Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Joysy John of 01Founders On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Know your strengths and ask for what you want. For example, negotiating the consulting fee for a project and getting the client to pay market rate (I got a project fee that was five times higher than what was initially advertised).
As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joysy John.
Joysy John is the CEO of 01Founders, tuition-free coding schools with a job-guarantee to improve diversity in tech and tackle the digital skills gap.
Joysy is an entrepreneur, Edtech advisor and global speaker. She is the former Director of Education at Nesta, an innovation foundation in the UK. She was responsible for practical programmes, research and investments that better prepare learners to thrive in the future.
Previously Joysy was the Chief Industry Officer of Ada, the National College for Digital Skills where she led the College’s industry engagement and online learning website. She has worked across different sectors spanning education technology, banking and entrepreneurship. She headed up international strategic development for EF Learning Labs, led business development for Emerge Education, Europe’s first education technology accelerator and advised Level 39, technology incubator based in Canary Wharf.
Joysy is passionate about education, entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment. She helped launch three non-profits focused on education. She founded Founders Fit to help startup leaders find the right cofounders. She is the founder of the London chapter of the Startup Leadership Program, a global initiative (across 19 cities, with over 3,500 Fellows who have raised $700M+). Joysy has over a decade of experience in technology, business management, strategy and sales roles with JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley in Singapore, US and UK. She was the youngest person selected into the Future Leader Development Programme at JP Morgan Chase.
She holds a Computer Engineering (Honours) degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and an MBA with Distinction from London Business School where she was the President of the Women in Business Club and a Forte Scholar.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My career in technology had a very traditional beginning, by studying computer engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. What makes it remarkable by today’s standards is that my higher education was fully funded by the Singapore government and businesses like Singapore Airlines and Neptune Orient Lines. I am testament to the life-changing opportunities offered by education, free at the point of delivery — something that is nowadays out of reach for most adults, including school-leavers.
My career path has spanned banking, education and the not-for-profit sectors across Singapore, US and UK. After a decade in technology and banking, I joined the world of startups and innovation. I have set up a number of startups myself, funded startups, and I have mentored and supported tech startups throughout my career. I launched Sift (while at university), Flow, Stir Education, Startup Leadership Programme, Founders Fit, Ada National College for Digital Skills — and now, 01 Founders.
The story of startups is the story of a passion for solving problems in a scalable and sustainable way. 01 Founders is designed to solve the problem of access to free higher level education for adults, at scale. We focus not only on developing software engineering skills but also collaborative problem solving, creativity and communication skills sought after by employers. This gives us an economic model that enables us to offer the two-year campus-based education completely free for those who demonstrate they have the cognitive skills, resilience and mindset needed to thrive in a tech career.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
When we set out our vision, we decided to tackle two fundamental and related problems in the tech sector: the digital skills gap and recruiting diverse talent.
There is a shortage of software engineers. In fact, people with the right fundamental talent are often kept out of the sector by misconceptions about the skills needed, lack of role models and inherent bias to “hire people like me”. The result of this slightly toxic combination is a sector characterised by homogeneity: we are based in London and in the UK, only one in six of the tech workforce are women, and a similar proportion are from an ethnic minority background.
Our mission is to hire from diverse backgrounds. We actively seek radical career changers from minority backgrounds. We want half our fellows to be women. We want to give opportunities to people coming from backgrounds without many of the advantages that characterise today’s tech sector workforce. So one of the most fulfilling moments in our journey so far was to find that our first cohort — those who had successfully passed our rigorous three-week selection pool — was incredibly diverse.
Among our new starts were a chef, two bus drivers, a musician and an interior designer. We had a female fellow studying brick-laying with absolutely no knowledge of computer programming languages, the secretary in a family business who dedicated most of her spare time to judging swim meets on a voluntary basis. You could never have imagined the sheer range of people who immediately proved they had what it takes to work in software engineering or a related job in tech. It’s deeply exciting that we are giving a life changing opportunity to those who need it the most!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I tried to be a banker by day and entrepreneur by night and weekends. I was doing side hustles to figure out what I wanted to do next. It was very clear that I had to focus full time if I wanted to become an entrepreneur. That’s an important lesson that I learnt early on about the need to focus my energy and attention on the things I care about.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
The first thing that makes us stand out from our competitors is that we offer a free education plus a job guarantee to people who’ve probably never been offered such a chance before.
We go to remarkable lengths to identify people with the right talent but the wrong CV. We are able to offer people a truly life-changing opportunity because we go outside of the traditional channels to find fresh talent. The trouble is, finding the people with the right talent for a career in tech, with the right cognitive skills and mindset, has proven to be difficult. The signals most recruiters look for — studied the right subject at the right university, worked in the right job at the right tech company — are insufficient to meet the country’s tech talent needs. We have developed ways to generate different signals, meaning we find different talent.
