This article was first published by Meetup group, Women in Tech Birmingham, as part of their 

 series. Check out their upcoming events 

Meet Hannah Mitchell, Founder of Birmingham tech group, Fusion, who shares her thoughts on the tech community in Birmingham, her advice for anyone looking to start their career in tech, and much more!

Hi Hannah and thanks for chatting to us! To quick off, what do you do and what does a typical working day look like for you?

I am one of the Co-Founders of the Fusion Group. We are a community focused company with the sole aim of creating opportunities for self improvement and growth. I do this by finding people new roles that match their goals and aims, as well as organising Fusion Meetup and specific workshops to create new learning opportunities. So day to day for me can be really varied, but I’m lucky enough to feel so passionately about what I do.

I get a lot of joy from educating and coaching people on how to create a positive work culture and environment. We spend so much of our lives at work, we should be prioritising making that as rewarding and as enjoyable as we can. There are so many stats out there to show the impact of having a happy, supportive, collaborative work culture on both employee and business productivity, and growth and retention. It’s a no brainer, and I’ll continue to shout about it from the rooftops! 😊

What is your favourite thing about working in the tech sector?

I find technology fascinating, it’s hard not to!

The rate at which technology is moving is incredible, and the amazing things that have been achieved and created using technology have changed and shaped the world we live in today. It is so rewarding to be working with people whose work is having a positive effect on peoples’ lives daily, whether that be in medical advances through technology, access to education and even making day to day tasks easier.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some super talented people who I have learnt so much from and have supported me so much with Fusion Meetup. We have a great tech community here in Birmingham, it is something I’m so proud to be a part of.

You mentioned you’re passionate about creating a positive work environment. What would be your advice to either employees or employers on how to make changes towards this? a positive work culture?

First of all, and probably one of the easiest things to implement is recognition. Make recognition a priority, as employees, as employers, and business owners. This doesn’t need to be a grand gesture or gold trophy presentation ceremony, just a quick email or shout out to say ‘Thanks for your input today, you’ve made a positive impact and the work you’ve done has been great.’ A little goes a long way. Try to think how you felt when someone said you’d done a job, and when the last time someone said it to you!

Make the most of 1:1’s! This shouldn’t be a box ticking exercise! If you’re a team member then make sure to set your own agenda. And if you’re a team leader, encourage the team to decide on what areas they would like to discuss before the 1:1 happens. They may all have different topics of importance, but allow this to happen, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Finally I feel we need to educate ourselves better on how we can support neurodiverse individuals in the workplace. There’s a huge pool of super talented people out there and we as a society need to improve our awareness and understanding to create more inclusive work environments. I personally plan on taking a course in this topic because I think it’s a really important step to creating more positive workplaces.

What would 12 year old you think about your career today?

I wanted to be a paramedic for so long, as long as I can remember, so I’ve taken a very different path! I’ve always loved working with people and in my role I get to work with people in different capacities, whether that’s helping someone write their first CV or prepare for an interview, to supporting businesses on how to build happy, productive teams, all the way to working closely with the tech community and other meetup organisers to create something awesome here in Birmingham.

I think 12 year old me wouldn’t have expected to take this path, but would love the variety and meeting so many incredible, inspiring people.

As another Meetup organiser and someone who is well ingrained in the Birmingham tech community - how would you describe it to someone who has never dipped their toe in before?

It’s a really exciting time for the Birmingham Tech Community, because we are starting to see the tech meetups work closely together and the creation of TechMids has really helped facilitate that.

The Birmingham Tech community is inclusive and vibrant. There are so many amazing like minded individuals to meet. I get that going to these events can sometimes feel daunting, so look at the smaller group first and start from there.

You will make new friends as well as having access to support and advice for all things tech related. People have found new opportunities through the tech community and with the amount of incredible speakers we have joining these events, you are sure to learn something new that could spark a new found interest in your own personal journey with tech.

The Tech Community and Meetups strive to create a safe space for minority groups and encourage and welcome diversity! Let’s face it, diversity is a superpower and the more people we have from different walks of life the better our community will be.

We have seen a positive shift in the demographic of our meetups over the last five years and it’s been so nice to see.

What would your top tips be for someone looking to start a career in tech?

