WGS Speech Day 2023 – An Honour to return

Earlier this year, I was asked if I would be interested in returning to my secondary school as the Guest of Honour for their annual Prizegiving and Speech Day event. I had only been back once since I left in 2003, so for me, this was a big deal. As I share below in my speech, I was never the most successful at school, always middle of the class and did what I had to do to get by. And given some of the other recent alumni from the school (F1 Driver George Russell and Rugby international Ali Price to name 2), imposter syndrome started setting in over whether I could inspire the students…

After speaking to the new Headmaster, i’d got the brief of a 10 minute talk to align with the idea of encouragement to the pupils. Usually when planning a conference speech, it done as a one time thing, knock the slides together and then refine through review with others. This felt different, there would be no slides to hide behind, I had the choice to write the whole speech or rely on my ability to ad-lib around some bullet points, I went for the former to help ensure I didn’t miss anything on the day. I put as much prep into this as I did into my wedding speech. I mind-mapped out the topics i wanted to cover, then typed it into a speech over a series of evenings. I then got a few reviews and made a few tweaks including using ChatGPT to add to it (on suggestion from my mother-in-law).

The day came, I drove the 2 hours up to the school, to be greeted by teachers, governors and guests and then be given a tour of the school by the students who would be the new potential heads of school (part of their assessment for the roles 🙂 ).

Then for the ceremony itself, I was sat on the stage along with the senior school staff and pupil Heads of School. It very quickly came round to my turn. For full effect, here is my speech in entirety:

Good Morning. Firstly I must say a huge thank you to Mr Rimmer and staff for inviting me back to talk to you all today, it really is a huge honour. It’s now 20 years since I left WGS in 2003 and toddled off to Hull to Study Computer Science, having genuinely no idea what I wanted to do in the future. I’d set my sights on joining the Royal Air Force, but was unsuccessful at Officer Selection, so my reserve choice was to head off to University and I guessed Computers might be quite important in the future, so put all my eggs in that basket.

But who am I and why am I here? I see a couple of familiar faces here today, who may remember me, but let me give you a bit of background. I’m Simon, I’m married to my Wife Heather, we have 2 boys, Noah 8 and Finn who is 6. For my love of mediocre football, I’m  a lifelong Peterborough United fan too. 

I now live just outside Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire and I am the Head of Quality Engineering at easyJet. I will come onto this a bit more later on, but it turns out I was right with the Computer prediction. I host a Podcast which now has nearly 40,000 downloads since we started it during the pandemic, I’m an International Conference speaker and community leader. I’ve infact prepped more for todays talk than I ever have for any conference talk I’ve given and was more nervous too. I am also a Neurodiversity Advocate and again will talk a bit more about this later on.

So as you can see I have fitted a lot in since I left here, but I’d love to take you on a little trip back to my time at Wisbech Grammar School. I came from a single parent family after my father left when I was 5. I managed to pass the entrance exam and get a place here due to government funded “Assisted places” which were available in the 90’s But despite being “academically good enough” to be here, I instantly felt I had to try harder than others to fit in, I didn’t have the same designer “Kickers” shoes or branded School bags, and my mum didn’t drive a decent car, infact I’d get her to drop me off on Harecroft Road and I’d walk the last bit to ensure no-one saw her car! 

Having said all that, I really enjoyed learning and despite what challenges I may have had making great friendships early on,  in the first year I really got my head down and tried to do the best I can. I really enjoyed Maths with Mr Wood-Smith, Latin with Mrs Summerhayes and I guess an honourable mention to Dr Mann’s year 7 History lessons. Just as I was starting to find my feet in the school, I was struck down with Pneumonia and a collapsed lung during the easter break and ended up missing majority of the summer term after having part of my left lung removed. With this, and after some private tutoring and support from Mr Wood-Smith, Mr King and Mr Kay, I still came back and sat Maths, English and Geography exams before the Summer break.

In Year 8 onwards, I really started to feel settled, I felt like I had the starts of a friendship group and found myself comfortably I the middle of the class in most subjects. I even made some occasional appearances in the sports teams, I represented the school at an Athletics event at Greshams after somehow convincing Mr Swinburn I could throw a Javelin when I’d never touched one before, I didn’t finish last, but only because 2 other competitors failed to get the Javelin to stick in the ground. I also played in a 2nds Hockey game at Oakham and if I remember right, we lost 5-0 and I did precisely nothing. 

