Taking advantage of access to education was also reinforced from conversations with my dad. Hed come to the UK after the war to study printing and graphic arts. He managed a photo-lithography business.
My mum worked in the business too and I used to go to the works, after school and at weekends. I swept floors, used an ancient adding machine to total up columns and columns of numbers, went out on deliveries and always kept an eye on the white job tickets and dockets that today I recognize as the precursors to todays Jira and Trello boards.
Dad was very interested in automation and new technologies. I remember a huge machine, a computer costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, being craned into a purpose-designed air-conditioned suite at the works. Ironically, the functionality it offered, can now be achieved using affordable photo-editing software that can be used by anyone! Technology is awesome!
So, super determined to continue my education, I packed my bags at 18 and embarked on a degree in Modern Languages. My studies took me to a new city, and I even spent my third year living in another country. What an experience that was, especially when at that time there were far fewer places for women at university.
My course gave me communication skills and life experiences so that by the time I graduated I knew my grandmother would be pleased to know that I had given myselfmore choices.
And remembering how the new technology introduced by my dad at the works heralded a new era for my parents and their staff, I have been excited to talk about and promote the adoption of new technology, CAD, 3D, digital transformation.