Attend local technology meetups and chat to the meetup organisers! They will introduce you to some great people who may soon become mentors, peers and give you some real tips on what to do to get started. One of your first stops should absolutely be Codebar Birmingham – it’s really relaxed, super friendly and a great place to get started. What I love about this meetup is that it’s inclusive with a focus on bridging the diversity gap in tech – although everyone is welcome!

More generally, for anyone looking at any career - be authentic! Recruiters tend not to be well liked (we’re not all bad!), so sometimes it’s hard to get people to take advice without feeling like they are being sold too! I think the only thing I’ve managed to do to combat that, is to be as authentic as possible. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I’ve always been an honest, open person. I think showing vulnerability is a good thing, and we should all do more of it. It’s what makes us human.

Women in Tech interview Hannah from Fusion

In this blog post we hear from DWP Digital's Yanju, who tells us all about settling into her new role as a Product Manager and what life is like at DWP Digital. She also talks about her journey into tech and her experience so far of the local tech scene in Birmingham.

DWP Digital is focused on digital transformation at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), we build and maintain user-friendly digital services that enable millions of people to access the help, advice, and financial support they need. We have millions of users, from people who need to claim benefit, get help finding a job, or understand their State Pension, we’re the team designing, developing, and delivering the services they need.

I work with the cross-cutting service design team in the service orchestration space.We are responsible for cross-cutting assumptions attached to the Health Transformation Programme (HTP). The Health Transformation Programme is one of the largest programmes in government, impacting an estimated 5.8 million people in 2025/26. The aim is to make the process for Personal Independent Payments (PIP) and the Health Assessment Service simpler, more user-friendly, easier to navigate and more joined-up for claimants. While delivering better value for money for taxpayers.

As a product manager I work with various stakeholders across strategic and operational areas to ensure alignment towards the HTP service vision. It is really motivating and fulfilling working on a programme of this size and scale. What I enjoy most is knowing that millions of people will be positively impacted by the work I’m doing.

I started my career as a relationship manager in a leading financial services company where I was able transition into digital roles including product marketing, user experience and product management. I have since worked in several other organisations across various industries, before recently joining DWP Digital.

In my career journey so far, I’ve been able to do some amazing work in the tech industry and as a result I was endorsed as a UK global exceptional talent; one of the reasons I moved to the UK. I plan to continue driving digital transformation and making positive impact in my role at DWP Digital as it provides the opportunity to apply learnings and skills from my previous experiences over the years.

As an impact and purpose driven individual, I always want to do more and be more. So, when I was considering my next career move, I was looking for an organisation that had clear ambitions. I wanted a place where I could do my best work, be myself and make an impact. I also wanted somewhere that truly appreciates the power of diversity and the value that offers.

DWP Digital’s ‘Digital With Purpose’ message and what this meant resonated with me. I looked at DWP Digital’s LinkedIn and 

 and found that every interaction supported this message. I read blog posts and interviews from colleagues working on impactful initiatives and I was impressed by their personal experiences and thrilled by the opportunity to proffer solutions that make a positive difference to millions of citizens.

When I saw the role of product manager advertised within the health function located in the new Birmingham hub, I was happy to apply because my tech experience and health academic background was a perfect match for the job description.

Now, here I am a few months into the role. So far it has been interesting, and I feel like I’ve already started making significant difference with my involvement in such an important transformation programme. I can’t wait to see how things unfold in the near future.

I moved to Birmingham a little over a year ago because it has an exciting blend of everything. It’s a great place to live and work for young people, especially if you have a family. There’s a fine blend of buzz and serenity. It’s a diverse place with easy access to other cities, good schools, shopping, sports, fun activities and of course the tech scene.

The Birmingham tech scene is one of the fastest growing in the UK and is becoming more established every day. It’s the best place to be. I’m part of the UK global talent community, Female Techpreneur and other tech communities, and I often attend meet ups with other techies.

As part of DWP Digital’s partnership with Fusion, I recently attended their quarterly meetup on 13 July. This was a great opportunity for me to get involved more with the community. I love meeting people, learning from others, and building relationships, so I really enjoyed connecting to friendly likeminded people in a sociable and relaxed environment. A talk from Monzo on how they prepare for huge spikes in traffic and keeping operations running smoothly was particularly interesting.