The second thing that makes us stand out is our commitment to nurturing talent over a relatively long time period. Two years full-time, for 48 weeks of the year, is roughly the time it takes to get a university degree. Yet unlike a degree in computer science, we are focusing purely on the skills, knowledge and network needed to secure a job in tech. It is not theoretical but applied learning, where our learners (we call them our fellows) are solving real world problems and learning from their peers. We don’t get sidetracked by the history of computing or outdated curriculum. That is a reason our fellows chose us: because every day they are here on campus learning, they are developing work-ready skills for a well-paid, and often highly-paid, career.
The third thing that makes us stand out is our pedagogy, or our approach to delivering learning. This was pioneered by Nicolas Sadirac, cofounder of 01 Talent. Our fellows are in charge of their learning. We have a small team of technical staff who can facilitate peer-to-peer learning, and provide pastoral support. This pedagogy has been implemented in over 40 countries. We have a project-based and gamified curriculum, which is shaped by the companies who will ultimately employ our fellows. There is no traditional lecture model. Instead, learning happens through solving challenges and quests. That really works for our fellows, because it is one aspect of making them ready for a career in tech, where motivation, agency and problem solving are a core part of their skillset.
Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
Definitely not satisfied with the status quo! We need to increase the number of role models to inspire more women to study STEM. We also need organisations to be more inclusive so that they can attract, retain and grow more women in STEM. We are directly challenging the status quo by our commitment to gender parity among our fellows.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
One of the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or tech that is not typically faced by male counterparts is the gender pay gap. Businesses need to address the income inequality and women need to be more assertive about knowing their strengths and asking for fair pay.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
The myth that we need to dispel about being a woman in tech is that you need to fit into a certain mould or certain stereotype to work in tech. We need to help women overcome imposter syndrome and build confidence. It is common for women to say that they are not good at maths or science. Everything can be learnt if you have the right mindset.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Know your strengths and ask for what you want. For example, negotiating the consulting fee for a project and getting the client to pay market rate (I got a project fee that was five times higher than what was initially advertised)
- Find a sponsor, mentor and coach. Throughout my career I have had many mentors and coaches who have guided me personally and professionally. Finding a sponsor who saw potential in me accelerated my career opportunities very early in my career at JPMorgan and gave me opportunities to do projects in the US, UK and Singapore.
- Learn new things across disciplines. I realise that being a computer engineer I didn’t have the business, strategy and financial skills I needed to be successful as a leader. So I did an MBA at London Business School after working for six years in technology.
- Go beyond your comfort zone. Saying yes to projects and being open to learning helped me work in Fintech, Edtech and innovation across industries.
- Volunteer to serve those less privileged. I think it is our duty to raise others up the ladder as we are climbing up. I feel extremely privileged to have got the scholarships to study abroad in Singapore and the UK. So I volunteered at Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Financial Women’s Association while I was in the US. In the UK, I sit on the Royal Society’s education committee and advisory board of Karanga, Ark Curriculum Plus and Foundation for Education Development.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Build trust and develop relationships with your team. Understand what motivates them and give them opportunities for growth.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Irrespective of whether it is a large team or small team, it is about building a culture of trust and open communication.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Many mentors, coaches and sponsors have helped me along my career across technology, banking and entrepreneurship. I am most grateful for my mother who instilled a growth mindset in me and my computer science teacher who told me about software engineering as a career. I never saw myself as ‘nerdy’ or as an ‘engineer’ but I loved programming. My teacher told me that if you are good at programming then you can build a well-paid job as a software engineer. That early support and advice in my life helped me know what I wanted to do in my career. They saw potential in me and helped me dream big.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I am pouring everything I have learned over the years in tech startups back into 01 Founders. When we achieve our mission of training 50,000 women for quality careers in tech this decade, that will bring something exceptionally valuable not only to the women themselves but to the tech industry, which is constantly criticised for its lack of diversity. This is an obvious moral issue and as tech takes over the economy at large, it is one we should all grapple with. But it is also a very practical problem — it does our society a disservice if all the tech answers to societal problems are designed by teams five sixths of whom are men.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to see more businesses contribute a percentage of their revenue to help those less fortunate. At 01 Founders we contribute 25% of our revenue from corporate memberships towards scholarships to fund living expenses for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Climb High, Climb Far, Your Goal the Sky, Your Aim the Start.”
This was the message that my parish priest gave me as I was starting at university. Coming from a background where my parents couldn’t afford to send me to university, it felt like a miracle that I had got a fully-funded education opportunity to study computer engineering in Singapore. I have always believed when you really want something then you’ll find a way to access resources to make it happen.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them
I would love to have lunch with Melinda French Gates as she is an American philanthropist and former computer scientist and general manager at Microsoft. She is also the co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a focus on expanding educational opportunities and access to information technology. It would be amazing to have her as a role model for our learners who are looking to build their career in technology.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Joysy John of 01Founders On The 5 Leadership Lessons She… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.