I’m not going to give a year by year breakdown of my time here, but suffice to say the preceding years were less eventful but one thing throughout stuck with me and I’d like to address it now as my first point of advice... 

It’s very easy to compare yourself to others, both academically and physically, and yes you will be graded and compared to others in class and year rankings. But ultimately, the only person you should be comparing yourself against is you. What others are achieving, shouldn’t impact you, focus on the best you can do and set your own expectations. Everyones journey is unique and the destination will be different. If you have some ideas of what you want to do, spend some time planning out the small steps you might need to do to get there.

In the 6th Form, I became a Senior Prefect and this was my first taste of Leadership, I enjoyed being part of the Prefect team and was proud to represent the school at external events too.

I finished my A Levels in Maths, Computing and Physics with exactly the grades I needed to get into Hull University and as mentioned before, after the rejection of the RAF, I didn’t really know what I’d end up doing but felt Computer Science would give me the best start.

So this is the student who went to University to study Computer Science and didn’t even have his own Computer, assuming the hall of residence computer room would be sufficient for all the work I needed to do. How wrong could I be? Luckily I made friends with a fellow Computer Geek who built a computer for me! For those going to university, the freedom you get as a student will probably come as a shock, the learning style is very much on you to be proactive yourself rather on relying to be spoonfed by teachers/lecturers. This is a really good reason to ensure you’ve thought about the subject you want to take and you are passionate about it. Having the natural curiosity to find out more will really help you learn and succeed.

Throughout my computer science course, the focus was definitely on learning to write code and this was never a strong point for me, I didn’t want to become a Software Developer, but wanted to find another type of role within the Tech space. So when a graduated with a 2.1, I started actively searching for graduate roles where I wouldn’t have to write code, I managed to land a role at the University researching CyberCrime looking at how your profile can be built up online from the fingerprints you leave on different sites across the web, scary stuff! But unfortunately the funding dried up after 6 months, so I had the fun of coming home, collecting Job Seekers allowance for 3 months and applying for hundreds of jobs! I was literally attending 10 or 20 interviews a week, plotting my journeys up and down the country to combine interview processes into single trips away from home. I was eventually successful at getting a place on a Graduate scheme in Aylesbury for a CyberSecurity company, but guess what the initial role was that I had to take up? You guessed it, I became a junior Software Engineer and was expected to learn to write code in a team where every member was 10-15 years older than me and vastly experienced. I really had to push myself to get any significant piece of work, so eventually started looking at helping out with other tasks such as trying to break the code and tell the team about where I’d broken it, so the customers didn’t find the issues later. This was the world of Software Testing and I loved it! I’d found something I was passionate about and suddenly my attitude changed, I was excited to go to work every day and my reputation grew exponentially as my skills grew.

So another lesson here, is that to get your foot in the door for the career path you want, you may have to take a leap into a role which is not exactly what you wanted in order to start the journey. You are in control of your own career, so you will need to be proactive in thinking about what direction you want to take it, but finding something you are passionate about, will really help.

As I grew in this new found love of Software Testing or Software Quality Assurance as it’s sometimes called, I started realising that we way we did it at my current company was the not the only or the most effective way and discovered the Software Testing Community, more specifically an organisation called the Ministry of Testing who organised Conferences where people got together to share ideas and help improve the way we all did the task of Testing the software. This was a game changer for me, I started learning new ways of working, I started networking with like minded Testers and this helped my passion grow to the point of organising my own Meetup in Aylesbury for people in Software Testing to come together for an evening every month with free pizza and drinks while they listen to various industry professionals share their stories. This community grew from 5 people initially to getting 50 people coming along before we stopped for the pandemic. It also gave me connections which lead to future job opportunities

So again, a tip for helping your career, don’t stay blinkered on how things are done in one company, there will be wider communities of practice where you can meet like minded people and learn new skills which can improve the way you work and make you more employable going forward.
By this point I was 10 years into my tech career and felt I was ready for the next jump, which was into a leadership or management role. Let me dispel any misconceptions now, becoming a Manager or having Manager in your job title, should not be seen as a promotion, it’s very common for the most technical or best engineer to become the “Manager” as a next step in the career, and this is what happened to me, I’d reached the glass ceiling in the testing role that this was the next step. However as a manager, your “technical skills” become secondary and the focus becomes on your People Skills, your decision making, your ability to delegate and thinking strategically, so it is basically starting a new career.