DWP Digital opened the Birmingham Hub just over a year ago. It’s exciting to be one of the pioneer members of the digital team in the Hub. When I saw the workspace, I was pleasantly surprised, the collaborative spaces, the level of detail, and accessibility considerations. It’s a perfect example of a modern digital workspace.

I’d call it a 5-star office, it even has a lovely view of the Birmingham library and environs. It is located at the new Arena Central development, a central location which is easy to get to with good transport links.

We have a hybrid working pattern, which means you can blend office working with working from home, I typically go into the Hub twice a week. I enjoy working in person with colleagues and building personal relationships.

The flexible working is helpful for a great work life balance.

In my 13 years of experience working in several organisations, of a range of different sizes, I can say that I am very impressed with the development opportunities on offer at DWP Digital.

There is a deliberate intent to ensure that employees are constantly learning. Training opportunities are promoted well, with open communication on what is available.All you need to do is indicate interest, its up to you but if you are interested there is lots available.

My line manager is amazing and very supportive. We’re encouraged and given time away from the day job to learn. I’ve attended multiple workshops and conferences already, including leadership trainings. I’m a strong believer in continuous learning so I can improve my skills and stay up to date with trends in the industry.

I have an amazing multidisciplinary team that is very collaborative. There is a great sense of purpose and motivation in the team, we all share the same vision and desire to do the best for the citizens and DWP. Colleagues are open to new ideas and change; we want to keep making things better and improving.

I’m part of the DWP Women’s Network and the Product Profession Practice network.

The practice has a Microsoft Teams group and ‘lunch and learn’ sessions where we talk about different topics.

DWP Digital is such a diverse working environment where it’s not just your work that’s valued but you are valued too. DWP Digital is truly ‘Digital With Purpose’.

'Settling into a new role, new city and a new tech scene' - Yanju from DWP Digital

Pretty good, much more relaxed than I was middle of October time! We’ve survived 2020 and here we are!

It was an experience, which I think is the diplomatic way of putting it. The last five/six years of my life have been spent around running events, chatting to people, and making connections, and then all of that got turned on its head. I have never spent so much time in my house that’s for sure!

So what has got you through the last year?

I set up an office in the living room rather than in my bedroom. It meant I had a separation between working and relaxing. Keeping a routine was so important as its really easy to fall into the trap of not going to bed early and waking up late. Also having the kitchen next door meant I wasn’t taking breaks, so I started actually having breakfast and lunch away from my screen and not taking breaks at my desk.

Lots of lights too!! I’ve brought a light therapy lamp actually which has been great!

We saw you and the HTM team take on the challenge of running the hackathon virtually!! First of all congratulations, it was a huge success. The collaboration between teams was amazing, the submissions were so strong and so well thought out. How did you find it all?

Absolutely knackering!! The week before was the hardest because we were working 14/15 hours days, to get set up, make sure the stream was running. The last day was also really intense as we had to do all the judging and film the closing ceremony and stitch the sponsor videos together – all things you don’t need to think about when you are doing it person.

Rightly so, we don’t trust tech, so it was easier to have recordings rather than live streaming. With there being so many people involved there was lots of different elements to juggle doing it virtually.

What was the biggest challenge running HTM5?

Trying to transition the skills we have as a team to running in person events, which is a completely different beast to running it online. The second challenge was maintaining the same community feel. Something that’s key to HTM is this welcoming community that makes people feel like they are a part of something during the event, because it wouldn’t be hack the midlands without that. Trying the keep that community feel existing within the online context was definitely one of the biggest challenges.

We started planning HTM5 in October 2019 and by the following March we had to switch things up due to lockdown and had to start thinking about ways we can make it delightful for everyone, and make everyone feel like they are a part of it all. How do we maintain the community feel? How can we go above and beyond to make sure people have a good time and feel included? It’s really hard to emulate the in person events, where you have a really cohesive community.

There is such a huge emphasis on community at HTM, as well as collaboration, skills transfer, learning from peers etc. What sort of solutions did you come up with to keep that going?

We kept all engagement within the Discord server rather than having separate chats on MS teams, Zoom etc. Charlie and the team built a great bot, where you can create channels so can interact with your team in the server. That obviously came with its own challenges!! We accidently made 100 channels and spammed the discord with them!!

