We had the opportunity to speak with Cash Converters CIO, James Miles, about how their recent partnership with She Codes has helped build on the company’s commitment to diversify and develop the tech community. Cash Converters aim to encourage and support women in the industry, and with the help of She Codes, they have been able to begin their journey of empowering women to pursue careers in the field of tech.
What does a regular day at Cash Converters look like? Many people don’t even know you have your head office here in Perth! Can you talk to that?
Yes, it’s quite a success story! Cash Converters was founded in Perth. The first store was in Victoria Park and since then it has expanded to become an ASX-listed company with over 600 stores worldwide. As you can imagine, our core business systems are unique and supporting a large store network in many different jurisdictions across multiple products has many challenges.
What does a tech role/career path look like for employees?
There are many different technology career paths at Cash Converters including Software Engineering, Testing, Data Science, Information Security, Product Design & Development, Computer Networking and Administration. Many team members started their careers here and have progressed through the organisation to become technical leaders, managers, or even business leaders. Personally, I started as a C# software contractor with Cash Converters in Perth in 2012, at the time there were 3 other people in the IT team. I was promoted to Software Development Manager and subsequently Chief Technology Officer, and we now have over 40 full-time employees in Cash Converters IT which I oversee as the company’s Chief Information Officer.
Why was partnering with She Codes an important choice for Cash Converters?
We believe people are core to our technology strategy, and that to be successful we must continue to develop diverse teams and talent right here in Perth. To us, partnering with She Codes was the perfect way to complement this strategy.
What do employees love most about the company?
Our staff love being empowered to solve business problems and affect real change in the company. Cash Converters is big enough to fund really interesting projects but small enough that you can still make a difference.
How do you feel about the current state of women in tech across Australia, and what do you think could be done to improve/grow this?
Women already make an enormous contribution in technology across Australia. Some of our most influential colleagues have been women and we’d have not been successful at Cash Converters without the contribution of these incredible team members. Despite this, the IT workforce in Australia is still skewed towards men and I believe the primary root cause is our culture and education system which, in my experience as a father of two girls, can be biased against offering the same opportunities as boys in single-sex girls’ schools.
I want there to be every opportunity for my daughters to take whatever career path they choose, whether it’s in tech or something completely different. I believe the best way to tackle this is to encourage children at a young age to participate in electronics and computing and ensure opportunities exist through all stages of the education system (primary, secondary & tertiary) for young women to participate in subjects they’re interested in and can go on to have a career in.
What’s next for Cash Converters?
There’s lots on the horizon for us! We’re busy working towards launching a brand new digital-only product; re-releasing our My Loans app with a new look, feel, and functionality; and we’re recruiting people to work on new financial products, infrastructure, and cyber security projects.
Stay up to date by following Cash Converters on LinkedIn here! If your organisation wants to follow in the footsteps of our partners, and work alongside us to increase diversity in the tech industry, download our partnership package to get started.