Accelerating action to power the pioneers of tomorrow

Women make up just 28% of the global tech workforce and only 5% hold leadership roles.

This is surprising when you consider that some of the key tech breakthroughs of the last century were pioneered by women.

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – Hedy Lamarr
• CCTV – Marie Van Brittan Brown
• Internet – Radia Perlman
• Personal computer – Adele Goldberg

What did these incredible women have in common?

A determination to challenge the status quo, asking the difficult questions and finding the answers themselves.

These are the women powering our every day, who inspire us to pioneer tomorrow.

Some are born great. Others are nurtured into greatness.

At FDM, we create opportunities for the pioneers of tomorrow to foster innovation.

From our female coaches mentoring future consultants to internal staff creating job opportunities, Heads of our Skills Lab aligning our curriculum with cutting-edge tech to consultants driving innovation for our clients, we have some extraordinary women within FDM, shaping the innovation landscape of tomorrow.

We want to shine the spotlight on some of these fantastic females.

What made them choose a career in tech and what were their journeys like?

Linzi Holmes, FDM Coach, Change & Transformation Practice

Growing up, Linzi wanted to be a teacher, a vet, a Spice Girl and a WWE Wrestler!

After figuring out early on that regimented teaching was not for her, she dropped out of school at 16 to get paid work and eventually, put herself through college. This opened up new opportunities and helped her discover new ways of learning that were better suited to her needs.

What followed was a diverse career, with roles ranging from hotel operations manager, general manager of Scotland’s largest indoor market, to tour manager for an independent record label and many more.

A natural curiosity to take things apart and see how they work, led her to tech.

“When the role at FDM came around, it seemed like the perfect way to not only challenge and develop myself but give those without industry experience the opportunity to kickstart their careers.”

Despite her own success, she recognises the lack of gender diversity in the sector. Linzi believes encouraging more hands-on tech experience in early education, supporting flexible working and offering in-house development opportunities would support more people, regardless of identity, to embrace a career in any field. This will hopefully remove any biases about who “typically does that kind of work”.

Her favourite thing about being a coach?

“Giving those with the potential and drive to succeed, a platform to showcase what they can do – people can do incredible things when they believe in themselves and are given an opportunity.”

Walk the walk

Change needs action. And when it comes to improving gender diversity in tech, it calls for action at an organisational level – to create opportunities.

Women who take a career break after childbirth often find it difficult to return to work without incurring a significant pay cut. This costs the UK £1.7 billion a year in lost economic output.

The FDM Returners Programme has been instrumental in helping close the gender pay gap by hiring more women into senior roles.

From reel to real life

Prasanna devi Rengakrishnan grew up in India and enjoyed mathematics in school. Watching a movie about a cryptologist sparked her curiosity as a young girl, inspiring her to pursue computer engineering.

After a 10-year career in IT, spanning multiple roles and responsibilities, she relocated to the United States. First, restrictions on her work permit and then childcare, forced her to take a break, although she remained determined to return to tech.

Eventually, she came across FDM and joined our Returners Programme.

Everything felt new when she first joined, but FDM Coaches brought her up to speed and she soon secured an assignment with a major financial services client. She is currently part of the Network Authorisations team, looking after coding and testing.

Manifestation, consistency, growth mindset and embracing change – these are Prasanna’s keys to success.

In the next five years, she aspires to become a Technical Project Manager or higher and has been actively upskilling herself with a ‘Certified Cloud Practitioner’ accreditation from AWS and ‘Certified Scale Agilist 6.0’ from Scaled Agile, Inc.

At FDM, retaining talent is top of our agenda and we do this by promoting a culture of continuous learning, upskilling and career development opportunities through our Skills Lab.

Rim Almaliki, Director of Skills Lab, North America

Rim Almaliki grew up admiring her father’s work in mechanical engineering. This prompted her to pursue a masters in electronics engineering and land her first job as a programmer in visual basics.

Rim had moved to Saudi Arabia to find that there were no jobs for women in IT at the time. Undaunted, she decided to change her game plan, and moved into training which eventually became her passion.

In 2011 she moved to Canada. This relocation had its own unique challenges because Canada requires local experience to work in IT. She then started training at Everest college and eventually came across FDM.

In her nearly 10 years at FDM, Rim has been instrumental in transforming over 1,000 individuals into accomplished IT professionals, while also driving strategic initiatives such as scaling consultant operations and launching transformative training solutions. Previously, as a university IT Director, she spearheaded impactful IT strategies. Recognised for her leadership, Rim was a finalist for the “Future CIO of the Year” award at the 2019 WIT Awards.

Having helped launch so many tech careers, Rim believes collaboration and mentorship are key qualities that help female co-workers stand out.