We also took an idea from Hack Quarantine where we created check points so people could chat about what they’ve done each day. Another thing I encouraged people to do was to drop into chats to see what everyone is doing and offer help. I think having that extra communication really helps, and it encourages people to talk in Discord community channels.

Discord was great shout Tom, it worked so well!

Its such a flexible platform, being able to write a bot allows you to get creative. Having the mix of text and voice chat too was great, and the ability to have multiple meetings going on at once.

Are you getting paid by Discord for Advertising?

I would shill for Discord purely based on how useful it’s been…I say wearing a discord t-shirt!

Something you want to tell us Tom? Are you starting work with them next year?

I wish! Discord if you’re reading this interview, feel free to chuck us some money or some nice clothes! Is this how product placement works?

Over the HTM years, what would be your favourite submission of all time?

That is one of the hardest questions you could have asked, there has been so many amazing submissions. There was one called Dance Auth – where you danced the password. You would train it a dance move and by the user completing the dance move correctly would gain authorisation.

We could have a lot of fun with something like that!!

So any Tom Goodman plans or HTM plans for 2021?

Well, we’re coming towards the end of my PHD which is terrifying!

HTM wise it’s not clear whether by October will we be able to run in person events, but we might start planning to run one online again. By the time that we know that we can run events in person, will we have enough time to work that out. Its hard to judge. The main thing for us was protecting our attendees, our community, and the wider society. It can be really easy to think online is easier as you don’t have physical logistics, but then actually when we got into the meat of it there was a lot more work putting HTM on line that any of us had anticipated. However, now we have that knowledge, we not only have the infrastructure to do it again, but we also know what we can improve on.

Ages! We tend to start planning the next HTM straight after the one we’d just done, which is not exactly healthy, but it gives us the most time. We had everything sorted for last years to physically go ahead by March, and then we had to start all over again. So, we started online planning in March, it was bit slow as we had a lot of deep discussions about how we can preserve the feeling of HTM online. It took a lot of discussion, lots of brain storming, we had to work out how can we carry on the same way, how will out reach work? How will we get sponsors? We got a lot done last year considering – new website, the Discord server, a high number of attendees etc.

Whilst its not the same as running an in person event, and once we get the chance to go back in person, of course we will, given the curveball we were thrown in March it went really well.

There’s an element of HTM that we really love, which is encouraging people who don’t have experience to come along and get involved

What’s the best tip you have for a tech newbie, for someone who wants to get involved in tech?

That’s exactly the position that was in in 2015. I was in the very fortunate position that I had gone to University and there was a really great society president Jack Weardon who took me under his wing and took us to hackathons. The biggest thing for me was chatting to people, and the more people you get to know the more part of the community you feel.

The best advice would be to go to events like HTM, or check out SoC, Hackference (note to self, bully Mike Elsmore to run this again). Chat to people and ask for help or direction. You do not need to have prior experience, it’s not about building the most polished incredible project and winning, but you can equally win by coming and showing that you learnt lots of great stuff. The most important thing is learning, and now everything is online, sign up to events and there’s lots of free ones too! Have confidence in the fact that people do not expect and huge amount from you when you are new and if they do, they are dicks.

My advice to people who are already in the community and have experience – be patient, be the person that is encouraging those people to be in tech, take them under your wing, point them to events! They are at the start of their journey, help them along because you were once in their position. If we are not those people, then people won’t want to get involved, especially people from underrepresented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds who currently don’t have as bigger place in tech, and that is a real shame.

That’s great advice to finish on Tom, and some really key points there that people of all ability levels can take on board.

Once again congratulations on the success of HTM5 and thank you for all the work you put into the Birmingham Tech community.

We’re looking forward to hopefully seeing you this year for a coffee, IN PERSON!!

Fusion chats with HackTheMidland’s Tom Goodman

Happy Mind Monday to all! How are we all feeling this week?

This is our fourth Mind Monday blog, so we hope you are enjoying the content and getting some useful stuff from it.

We’ve got busy couple of weeks ahead of us with two workshops and Fusion meetup, so we are trying to make sure we are giving ourselves some down time amongst the madness.

