Students inspired at Tesco HQ 

Students from Oaklands College enjoyed an inspiring and hands‑on experience at a recent Next Tech Girls Insight Day, hosted at Tesco’s Head Office in Welwyn Garden City. The event gave students the chance to explore real‑world careers in technology, meet industry professionals, and take part in interactive demonstrations across multiple tech roles. 

Fifteen students attended the event, including eleven from the college’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department. The day offered a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes at one of the UK’s largest employers and gain first‑hand understanding of the breadth of careers available in the tech sector. 

Next Tech Girls, an award‑winning social enterprise founded by tech recruitment agency Empiric, works to tackle the gender and skills gaps in the UK tech industry by partnering with leading companies to deliver inspiring insight days, events and work experience opportunities for teenage girls and young women.  During the Insight Day, students heard from women working in Tesco’s technology teams across product, engineering, design and programme management roles, who shared their career journeys, day‑to‑day responsibilities and advice for young people considering a future in digital industries. They also took part in a campus tour, including the Tesco labs, the hub of experimentation and learning, plus group activities and practical demonstrations, giving all the students the chance to try out elements of real tech roles. 

The day was a real success, with one student Zara commenting: 

“It was a wonderful experience. We were greeted by lovely staff and heard speeches from women working there about how they made it and what their day‑to‑day looks like. They were open to any questions and made us feel comfortable. We saw demos, tried some of their jobs, and had time at the end to ask anything we wanted. It was an amazing day.” 

The success of the Insight Day has opened the door to further collaboration between Oaklands College, Next Tech Girls and Tesco. Plans are already being explored for a ‘future hack day’, where students will work in teams to develop and pitch innovative tech ideas to Tesco.  

Lynsey Elliott, ICT Tutor at Oaklands College added: 

“The students had an incredibly positive experience, gaining valuable insight into careers in technology and engaging directly with industry professionals. It was great to see such high levels of participation and enthusiasm throughout the day.” 

The event forms part of Oaklands College’s commitment to providing high‑quality enrichment, employer engagement and progression opportunities for students across its ICT programmes, and the College is now looking forward to planning more events.