“I see women at FDM fostering teamwork by sharing knowledge and lifting others as they grow. Their proactive support often bridges gaps and creates a more inclusive and empowered workplace.”

So, who’s her role model?

“Every woman who challenges the status quo and inspires change. Their courage to innovate and lead, often in male-dominated spaces, motivates me to continuously strive for impact and excellence.”

One step at a time

One of the biggest contributing factors to gender disparity in the workplace is arguably the gender pay gap, with men being paid more than women for the same roles. According to ONS data, in 2024 the UK recorded a 7% median gender pay gap. This means the median hourly pay for full-time female employees was 7% less than their male counterparts.

In comparison, FDM UK reported a median gender pay gap of -5.1% in favour of women in 2024.

We were one of the first UK organisations to publish our gender pay gap report in 2017 when mandatory reporting was introduced for organisations with over 250 employees.

Closing the gender pay gap and creating more opportunities for women go hand in hand.

Whether it’s supporting senior professionals to return to work after a career break, providing reskilling and upskilling opportunities for career development or paving the way for young talent to join the workforce – by creating a culture of inclusion, we as an industry can attract and retain top talent.

The FDM Apprenticeship Programme

The FDM Apprenticeship Programme was launched in September 2020 within our IT Support Team. The Programme has grown to a current headcount of 31 across all areas of the IT estate and wider business departments.

Apprentices begin their degree working on FDM internal projects before moving to client assignments.

We partner with Sheffield Hallam and Northeastern University, London for our degree apprenticeship programme in Digital Tech Solutions.

Fiona Apaw, FDM Apprentice

Fiona Apaw had never really considered a career in tech. A coding summer camp introduced her to the basics of web design (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) and sparked her interest in Computer Science. Whilst researching degree apprenticeships in the final year of sixth form, she came across FDM and applied to join.

She’s currently going through the FDM Skills Lab, learning the basics of a range of topics including Linux, Sec Ops and Networking.

Despite being in her role for less than a year, Fiona’s been supported to visit another school to participate in an apprenticeship panel to help aspiring Female degree apprentices with their applications.

In five years’ time, Fiona hopes to have successfully completed her apprenticeship and secured a role in cyber security. She’s passionate about mentoring and wants to continue supporting students with their apprenticeship applications.

Inclusive recruitment

Julia Aul is the Regional Recruitment Manager at FDM Frankfurt.

Julia says that whilst companies complain about not enough women applying for roles, the onus is on the businesses to identify why this is the case and optimise their recruitment processes which can often be exclusionary.

Male-coded wording in job ads can prevent women from applying for jobs and some test and interview procedures can be biased.

“Companies should create structures that make it possible for individuals with different circumstances to adjust their work to their requirements. With such regulations everyone can benefit from employees that have the opportunity to release their full potential in their job.”

At FDM, all our interviewers are required to complete mandatory training on key inclusivity topics, such as objective note taking, unconscious bias, different ability awareness and how to support the progression of young talent. This ensures all applicants receive fair and equal consideration regardless of their background.

Women in tech initiatives

FDM’s She Lives Tech initiative is part of our ongoing commitment to inspire and empower women of all backgrounds to break barriers, lead, and succeed in tech and business. The initiative offers bootcamps, networking opportunities, and personal development workshops.

We deliver regular female-only bootcamps for students considering opportunities in tech. The interactive sessions range from hackathons to coding workshops and provide an opportunity for team-based project work, networking and presenting to senior stakeholders.

Phoebe Mak, FDM Consultant

Phoebe joined FDM’s all-female cohort of Project Grace and is currently working as a Fixed Income Support Analyst for an international bank. She believes it enhanced her knowledge of software and systems and consolidated her skills in essential software like Excel VBA.

In her current role, she’s involved in automating the sending of a daily report that will improve efficiency by freeing up human resources.

Recognition programmes

It’s important to promote a culture of positive reinforcement to inspire and motivate our people. Our employee and consultant recognition schemes like ‘Consultant of the Month’, ‘Women in Tech Wednesdays’ and ‘Consultant of the Year’, celebrate the achievements of our people both internally and across our social media channels.

The bottom line

Relocation, childcare, non-STEM backgrounds – these are some of the most common barriers for women entering or returning to tech. But those who overcome these barriers – backed by forward-thinking organisations – don’t just thrive themselves; they pave the way for others, driving progress for businesses and other women alike.

The theme for International Women’s Day this year is #AccelerateAction. Everyday actions lead to extraordinary change. By working together to break down these barriers, we can create a more inclusive and innovative tech industry.

Want to know more about how we’re driving change? Explore our work in DEI.