Let us know if you’ve been reading the blogs, and please share any tips you have with us on Twitter @thefusion_hub using the hashtag #MindMonday

When everything feels a little more magnified than it usually does, it’s sometimes hard to mange negative feelings, and we become more reactive to things.

The 3 minute breathing space is easy to follow and an excellent tool to use when we need to take a break from a situation. It’s quick and effective, and will help disperse negative thought patterns and return you to a calm mindful state.

Here is a useful page to walk you through the 

Exercise is not for everyone, and sometimes it can feel like a struggle to fit exercise into your daily routine, however, we all know the positive impact that physical exercise can have on our mental health.

The Pacer app setup a group walking challenge to ‘walk Everest’ within a 14 day period. The challenge is an exciting way to walk the world’s greatest treks and be a part of team all working together to hit the end goal. We thought this was great idea, and something anyone can do! You can run, walk or hike 70km within the 14 day period, and this got us thinking, should we set up a Fusion walking challenge? Who’s in?

Who is guilty of not taking lunch breaks whilst they’re working from home?

It’s easy to see why people think they are being more productive ploughing through their sandwich and coffee whilst still sat at their desk, less time away from your computer right? Wrong! Taking just 20 minutes to step away from your desk at home can give your mind a little rest and refresh it needs to have a super productive afternoon.

So on your next working day, allocate just 20 minutes to shut your laptop, mute slack notifications, and grab a coffee and a sandwich without being surround by the noise of work. Listen to some relaxing music, read a book, chat to a friend, or go for a walk – you’ll feel better for it!

Inspired by real life events, ‘Brothers’ a short film, backed by CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) Charity, is about friendship and the fragility of mental health. The film, written and directed by Huse Monfaradi tells the story of Michael and his older who is struggling with mental health issues.

It highlights the importance of communication and reaching out to a friend or family member when we are struggling or find ourselves dealing with low mood or negative thoughts. People with more support during times like these are 30% less likely to have a lifetime suicide event (CALM website).

Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ is a wonderful read. At a time when it’s easy to be all consumed in what’s happening around us, this book offers a wonderful escape and opens our eyes to the fact that we are surrounded by so much opportunity. The book follows Nora Steed who’s life has been full of misery and regret. She finds herself between life and death, and here begins a story of hope, opportunity, forgiveness, and gratitude.

Bryony Gordan’s ‘Mad World’. We love this podcast, Bryony has frank open conversations with a whole host of people, from well known celebrities, sports personalities, healthcare professionals and Prince Harry! We’ve gone right the way back to her chat with former NHS Mental Health Director, Mandy Stevens in 2017. Mandy talks about her own experience of mental health and how she was in fact suffering from depression. She talks about how she used the 

 which is a list of 21 questions that allow you to self-assess depression and what level you are at. We thought we’d drop it in this weeks Mind Monday for reference. Remember, being aware of your mental health and when it’s needs attention is the first step forward.

That’s it from us for this Monday! Have a great week all!

P.S If you know someone who would find any part of this blog helpful, please do share it with them. You never know how much a quick text or call could brighten up someone’s day; never be shy to check in with your friends and colleagues.

Fusion Mind Monday – November 16th

How is everyone doing? Hope you are all well and keeping safe.

You may have seen that this month’s Fusion meetup will go ahead on 26th November. We have some great speakers joining us, one of which is mentioned in our Mind Monday this week.

We’ve been focusing on a little bit of self-care over the weekend, which was much needed! Doing all of your favourite things can lift your mood during times like these. Hot chocolates and board games were the theme of the weekend, and no doubt that will continue well into this week!

At the last Fusion Meetup there were some great tips shared in the live chat to support better mental health. We spoke about great accounts to follow on social media, and one of our favourites is The Kaleidoscope Group (@Kaleidoscope_PG). They share some useful tips on little things we can do to help ourselves when we are struggling. They recently posted some great tips on how the deal with low mood and bad feelings. Check out the post 

Anyone else feel more sluggish working from home? We are trying to do our daily walks to get some fresh air and a little bit of exercise, but the great British weather doesn’t always make that possible. We found this great 

, which is made up of easy body stretches that will give you a nice little boost to start your day. We’ll be giving this a try this week!

