The Invisible Talent Pipeline in Tech: Hiring People with Autism

Diversity in Tech Week 2019

We are pleased to invite you to a tailored workshop focusing on hiring people with autism into the tech sector, a special event within Dogpatch Labs' Diversity In Tech Week.

This is an important workshop helping employers understand how to hire and retain people with autism, delivered in collaboration with Specialisterne Ireland and My Access Hub (specialists in this space) and Harvey Nash (recruitment specialist).

We’ll be covering the following topics through interactive workshop sessions:

We’re taking care to ensure that this evening will provide immediate value to people looking to diversify their talent pipeline, and unlock untapped potential in the workforce.

On the night we’ll also learn how employers have successfully hired and retained people with autism, particularly for roles where attention to detail, pattern thinking or an ability to think outside of the box are important.

Who will be joining us

Sonya F Curley, Managing Director at Harvey Nash

Sonya began her career in a start-up technology recruitment business Rescon, where she lead teams delivering projects across all areas of technology. Rescon were acquired by Harvey Nash in 2007 which provided the opportunity to develop deep strategic partnerships and a wider service to her client base from multinational to SMEs spanning across all sectors. Sonya is passionate about workplace Diversity & Inclusion, and a supporter of Inclusion 360 a Harvey Nash program to promote greater diversity in the Talent Acquisition Process.

Peter Brabazon General Manager at Specialisterne Ireland

Peter began his career an electrical engineer and spent 25 years in what was to become the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). In 2012 Peter became the General Manager of a new social enterprise company, Specialisterne Ireland; a specialist employment agency for people with autism which recruits and supports those people in their employment. Specialisterne Ireland has supported over 160 autistic people to gain employment. Since last year, under the ESF funded "Ability" programme, it has been working with autistic undergraduates and recent graduates to enable them to get internships and long term employment with partner employers.

Gearoid Kearney - My Access Hub

Gearoid is the CoFounder of myAccessHub, providing a technology solution for companies that want to increase accessibility for employees with ASD. Gearoid is driven by his passion to make change and increase accessibility for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders within society. He is fast becoming recognised as a changemaker in this space, taking part in the New Frontiers Programme with Enterprise Ireland, becoming a finalist on the Bridge to Mass Challenge where he represented the company in Boston and taking part in the ChangemakersXChange.

Patrick Brophy - IT Quality Specialist at SAP.

His current Role for over 5 years is ensuring that the software his team are working with has as few bugs as possible, managing Virtual Machines, quality management and monitoring tickets. In a typical day he would go to a scrum standup, read emails, download the software product being developed, run through test scenarios, exploratory testing and finding bugs. Patrick has a certificate in Gaming, a BSc. In Software Systems and an MSc. In Multimedia Systems.

We are certain that this event will be a valuable use of your time and look forward to welcoming you to Dogpatch Labs.