With tech transforming the healthcare space, there has never been more opportunity to make a difference in a fast-paced industry. Business Analyst Ziteihe Efobi shares her journey into tech, how Bupa is helping her to explore the art of the possible for her career, and why she encourages young women in the sector not to overthink their next step.
Tell us about your journey to joining Bupa?
In my A-Level physics class, there were only two girls in attendance, and then there were just four women on my degree course in Materials Engineering. When you’re in an environment like that—where it’s obvious you’re an ‘outsider’, it can leave you feeling that you must work twice as hard to prove yourself. But I have very supportive parents, so I’ve never let that gender imbalance make me feel that I can’t follow a STEM career. Whilst doing my Master’s degree, a friend who had become a business analyst recommended I look at the role as he thought it would suit me. So, in 2021 after graduation, I pivoted and joined Sparta Global, a train and deploy consultancy company, for a six-week course on Business Analysis, covering everything from the Agile Manifesto to how to capture requirements. Four weeks into my training, I was interviewed and placed at Bupa in the Data Governance function.
What appealed to you about tech as a career?
When someone says tech, I think of innovation. I have a flip phone where the screen folds in half, which I find fascinating. I spent a lot of time thinking, ‘How did they do that?’ when I first bought it. That is the essence of tech for me, and there’s always something new to explore on the periphery. I grew up alongside the evolution of mobile phones, and I remember the first iPad. I’ve seen how quickly things change; an amazing innovation comes along- then two years later, something even better. There’s a buzz around everything happening in tech that just makes me want to be involved.
What is the best thing about a career in tech?
A great thing about a tech career is that you can start in one direction- and then branch off into so many other areas. There’s so much pressure on young people these days to know what they want to do from such an early age, and I always feel that being locked into a choice you made when you were a teenager is unreasonable. When you go into tech, you can find your own path and figure out what you care about while you build up the hard and soft skills as you go, pivoting where you find opportunities.
What’s particularly exciting about healthcare tech right now?
I feel most tech spaces are exciting to be in now, but in healthcare, it’s particularly interesting to see how things are connected and to explore what we can do to help our customers- and being able to improve our technology on the inside to be able to translate that to services externally. The pandemic accelerated a lot of things in tech and society that were always going to happen, and one of the biggest things we’re working on is our digital platform which provides digital access to services. Part of that is also about how we bring those who aren’t technologically literate along with us. I’m excited to push things forward, but as this digital platform grows, we need to ensure we’re not leaving people behind.
What was the most surprising thing for you about a tech career, and what has been the most challenging?
The most surprising thing for me is how willing everyone is to help you at Bupa because there’s a misconception that if you’re in tech, everyone is by themselves in their hoodies, typing away. But, if you ask, people will take the time to explain things to you because they really care—and that wasn’t what I was expecting at all. However, the most challenging aspect of this career can be the same thing though—technical experts are not always good at conveying what they know. So how do we democratise this information and make it understandable for everyone? I’d say that soft skills are almost more important in a tech career- because most people can learn technical stuff, but can they learn how to communicate or work in a team? After all, you can’t do an exam in interpersonal communication…
How is Bupa supporting you to get to the next level in your career?
Everyone is incredibly supportive, but it’s the commitment of my manager that is really helping me to move forward. I get bored quite quickly, and I have been put on so many interesting projects that aren’t really in my job description because he wants me to do well. I think managers at Bupa see you and try to get you to go as far as possible—it’s all about giving people opportunities to stretch and challenge themselves, and there’s a lot of opportunity inside the business to move laterally and learn. Bupa has strong practical resources for professional development, which you can use to upskill and move your career forward. But even if you just show a passion for something, then I think you’ll find a lot of things will come back at you.
How do you plan a career in such a fast-paced industry?
I’m following what interest me, but I’m not trying to plan too far ahead because tech moves so quickly. I don’t know what I want to be doing in five years—I don’t even know what the opportunities will be because I don’t know what the tech landscape will look like by then. I would say it’s a good idea generally to find things that are interesting to you and learn them, even if they don’t seem immediately useful. I learned some software a while ago just for fun because I didn’t want to use Excel anymore for a task, and it’s now become something that I use a lot in my current job. I’m a big believer in continually upskilling, so take every opportunity you can. Tech moves so fast you’ll need to always be a step ahead.
What advice would you give to any woman looking to move into a tech career?
Give it a go, and don’t overthink it. Pick a tech role that you think is exciting and try and do it for two years—after that, you’ll probably be doing something different. Just apply for jobs. If you don’t get the first role, move on to the next. Finally, get your technical skills up, but also don’t be afraid to highlight your soft skills and sprinkle those everywhere—because they are really what the industry needs.