Keeping in touch with colleagues in a social capacity can really have it’s benefits. We know it’s hard to pop out for coffee or head to the pub after work at the moment, however, its super important to keep conversation going with colleagues whilst we’re in lockdown. Some teams have arranged a weekly/fortnightly Zoom social on a Friday afternoon where everyone talks about their week over a cuppa or a cold beer. It’s a nice way to end the week, and you never know, someone may have had a tough week and this could be the little pick me up they need!

‘Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb’ (Netflix) – not particularly relevant for mental health, but this documentary offers a nice little escape from the world around us right now. You will follow Egyptian archaeologists on their journey of unearthing a tomb that has been untouched for over 4000 years. The story is fascinating, and you will be gripped as the story of the tomb unfolds. Enjoy!

‘The Mindset Triangle’ (by Henriette Lang and Stuart Baker) is a great book that offers a simple framework to follow to help support better mental health. This book is full of healthy easy recipes, easy workouts and tips for sleeping better. It also helps to set goals and includes positive quotes and interviews from people who have experience in mental illness.

Stuart Baker is a true inspiration, and regularly sets up fundraising initiatives to support mental health charities, with one of them being ‘Pedal the Premiership’ which you can read about 

. He will be joining us for this months Fusion Meetup!

Henriette Lang works for This can happen events – an online conference empowering companies with their mental health strategy. She also has her own podcast and is a soon to be Samaritan listener.

You can get a signed copy of The Mindset Triangle by dropping them a message on the 

There are some great relaxing playlists available on Spotify. We’ve been listening to the ‘Reading Soundtracks’ which are great to bring a little bit of calm and focus when working from home. As much as we all love a kick-ass sound track to get us going for work, we sometimes need a little bit of calm to help us zone out and improve our flow with things.

That’s it from us for this Monday, have a good week folks!

Fusion Mind Monday – November 9th

This week’s Mind Monday comes at a time when many of us are probably feeling pretty unenthusiastic about the month of restrictions to come. We hope you are all keeping well and staying safe, and this week we have some more suggestions and recommendations to help you in that aim.

What are your intentions for the week to come? As always, for us it’s all about to getting people back into work. We’ll be targeting our efforts on a selection of key professional profiles over the coming weeks, and for these we will be capping our fee at £3k and donating 10% off that to Birmingham Mind. Keep an eye on our social channels for updates…

And now, here goes for Mind Monday 26th October, enjoy!

 is a great resource if you’re new to meditation. You’ll find clear and simple advice on meditation and mindfulness here as well as interesting articles about the benefits this practice can have on your mind and body. Now is as good a time as any to carve out a little time for yourself each day, give it a go.

Nothing says lockdown like banana bread, and we feel like a little treat is really what the doctor ordered at this point. If you’re bored of the basics, this twist on the classic from Izzy Hossack looks 

We know that working and living in the same space can make it hard to relax, it can also make it hard to motivate yourself if it’s not your normal. But creating a routine can really help. Start your day with a short walk, some time to meditate or just a quiet coffee on the sofa before setting up to work, and where possible try not to work in the same room you sleep in. Creating simple structure and boundaries may not seem like a big thing, but it will help to define the different times and spaces in your day which can be really helpful when you’re cooped up under lockdown conditions.

Escapism through film and TV seems like a great idea at the moment, so we will be revisiting films like Big Fish, Moonrise Kingdom, and Life of Pi. What are your favourites?

Haemin Sunim’s ‘Things you can only see when you slow down’ has been one of our Founder, Hannah’s most highly recommended books. It’s the sort of book you can dip in and out of, and offers a moment of calm and clarity when needed the most. The book is broken down in to eight sections covering things such as rest, relationships, mindfulness and future. Each section has a number of quotes that offer food for thought, and can bring clarity for even the busiest of minds. It is a beautiful, relaxing read and one you will keep going back to.

We have been huge fans of Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s ‘Feel Better live more’ podcast. The podcast covers all areas of health, whether that be nutrition, exercise, or mental wellbeing. Rangan has had some fantastic conversations with some amazing people on the podcast who speak from experience, or as leaders within their field of expertise. There are well over 100 episodes to listen to, but here are a few of our favourites!

