The GSE UK conference, ‘Where Technology and Talent Meet Tomorrow’, ran from Monday 30th October to Thursday 2nd November. This was the biggest and best so far, with more than 250 sessions in 20 Streams and over 600 delegates. Aileen Wynne, FICS and member of WITS Ireland, chaired the Women in IT stream. As this is a technical conference, and often the only technical/work related training delegates receive during the year, the stream consists of three sessions only.

Gabija Juodzbalyte spoke about her journey through the mainframe world, starting as junior infrastructure specialist to Global Head of Mainframe Db2, Regional Head of Mainframe Lithuania in ‘From Techie to Manager: The Impact of CA4 Cert on Career Transition’. She also discussed her other major roles including managing projects like Grow as a Leader, Woman in IT, Lean department coach and her newest achievement, being a mom.

She then joined Michelle Harris of Macro4, Ciara O’Connor of Vertali and Wendy Wilson of Tata Consultancy Services in the Panel Discussion, ‘Who unwraps the sandwiches?’, which was facilitated by Resli Costabell. This was a light hearted discussion looking at bias and unconscious behaviours, their impacts and possible causes. It reiterated the need to inclusivity in the IT world and leant into the intergenerational co-operation in the mainframe community. The session was very interactive with the audience participating fully in the conversation.

The final WITS session was a facilitated group activity, not a training session called, ‘Is There Wisdom In Your Ism’. It highlighted the luck of the draw in life, letting participants see things from a different perspective and take a walk in someone else’s shoes. This was also facilitated by Resli Costabell, who is an award-winning international speaker, trainer, and coach, specialising in applying the art and science of psychology. Overall, the conference was a massive success and preparations for next years conference are underway.