Students from diverse backgrounds – not necessarily Stem subjects – were able to experience departments such as cybersecurity.
Photograph: Erik Isakson/Getty Images/Blend Images
“I had it in mind that coders were just people who sat behind desks and typed in numbers without having much real-world impact – but they do,” says student Vanessa Moore.
Last month Moore, a second-year undergraduate at Bristol University, spent three days with PwC’s tech team to gain direct experience of their work. She was surprised and impressed: “It was exciting to see how influential these people’s roles were.”
PwC’s training academy programme was designed to give 18 students – most of whom were women in this intake – an opportunity to learn about the rapidly evolving world of tech within a corporate environment. In spite of its dominance in the news, there are still many myths about who can, who does and who would want to work in tech – so PwC threw open its doors to help dispel a few assumptions.
The first thing that stood out for student Dasuni Leelasena, was that you don’t need to have a background in science, technology, engineering or maths (Stem) subjects. Leelasena studies law at Warwick University, and has been interested in tech since she was young, but was worried that not being “mathsy” would hold her back. “I chose law as my lens to come to tech through,” she says. “I’m interested in where law and technology interact, although from speaking to the associates at PwC I now see that having that lens wasn’t necessary.”
In fact, her concern about not having the right skillset was shared by Stem students too. “I was slightly concerned about my lack of a computer sciences background,” says Moore, who is studying maths, “but it was made evident that I didn’t need it and could get involved immediately.”
The students spent the first day in workshops, Leelasena explains, “being exposed to different areas and seeing how technologies work in real life. On the second day I went into the cybersecurity department where I shadowed a manager going into meetings and speaking to associates about the work they did.”
Learning and observing within the working teams meant the students were also able to explore not just the subject but also the culture. As a computer sciences student at King’s College London, Anna Banasik says she was most surprised by the environment she encountered: “The feeling of walking in there was different – there was an enhanced diversity of thinking that you don’t see elsewhere.
“On the second day of the academy I did work on the emergency crisis response desk. They put me in a team and gave me work they may be using now, which feels great.”
Leelasena had a similar experience: “One associate asked us to send her the research we’d been doing. We felt valued and not patronised at all, even though we were first- and second-year university students.”
Students were able to explore every aspect of tech, says Anu Pothakamuri, a maths and finance student at the City University and Cass Business School. “There were so many things I never knew before and we got the opportunity to ask whatever we wanted.
“We were given a presentation to do on the third day in Dragons’ Den style, and had to plan the time to prepare it into our own calendars as you’d do at work. I’ve never done that before, so I found that really good. And our group won actually.”
While the programme aimed to help students explore what interested them, PwC was also keeping an eye out for potential new recruits. Following the experience, students will be invited to interview for an internship or graduate job at PwC, depending on the stage they’re at in their degree.
Sarah Martins, who’s studying Spanish and business at Durham University, shadowed in cybersecurity. “I’ll definitely apply to PwC for a summer internship in cybersecurity and forensics,” she says. “I thought subjects like tech risk or consulting would interest me before I started, but now I don’t think I’d enjoy those, whereas cybersecurity has a lot more variety.”
Banasik is looking forward to applying to PwC too: “I will absolutely interview, although whether I take the job will depend on which position I’m offered – I would want it to be coding, although I was happy to learn something new by being put in another area during the programme.”
Having previously organised a placement for herself at a blockchain company in Singapore, Banasik is also considering becoming an independent contractor and blockchain specialist. She appreciated being able to talk to tech professionals at PwC: “The best thing was the openness to networking – it was a really healthy environment and there were a lot of strong personalities. Whoever we wanted to reach we were able to, and I met some women who were working on blockchain.”
Moore, who is going to apply to do data analytics, also found the working environment appealing and employee attitudes encouraging: “The tech and work aside, it was a really positive atmosphere and everyone was really happy to talk to us, which showed they were passionate about what they were doing. Tech is always changing and the people I met saw that as an exciting challenge.”
To find out more about PwC’s Women in Tech initiative, head here.
To find out more about student opportunities within technology at PwC, head here.
To find out more about experienced hire opportunities within technology at PwC, head here.