Episode 30 – Danny Penman – Mindfulness instead of medication

Episode 62 – Haemin Sunim – How to accept yourself in a world striving for perfection

Episode 116 – Dr Tara Swart – How to plan the post lockdown future of your dreams and coping with emotions

Fusion Mind Monday – November 2nd

Welcome to the first of our Fusion Mind Mondays. We are passionate believers in the importance of good mental health and supporting everyone in our network to achieve this. We’ll be starting each week now as we mean to go on, setting positive intentions and sharing some of our favourite helpful tips, reads, learns, and listens with you.

Our intention for this week, and every week going forward for the foreseeable future is to get people back into work. We’ll be targeting our efforts on a selection of key professional profiles over the coming weeks, and for these we will be capping our fee at £3k, and donating 10% off that to Birmingham Mind. Keep an eye on our social channels for updates…

 is a Midlands based Shamanic Yogi, an expert in meditative practice. Try out one of his simple yet very effective guides to meditation 

. We love how he highlights the power of defining yourself as any emotion or quality with the words “

” check it out! Oh, and if you’re interested in this type of thing, there’s the option to join one of his courses for a more personal level of support and exploration.

It’s getting colder, and with the drop in temperature and sunlight comes an even greater need to nourish your body and mind. We’re going to be doing that with warm, hearty and nutritious 

 from Jasmine Hemsley’s website – it’s packed with protein and healthy fats as well as vitamin filled carrots (that make you able to see in the dark too, obviously) and a kick of heat from madras spice, yum!

If you’re working from home and dreading further Covid-19 restrictions diminishing your options to get out of the house, check out the top tips Birmingham Mind CEO Helen kindly shared with us at our last Fusion Event 

Heal (2017) on Netflix – a really interesting documentary that investigates how your perception and your outlook on life can impact your health. Check out the trailer 

How to fail, by Elizabeth Day – a freeing and inspirational read that shines a light on learning from life’s knocks and encouraging self-compassion. She also has a podcast which you can listen to 

, last Monday she caught up with Phillip Schofield, and you can catch the latest new episode every Monday. There’s also a Happy Place Album in the works so keep an eye out for that too!

That’s it from us for this Monday, have an amazing week everyone!

The Fusion Hub launches Mind Mondays

Interviews can be nerve wracking but being prepared can help you to feel calm and confident. As the old saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail… and we want you to sail through your interview smug in the knowledge that ‘YOU GOT THIS.’

Well done! You’ve bagged yourself an interview, so what next?

get the date and time in your diary and make sure you know exactly where the interview is to be held

 and how you are going to get there; making sure you have a plan and know how long it will take you will help to prevent you from having any last minute dramas with sat-navs, public transport etc. This sounds obvious but people often don’t plan ahead and get caught out; don’t let that happen to you.

Find out exactly what the format of the interview is

, don’t be scared to ask if this hasn’t been made clear, it shows that you’re putting in effort to prepare. 

Find out if there are any tests; technical, practical, logical?

 You don’t want to be caught out on this one!

Read the job spec thoroughly before you attend the interview

 (have some examples lined up in your mind of your relevant experience for each point) and research the company by having a good look on their website. Depending on the sector it may be worth having a think about who their competitors are so you’ve got some contextual knowledge on the playing field in which they operate.

Take a copy of your CV for each person in the interview

 (including yourself, it’s handy to refer to) and have these readily available in a folder or a plastic wallet. If you have any work examples or certifications bring these along with you as well. We also recommend that if you have a GitHub, it’s definitely worth submitting this to the prospective employer prior to the interview or bring your laptop along with you to show them during the interview.

Always wear a suit (unless you have been told otherwise). 

smart and show that you take your career seriously and want to be seen as a professional. It also shows respect for the prospective employer.

 We know a lot of Techies who work in their jeans and t-shirt, but save that for when you get the job!

While waiting for the interviewer in reception or the meeting room, DO NOT take out your phone or laptop or sit there yawning and looking disengaged. 

Your interview starts from the moment you walk in the building.

 Be alert, attentive and polite to anyone you meet by just saying ‘hello’.

Remember the interviewer is just another normal person who has been in your position

, relax and enjoy the conversation as if you were speaking to one of your friends or colleagues about a project you are working on.

If you are asked a question and you don’t know the answer, please give it your best shot!

