Having worked as a management consultant and project manager, I am quite used to picking up new skills. There is always something to learn – new piece of legislation, new tools, new projects and new clients.  But I certainly didn’t expect that I would be refused a PM/PMO job because my experience didn’t include coding or SQL query skills. However, this is becoming a reality, as more companies expect their staff to be hands on with technology and data analysis tools. 

I remember standing in the overcrowded conference hall of Macquarie Bank, listening to Justin Moffit, the global Chief Information Officer, talking about the Bank’s technology strategy.  I was feeling excited and proud to be part of all the new developments happening in the organisation.  Technology was not just a support function any more. It was a driver for new business models, enabler to unlock market opportunities, disruptor of the status quo.  It had become the core of the business.  At that point I knew it was time to deepen my technology knowledge and improve my skills.  But becoming a coder was not my intention.

Macquarie was very different from any other bank I worked for before.  They stood out. Their modern offices inspired by big tech companies.  Their relentless efforts to develop a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.  They were the first large investment bank in the world to appoint a female CEO, Shemara Wikramanayake.  It felt special.  It felt like a breakthrough.  Not for me personally, but for the industry.

Justin mentioned Shemara was a keen and fast learner and she asked him to give her a list of technology resources to bring her up to speed. My next reaction was “I must read what the CEO reads”, so I emailed our CIO and got a copy of that list.  That’s how I’ve got hooked.

The more I explored, the more I realised how difficult for people without technical background to keep up with the latest developments in technology. Most of the available resources are either too technical or too high-level, and the gap in the middle is filled by expensive courses for C-Suite executives from top business schools.  This is how I came up with the idea of creating my own online courses, specially designed for non-technical managers and other professionals who are genuinely interested in technology.

My first course is the Introduction to Big Data, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.  

For this course, I invited fantastic guest speakers who are the experts in their industries (Logistics & Transportation, Healthcare and Real Estate and Property Management):

• WAEL ELRIFAI - Global VP of Solution Engineering - Big Data, IoT & AI at Hitachi Vantara with over 15 years of experience in the field of machine learning and IoT. Wael is also a Co-Authour of the book "The Future of IoT".

• ED GODBER - Healthcare Strategist with over 20 years of experience in Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and start-ups specialising in Artificial Intelligence.

• YULIA PAK - Real Estate and Portfolio Strategy Consultant with over 12 years of experience in Commercial Real Estate advisory, currently working with clients who deploy IoT technologies to improve management of their real estate portfolio.

You will learn how machine learning is used to predict engine failures and manage warehouses, how artificial intelligence is used in anti-ageing, cancer treatment and clinical diagnosis, you will find out what technology is used in managing smart buildings and smart cities including Hudson Yards in New York. 

The course also covers major technological breakthroughs that enable big data solutions, overview of big data technology architecture and tools, and introduction to machine leaning algorithms and neural networks.

You can find full curriculum here bit.ly/DATAscienceML

Hope you will enjoy my course, and let me know what you think!

Let me know how you are staying up-to-date with technology advancements. 

Any recommendations on good sources including technology/industry blogs and podcasts would be hugely appreciated. 

As an example, I personally enjoy listening to FinTech Insider 11-FS podcast https://fi.11fs.com and Artificial Intelligence by Lex Fridman https://lexfridman.com/ai/. Let me know in the comments what your favourites are.