Holly Smith

One of the Tech Women Celebration 50 - women changing the ratio of the tech workforce

Holly Smith is a Senior Architect at Databricks who has over a decade of experience working with Data & AI teams in a variety of capacities from individual contributors all the way up to leadership. She has spent the last four years at Databricks working with many multinational companies advising and implementing Data Engineering and Machine Learning projects as they embark on their journey to the cutting edge of data.

In addition to being an angel investor (mainly in climate solutions and fintech) Holly is a consistent and hard working advocate for greater diversity in data. She says:

"You can't aim for what you don't know, so I've doubled down on visible representation.There are so many approaches to 'solving' the women in tech gap, no one can do them all. For me, this is focusing on being visible for the next generation and coaching other women who want to do the same. As well as being a regular at Women in Data, Women of Silicon Roundabout and Lesbians who Tech conferences, I'm also keen to make sure female voices are heard at general conferences too.

"I have taught over 500 women modern data engineering skills in Apache Spark and Databricks. A few hundred of hese students have been through volunteering with Women in Data UK where we have been able to give away this training for free.

"Apache Spark is ubiquitous within the big data space (and let's face it, what data isn't big), is the most popular open source data project, and has a billion annual downloads. If you aren't familiar with Spark you're limiting your data projects and ultimately the impact you can make. The training I deliver gives women enough experience to be able to start their first projects and put themselves forward for new challenges.

"Not only is this a feat of logistics, it's also been a learning journey for me too. Four years ago I had just joined Databricks and barely knew Spark. Since then I've perpetually thrown myself in the deep end to acquire more technical skills and more programming languages to the point where I'm able to contribute back. These days I don't just teach Spark, I also teach Data Engineering and Machine Learning with Databricks. My day job is hands on Databricks projects where I deliver projects that save, and occasionally make, millions of pounds."

Holly has had to overcome some challenges of her own to get to this point.

"I've always felt on the back foot with my career. In my early years I had severe mental health problems and couldn't work for a long time. One doctor tried to give me an autism diagnosis, which I refused. Back then I was ignorant of the condition, but since learning more about it I realised I probably should have listened.

"Realising there's such a fine line between normality and disruption has made me passionate about giving back to non profits who help those close to the line. For many years I worked with DataKind UK which matches data experts with social change organisations so they can maximise their impact by using data."

There are many testimonies to Holly's commitment and teaching ability but perhaps the following is the most telling.

"Holly's always lowering the ladder to help others climb."

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