I jumped into management two footed, gave it my all and reached burnout within a year. I’d tried too hard to be perfect from day one, I took time to get my mental health in a better place and starting looking at how I became an effective manager where people’s livelihoods were in the palm of my hand, taking the decision to focus on that rather than carrying on doing all the things I was doing before I became a manager too.

I love leading my team now at easyJet, I feel I have a style of management I can adapt depending on who in my team needs my support or guidance. I also advocate for my team and empower them to speak up, meaning I am not always the one doing all the talking. I’ve found the balance and this is key to being an effective leader. This all lead to be somehow reaching a pinnacle of the Software Testing world in 2021 and winning the “Testing Manager of the Year” Award at the European Software Testing Awards, with credit being given for driving the industry forward and for my big contributions to the testing community.

Along with doing the meetup mentioned before, by this point, I became a regular speaker at conferences, I’d been interviewed in youtube videos, featured on podcasts and then during the pandemic, I had started a podcast all about Software, Leadership and Mental Health called Testing Peers. The co-hosts and myself all met at events and decided to keep in touch before starting the discuss how we could give back to the community. The Podcast was our output and our therapy sessions. In 3 years, we’ve released 84 episodes and have reached 35,000 downloads, which for the niche industry of Software Testing is pretty good going.

During this same timeframe, my eldest son was diagnosed with Autism, and having grown up with my sister being Autistic, this was something I thought I’d experienced before, but very quickly learned that every person with a neurodivergent condition such as Autism or ADHD presents differently. I have then started my own journey of self-discovery into my own possible Neurodivergence. With that, I gave myself a mission to do my bit to change the workplace environment to become more accepting and open doors for those who may think differently. The same could be said for the school environment, we need to do all we can to embrace and support those who are differently able and work to their strengths, make it a level playing field for everyone and that can start from the smallest thing of asking someone if they are OK or if you can help them. Don’t be afraid if someone is stimming, instead offer them a hand, build their trust and you will find that nothing bad will happen! Please do you bit to make the school environment accessible for all, just like we are doing our bit in the workplace too. And for those who may have ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia or other conditions, know that it is OK to be who you are and you will find your place.

You’re probably all itching to move now, so I promise I won’t keep you much longer, I’ve said a lot, but there are a few things I’d like to leave you with:

1.	Don’t compare yourself to others, you are all on a different path. Being 1st  or 20th in the end of year Geography or English exam will mean nothing in the wider world context, but it’s a good marker for how you are learning in the present.
2.	Set out your own expectations. You may have expectations thrust upon you from all angles, but you need to set out focusing on what you believe you can achieve and then think about your strategies to get to your goal.
3.	Prepare yourself for more than just the happy path. Sometimes you’ll need to take a sideways or backwards step in order to move forward. Always think of the bigger picture
4.	Find your community, where you can share knowledge and learn from like-minded passionate people.
5.	Embrace and accept everyone around you for their differences.

So all that leaves me to say, is Congratulations to all the prizewinners and  good luck to all the leavers, I wish you success in whatever path you choose to take. Know your own mind and believe in your own ability to succeed. And to give you a quote from Tim Roberts, my favourite Leadership Coach “It Always Starts with You”.

Finally, Just to show the fact we should also always embrace technology as we move forward, I put this speech into ChatGPT and asked it to create a limerick to summarise the talk:

In Wisbech Grammar School's old halls, 
A speech was given, inspiring all. 
From humble beginnings, To leadership winnings, 
His journey, he did proudly recall.

Thank you very much for listening. 😊

It got more laughs than i’d deliberately planned and got a good applause at the end. I then had the task of handing out all the prizes to the pupils from every year group and posing for photos for every one. I hadn’t experienced such face-ache since my wedding and the hoards of photos being taken.

The biggest honour to come from this day was afterwards when several pupils and parents came to thank me for my talk and start discussions around what had impacted them most. I also got a couple who wanted to know more about Software Testing!

As part of the day, I got a fantastic gift as seen below:

This picture is appropriate to share for another reason and this is that it shows not only the pic of me and my wife, but the frame of me and my Gran who passed last year and I know she would’ve been over the moon that I had chance to do this, especially after years growing up of her advice when things got tough always being “don’t let them beat you down, you’ve got this!”

So raising one for you Grandma! Cheers!