 Let them know that you are not familiar with the topic but that if you were to hazard a guess it would be “(insert answer here)”.

In situations like this we believe it’s always best to have a go and show that you are willing to learn rather than look at the floor and say you don’t know the answer. Hiring Managers like to see that if you don’t know the answer to a question you won’t just give up, but will ask somebody, research it online or pick up a book and figure it out for yourself; 

Have questions ready to ask the interviewer

 – this shows that you are genuinely keen to learn more about the role and company. Maximum of two maybe three questions. A good one to end on that can often paint a picture of the company environment for you, is “What do you personally like best about working for “(insert company name)”

Be passionate about what you are talking about, make it clear that you’re good at what you do and that you enjoy it. Are you ambitious? Let them know that you’re keen to develop your skills and experience. 

Let your personality and professionalism shine through

If you’re asked technical questions, always try to relate your answer to a project that you have worked on,

 whether at University or in your previous role. This demonstrates that you have practical experience in the area you’re discussing and adds weight to your statements, showing that you know your stuff.

Interview Tips

You’ve probably heard this name mentioned a few times over the last couple of weeks, but we are super excited to be working closely with Dylan Beattie on two new workshop dates.

Back by popular demand we have ‘Introduction to Distributed Systems in .NET Core’, which is a hands on workshop giving you an overview of REST, GraphQL, gRPC, RabbitMQ, SignalR – what they do, why you would use them, and how they all work with .NET Core. This is a one-day virtual workshop that will be taking place on 19th November.

The second workshop is brand new to Fusion, and one we know will be very popular. ‘Communication for Software teams’ is a 16 hour workshop split across four days. Communication within teams is so crucial right now, as many of us will be working from home possibly until early next year. This is a hands-on workshop for software developers, managers, and stakeholders, aimed at helping you to use your time and technology to communicate more effectively. You will learn how to write better stories, bug reports and documentation; how to hold better meetings; how to make decisions more effectively; and how to use communication to deliver great user experiences.

Just before the launch of the new website I posted a blog about the importance of continued learning which you can find 

Continued learning benefits all parties involved. The employee feels valued and is presented with opportunities to grow and develop. With investment from their employer they are loyal and committed to the success of the company. The employer is strengthening knowledge and skills within the organisation, and actively working on building and retaining happy, productive teams as well as rewarding employees for hard work and commitment. I won’t bang on too much about it, but if you’re interested check out the blog post 🙂

So, where do you get tickets and how much are they?

To celebrate the launch of our snazzy rebrand and new website, Dylan has given us a bunch of super early bird and early bird tickets for each of the workshops mentioned above. See below for more details and links to the booking page.

Communication for Software teams – November 24th-27th

Limited number of super early birds are now available

Introduction to Distributed Systems in .NET Core – November 19th

Only early bird tickets available for a limited time

Virtual Learning – Dylan Beattie

We’re going to talk in this blog post, about how to write the perfect CV and land your dream job. Sound good? Let’s go!

When it comes to writing a CV it can be hard to know where to start and how much detail the reader wants. A recent survey showed that 

most employers only tend to read the first page of a CV

, and base the decision on whether to take the candidate to interview stage purely on this.

So, with that in mind the first page of your CV has got to work hard; decide what the strongest key information about you is and layout your CV to make that stand out.

, make sure that there are no typing errors in your email address and telephone number. Before we go any further, on the subject of typos, make sure there are none in your CV. Attention to detail is key in many Tech roles so don’t fall down at the first hurdle, proof read, spell check; you know the drill.

Follow this with a short summary paragraph about you, depending on what you want to say about yourself and the level of formality you want to employ, here are some suggested heading titles you could use;

Blog Posts

Women in Tech interview Hannah from Fusion

'Settling into a new role, new city and a new tech scene' - Yanju from DWP Digital

Fusion chats with HackTheMidland’s Tom Goodman

Fusion Mind Monday – November 16th

Fusion Mind Monday – November 9th

Fusion Mind Monday – November 2nd

The Fusion Hub launches Mind Mondays

Interview Tips

Virtual Learning – Dylan Beattie

How to write the Perfect CV

Birmingham Mind @ Fusion

Our first Virtual Fusion meetup!

Dylan Beattie – Introduction to distributed systems in .NET Core