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Celebrating Home Office Women in Tech - Sudipa's journey

Senior Developer, Sudipa's story


What attracted you to apply for a position at the Home Office?

One of the reasons I chose to apply to work in the Civil Service and Home Office was because I previously worked in the public sector with my local council. Having seen how my engineering work made a difference at a local level, I wanted to broaden my horizons and do this on a larger scale.

I feel lucky to have joined the Home Office, especially as I get to work on high-priority projects that impacts positively on people’s lives. There’s never a boring moment here, and we’ve had great success in terms of streamlining our processes, becoming more data-driven and also being transparent with the communities we serve.

Improving the Home Office’s digital capability is an important part of delivering critical government and public services. How do you and the team do this efficiently?

We work towards understanding issues and challenges, how we’re going to solve them, and how we can then scale this across different functions. Our teams are made up of great people with a whole host of technical skills, so we can be flexible in choosing the architecture and platforms needed, for example when upgrading our Cloud technology.

It’s really rewarding as a Senior Developer to see that my work is changing and improving lives for the better and I’m able to contribute to the Home Office mission to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. Also, being able to work across services has allowed me to learn so much, and when we scale to meet demand, I’ve been able to upskill, progressing my knowledge and career at the same time.

How varied is the tech stack and do you receive any support in upskilling?

One of the biggest attractions for me when joining the Home Office was how varied the tech stack is. Depending on your role and function, you can develop in Java, .NET, you can be part of the Cloud team or get hands-on in the DevOps team. There are many different front-end and back-end technologies to explore.

Additionally, there’s a lot of support for us to continuously learn and develop. We have O’Reilly Books, Microsoft Learning and accredited certifications, to name a few. There’s also the opportunity to pair up with different teams and be mentored to learn even more.

More than ever before we’re seeing women breaking into tech but there’s sometimes a bottleneck effect; how can we see more progression?

When I first started my career, and as I’ve progressed, I saw that there were not many women in senior tech positions. However, I’m starting to see more and more women breaking through into junior and mid-level positions. Whether it’s a lack of representation or accessibility, there have been barriers.

The good thing about working at the Homer Office is how diverse it is here. You can see yourself represented at all levels in the organisation, and there are groups and communities you can join to support your learning and progression. I also appreciate the level of effort the Home Office puts into making sure employees can maintain a good work/life balance, which could otherwise be a barrier for a lot of women with family or other caring responsibilities.

What benefits do you receive at the Home Office, and how do you manage a work/life balance?

We’re very flexible here, working on a 40/60 hybrid working split. So, whilst you spend some of your time in the office, you can also work from home part of the time, and make use of the flexible working arrangements, depending on your role. For example, if you need to do the school run, as long as you maintain a certain number of hours, you can manage your workload to fit around your personal responsibilities. Working here has given me the flexibility to maintain my life at home and care for my two daughters.

Working in Sheffield I’ve found it very easy to commute to the office on my allocated days with accessible links from both Train and Tram stations. Also, there is good office environment and it’s a nice place to collaborate with the Digital, Data and Tech teams.  

We also have a great holiday allowance of up to 25 days on appointment, raising 1 day each year to 30 days after 5 years’ service. There are opportunities to be part of various clubs and activities within the tech community too. I’d definitely recommend working here. If you’re considering a role at the Home Office – go for it and apply!

 

