Natalie McCorkell-Walsh is a Senior Platform Engineer at Apex Financial Solutions, with a passion for problem-solving, infrastructure, and making systems secure and resilient. Her route into tech was non-traditional, beginning with a love of gaming and retro consoles and later fuelled by hands-on experience through an ICT apprenticeship.
Natalie shares her story with Sync NI, reflecting on the value of support networks, the thrill of solving stubborn technical issues, and why tech has a place for creatives, troubleshooters, and anyone willing to learn, regardless of background.
Have you always had an interest in technology, and was there a specific person or particular event that led you into your current role?
From childhood I was always interested in retro consoles and gaming, which led me to start troubleshooting and building my own PCs and tech, sadly careers in this field wouldn’t’have been promoted as strongly with young girls in the 90s, so it wasn’t until decades later when my husband obtained a degree in games development that I started to really notice what was out there. I started to assess whether I would prefer to be on the creative side of tech with development, or the problem solving side in SRE/DevOps, I signed up for an ICT apprenticeship at Belfast Met and I was placed on a SysAdmin/DevOps path. I feel it worked out for the best as I can get creativity blocks and I really enjoy troubleshooting, planning, and solving problems. I am very thankful to my husband and friends for encouraging me to go for the apprenticeship when I was doubting myself and unsure if it was something I could learn in a short period of time.
What would you consider to be the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of your job?
I’ve been able to meet great people with similar interests to me, I find it very rewarding when something important is launched in production and I can look at it and say “I helped ensure that went live correctly” or “my team and I improved the security of that app”, it’s especially rewarding when there’s a particularly stubborn issue (usually in terraform for me!) that I have to tackle with trial and error, and seeing it eventually run successfully is like solving a puzzle.
READ MORE: Tech Trailblazer: Lauren Vallely, Software Engineer II, Apex
In terms of career development, how important is it to build a professional network and attend industry events?
If you’re in a particular field in tech or starting out, it’s great to get out there and see what other people are doing, for example if you’re in backend development, but you go to an event to meet cybersecurity specialists and data engineers, it’s always useful to get a wider picture of what everyone is involved in, especially if you’re interested in making a move into a slightly different field to what you’re currently doing, or looking to keep up with industry trends on what to be aware of.
How much impact can a mentor have on your personal development?
It’s helpful to have a patient, knowledgeable mentor who you can reach out to throughout your career, I personally find my development in tech has been fast paced thanks to the helpful and encouraging managers and mentors I’ve worked with over these past 4 years.
What guidance would you offer to any young person on why they should consider a career in technology?
I think if it’s something that interests you, it’s important to think about what you’d enjoy long term. If you’re a creative person who likes to build something from the ground up, then games or software development may suit you, if you’re a natural troubleshooter, then you might prefer SRE, DevOps, Helpdesk roles, there’s such a broad variety of roles and finding the right fit for you personally is best.
What advice would you give to women considering a career change or return to work but are daunted by the prospect of working in what can be perceived as a male-dominated industry?
When networking and socialising, make sure to surround yourself with a supportive circle of colleagues and friends and listen to the encouraging things they have to say! I wouldn’t have applied for my first tech role had I not been involved with a diverse community of kind people, and went on to work with encouraging mentors. It’s also helpful to seek out female leads in tech, look at all the interesting projects they’re leading and picture yourself long term in their shoes, working on similar things that interest you.
For those who may not come from a STEM background, what other career opportunities exist within the tech sector beyond software engineering?
There are so many other great options to consider if software engineering doesn’t feel like a fit for you, some examples being UX/UI Design, technical writing, pre-sales engineering, project and product management, data science, platform/DevOps engineering AI/ML, and other management/leadership roles. One of my best friends is in technical writing and she loves it!
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