Temp who became permanent

Trade

Kathryn Harding first stepped into an IT role with the sole intention of paying off her college loans
. . . only to find the sector more interesting than she had imagined. “I had completed a degree in English literature and history, and my first priority when I got home was to get a temping position to start paying off my student debts.

Harding’s first assignment was in the operations department at what was then Unipalm Pipex, later Uunet and now Computerlinks. Twelve years later, she is still there – now she as professional services manager.
What has kept Harding with the same outfit all this time has been a “very high” rate of job satisfaction. She says her role is varied and that it focuses on creating services for Computerlinks’ channel, as well as working with the professional service team and other areas of the business to ensure services are delivered to what Harding describes as an excellent standard. “It is very satisfying to see a service idea through from conception to delivery, and then being successfully received by our customers.”

Harding ascribes the relatively low numbers of women in IT roles to the sector’s perceived image as a field that is boring, populated by long-haired techies, and accessible only to people with an interest in anything built around a microchip. She adds: “We all know these stereotypes are far from the reality, at least in any of the companies that I work with.” She believes there are a huge number of IT roles that women can do, and indeed can excel at.
Harding has yet to experience the joys of motherhood but says that, in such a situation, she would hope to be able to achieve a healthy balance between work and family life. “After all, other women at Computerlinks have certainly managed it!”

Kathryn Harding’s favourite technology is Sky Plus TV. “It is so simple to use. No need to plough through a complicated manual to record anything, or search for a blank tape or DVD. Just press a button!” Her least favourite technology is sat-nav. “I use this regularly to get myself to meetings but, invariable, it sends me in the wrong direction, the long way round, or simply can’t lock on to the satellite signal when I urgently need directions! I hate the fact that I have to rely on it, but I have never been good at map reading!”

Her current website favourites are Coast and John Lewis, “as I am always looking for opportunities to spend money.”

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