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Women in IT need skills that help them reach the top

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CIOL Bureau
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UK: Many female technologists feel that they need to develop their career management and business skills according to research from womenintechnology.co.uk, the online job board and networking group for women in IT. In response to this, the organisation has created an event for

women in the sector who want boost their career development.

"It’s obvious at all of our events that these women are intelligent and hard working but just need help in developing certain skills to allow them to really push their careers in the right direction," comments Maggie Berry, director of womenintechnology.co.uk. “With this in mind, we will be holding W-Tech in February 2009, in association with the British Computer Society. It will be a great event and we aim to arm many women working, and hoping to work, in IT with some really valuable and useful career skills."

At recent events hosted by womenintechnology.co.uk, 77 percent of attendees felt that they did not have sufficient skills to manage in a political context in the workplace, and almost half struggled with achieving a work/life balance. Questions that some of the female technologists posed to the

speakers included: "How can you be politically savvy without compromising the ideals of hard work and genuineness of character?” and  "Is it possible to convey passion for your job whilst also protecting the life element of work/life balance?"

W-Tech is the first event of its kind in the UK and is open to women in top level IT jobs through to graduates looking to enter the industry. Attendees will have the opportunity to attend a wide range of workshops and seminars throughout the day on issues such as networking, political savvy, work/life balance and CV skills and there will be a champagne reception and networking session afterwards.