• Question: What/who were you inspired by?

    Asked by darcie123 on 27 Oct 2025. This question was also asked by berm535mars97.
    • Photo: Martin McMahon

      Martin McMahon answered on 27 Oct 2025:

      I’ve been inspired by so many people in my life starting with my granddad who was awarded a British Empire Medal during WW2 for inventing a special antenna that could be mounted on tanks and allowed radios to communicate over greater distances. It was a defining moment in history!
      Then there have been all the scientists and engineers that have invented so much that we take for granted today, but it is their imagination and determination that inspires me almost every day.
      Finally, there are the friends and colleagues that I have worked with over the years, that have done some awesome things, and their success has continued to inspire me.

    • Photo: Neil Barnby

      Neil Barnby answered on 17 Nov 2025:

      I was inspired by movies like war games and 13th floor, which got me interested in what could be done with computers, both good and bad. I was also initially inspried by an old TV series called lost in space that has a robot on it and that made me want to build my own robot, which is what got me into computer science in the first place.

    • Photo: Marcus Davage

      Marcus Davage answered on 12 Dec 2025:

      Jon Pertwee was Doctor Who when I was a child. I loved watching him build gadgets with which to save the Earth. I think it might have been him who first inspired me to want to work with computers!

    • Photo: Sam Brown

      Sam Brown answered on 15 Dec 2025:

      Many people have inspired me over the years, especially women. The first person was my English teacher who was a strong women who made me believe I could achieve anything, others have been family members like my parents and more recently my CEO from my previous company who I worked closely with. She was very inspiring and has helped me with how I can get the best from people I work with. All of these experiences have helped me to pursue my career in technology.

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 15 Dec 2025:

      Lots of people have inspired me, but Mum is who inspired me to keep trying to find a job that I would really enjoy. So when I went to university to become a physics researcher but then wanted to change to study control systems instead, she didn’t hesitate to support my decision.

Comments

  • Photo: Abby M

    Abby M commented on :

    I was particularly inspired by a mentor and senior data scientist at my last job – she encouraged me to look into PhD research and go for it! But I have also been inspired by many other people I’ve worked with – from other employees at my job, to my supervisors in my final year of university, to my friends who have all gone into such interesting jobs after we all graduated!

  • Photo: aureliabrzezowska

    aureliabrzezowska commented on :

    I think for myself it wasn’t one person but collective people throughout history that paved the way for women in computing. Ada Lovelace, the original “computers” such as Katherine Johnson, Judith Love Cohen. Women invented computing but over time it became known as a “male-dominated” field. Knowing this history encouraged me to enter it!