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What's NewFeatured stories and upcoming events with the Digital, Data and Technology Team at the Home OfficeRead our blog about how we are becoming more user-centred in our approach to the design and delivery of our products and services, whilst working alongside other technical professions, to build a complex data-driven product. To learn more about why it is our goal to find ways of embedding diversity and inclusion into our research and design practices, visit our blog page.To learn more about what it's like to work within the Delivery Profession inside the Home Office, visit our blog page. You can find more stories from the team and be the first to hear about upcoming events on our Digital Data and Technology LinkedIn Life and Home Office Careers pages. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You can read about the professions and roles on our careers website. Hear from the teamWatch the videos to hear from Software Engineers, Charlotte and Sulthan within the DDaT Engineering team about the projects their working on and how delivering public services at the Home Office can positively impact millions of lives every day.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Home OfficeThe Home Office is the lead government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime, fire, counter-terrorism and policing every day, our work delivers outcomes for UK citizens, providing them with the means to travel the world, tackling illegal migration and removing foreign national offenders, disrupting terrorist attacks and organised criminal groups, stopping people from becoming victims of crime and supporting those who require asylum and safeguarding.To achieve all this, we rely on talented people with a wide range of skills. This includes digital, data and technology skills, where we are recruiting to our teams based in Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow and Croydon. Learn more about our work and organisation The DDaT Profession Career Framework features over 150 defined roles, grouped into 9 skills clusters – with staff often employed across fast-paced, multi-disciplinary teams: The 9 clusters are: ArchitectureCyber Security Data Engineering IT Operations Product Quality Assurance and TestingTechnology Delivery Management User Centred Design Why join Home Office Digital, Data and Technology?Home Office Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) designs, builds and develops services for the rest of the department and for government. Our role is to enable transformation through improved business efficiency. The DDaT function is made up of around 2,300 staff, augmented by a number of supplier partners. Every year our systems support up to 3 million visa applications, checks on 100 million border crossings, up to 8 million passport applications and delivers 140 million police checks on people, vehicles and property. The scale of our projects is matched only by the opportunities for our people.We are a friendly team who will support and challenge you to contribute. Our culture is inclusive, progressive and values the unique contributions everyone makes. Our tech strategy is also clear: we work in agile product- and user-centred teams, with cloud native and interdisciplinary working as the focus. Digital inclusion, accessibility and forming a technical community across departments are also key. Our main delivery centres are in Manchester Sheffield, Croydon, Glasgow, but we also have offices in Southport, Westminster, Liverpool, west London and north London. The team in Manchester is based in The Soapworks which is within the Media City boundary, 1½ miles from Manchester city centre, 2½ miles away from Manchester Piccadilly station and a 2-minute walk from the Exchange Quay tram stop.We offer a range of benefits for staff, including outstanding pensions schemes and a serious focus on continuous professional development. Learning and DevelopmentWe offer Learning and Development opportunities relevant to your role, which could include: AWS training and certification, Azure training and certification, O’Reilly Books as well as high quality management training, for example.In addition, we offer allocated study leave and support when studying for a relevant qualification or other accredited development. This may include BCS Membership, for example, or study towards a degree or masters qualification. Diversity & Inclusion We are committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, creating a welcoming, inclusive workforce where people can bring their whole selves to work. We’re proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the Civil Service, a Stonewall Top 100 Workplace Equality Employer and a Social Mobility Foundation Top 75 employer. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and are a Disability Confident Leader. Our benefits Competitive starting salaries for your gradeAn additional allowance of up to £13,700 for candidates with exceptional skills and experienceA Civil Service pension with employer contribution rates of between 26.6% and 30.3%, depending on salary A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity Learning and development tailored to your roleAn environment with flexible working options25 days annual leave on appointment, rising to 30 days after 10 years' service, plus 8 days public holidays and 1 day additional privilege dayWe also offer:Season ticket loans and rental deposit loans Cycle to work and payroll givingEmployee discounts - including a huge number of retailers (via the Edenred platform), Microsoft Home Use programme and gym membership A variety of staff recognition schemes Health and wellbeing initiativesStaff support networksMaternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay, followed by 13 weeks of statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaidUp to 5 days paid leave for volunteeringStudy leave and support for studying for a qualification or other accredited development relevant to your roleJoin us and make a difference If you’re looking for a digital career where you can make an impact, using cutting edge tech and have the opportunity to build your CV with projects that will help you stand out from the crowd, see our current available roles on offer. You can also read our blog to learn more about our people and the brilliant work they do and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Home Office Digital, Data and Technology

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