman interested in pursuing a career in technology? Anything you wish you had known?
I think, from my experience, I always thought of technology to be predominantly males and only rarely women, and because of that, it kind of knocked my confidence a bit. I think if I was to give advice to anyone, I’d tell them you’re good enough, believe in yourself.
In my course, there are over 100 men and under 20 women, so you can feel like you have to prove yourself and try to go above and beyond. But, if you believe in yourself and you’re working hard and enjoy it, you can’t go wrong!
That’s really solid advice! Is there any particular female leader that you look up to or take inspiration from?
There's no actual female leader that I looked at when I was younger, but I am surrounded by really supportive and powerful women.
My sister is actually a lecturer in computer science, she always supported me and she always encouraged me. I think I’d look to her and my Mom as my leaders more so. There are hundreds and hundreds of brilliant female workers in STEM, but for me, it would have been my Mom and my sister who helped me get into tech so they would be my inspiration.
What does the future hold for women in technology
I firmly believe that there are definitely more women going into technology and STEM careers, which is great. I believe nothing bad can ever come from that - the only thing that can come is a different viewpoint or different backgrounds.
Some women may have thought processes or ideas that just aren’t in the industry right now and the industry is becoming more inclusive for women. I feel the more variety of people there are from different backgrounds, the more inclusive a company will be and it can only be good from there!
