What to expect:
Three hours, a small group of peers, lots of insights guaranteed shared off the record and in a safe space. You will takeaway tactics to put into play straight away, extend your network and benefit from (unattributed) discussion summaries.
What you will leave with:
- A way forward on at least one thing you are currently stuck on, from women who have already navigated it.
- Tactics you can use straight away: how peers have negotiated pay, title and scope, held boundaries around flexible working, and made a sideways move pay off.
- Contacts you have spoken to one to one, not a list of names. Everyone posts what they need and what they can offer, so you leave knowing who to go back to.
- A written, unattributed summary of the room’s conclusions, sent to everyone who attended.
- Influence. The barriers and fixes raised are written up as policy asks to both organisations, with nothing traceable to you.
Who is it for:
Women navigating the next step of their tech career, who likely have at least 10 years’ experience. Places per organisation are limited to support agnostic and candid discussion.
You do not need to prepare anything, and you will not be asked to speak in front of the room unless you want to.
Why we are running it:
Despite much talk about the career challenges (typically) unique to women that lead to poor retention and growth in tech roles, the solutions remain frustratingly absent. This small, off the record, and informal event invites women in tech to share their experiences.
The aim is to discuss navigating careers and exploring solutions to creating a workplace environment that brings the recognition you deserve, the flexibility you may need and the support to achieve your goals, whether that is advancing to the C-Suite, starting out alone, balancing life or all of these and more.
Some of the answers to solving these enduring issues impacting women, the workforce, innovation, and the economy lie within the people that are experiencing the barriers and challenges. This session will bring women together to voice the challenges, share their solutions and requirements for change – and to take the rewards of that back to their own careers, not just to their employers.
What we will get into:
- Negotiating up: asking for the title, the pay and the scope without hedging.
- Doing the work and missing the credit: making invisible work visible.
- Flexibility without a downgrade: commitments outside work do not make you less expert.
- Pay parity: what people are actually earning and how they got there.
- Gender as an asset rather than something to manage around.
- Switching domains and returning after a break: making the move land.
- Sponsorship versus mentorship: who advocates for you when you are not in the room.
How the day runs, and what each part gives you
11:00–11:20 Welcome and opening remarks. Why both organisations are in the room and what happens with what you say.
11:20–12:20 Connections Wall and Peer Mentoring Carousel. You post what you are looking for and what you can offer, then move through a series of 10-minute paired conversations on set prompts. By lunch you will have spoken one to one with several people, so nobody is standing on their own with a plate.
12:20–13:00 Business lunch, provided.
13:00–13:50 Lightning talks and “Choose Your Table” roundtables. Three or four speakers each take five minutes on a real pivot or challenge, not a polished success story. You then pick the table whose topic matters most to you. Each table leaves with one change it wants to see.
13:50–14:00 Close: what is our next move. Named actions and owners, not a round of thank yous.
Practical Details
Date: Friday 18 September 2026
Time: 11:00 – 14:00
Venue: The Mound, Edinburgh.
Cost: no charge to attend. Lunch is included and dietary requirements are captured at registration.
Confidentiality: the session is off the record. We will not advertise who is in the room, so it stays a protected space to share your views with your peers. We will capture discussion takeaways and future actions without attributing them to anyone.
Register interest & more information: hello@ada.scot
Check out the festival calendar of events here
Find out more about our partners here
