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In this episode we interview Catherine who is a Content Designer in the Automation Centre at the Home Office. She works within a user-centred design team supporting multiple projects aimed at automating processes to make life easier for Home Office staff.
She describes how her brother, a developer, introduced her to content design and how she applied twice for a role, being rejected the first time and then succeeding after learning more and preparing better for interviews. She outlines transferable skills from earlier jobs including extensive customer service and call-centre experience and discusses career changes driven by lockdown.
Catherine also describes balancing work with caring responsibilities for her children, later returning to full-time work, and being widowed, which prompted a reassessment of her future. She chose digital work due to long-standing interest in computing and learning.
She reflects on being late-diagnosed neurodivergent and how neurodivergence affects her communication needs, and highlights Home Office support including a Workplace Adjustment Passport as a way to formalise needs, and initiatives such as a monthly Women in Tech forum and allyship workshops.
Catherine says she enjoys continual learning in digital, organising information and ideas, and feeling appreciated on her current team. Her advice to women who are neurodivergent and considering tech is to persevere through rejection sensitivity and imposter syndrome, seek coaching/mentoring and feedback, and to keep refining applications and interview skills.
Links
Home Office Careers: https://careers.homeoffice.gov.uk/
References
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Notes and Links
This interview was recorded online by Sarah Lister, Membership Coordinator at Sheffield Digital, on 30th January 2026.
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Thank you for the music
Thanks to Alex Mclean – aka Yaxu – for the show’s intro music, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
