Shaping Careers With Purpose ft. Dan Wallman
Dan Wallman is an entrepreneur and founder of TechNative Digital, a social enterprise which delivers masterclasses for those aspiring to work in the tech industry. His organisation works with tech firms, aiming to provide great candidates for their jobs, and helping the individuals involved to realise their new-found potential.
In today’s episode of the Career Equation, we sit down with Dan to understand the journey that led him to starting TechNative, why people are at the heart of what he does, and the balance he strives for in his working environment.
Early sense of initiative
One of Dan‘s earliest business ideas growing up was to help wash people’s cars. It could have been the start of what has become one of his best career qualities – using his initiative to rally people around an idea.
“It took me a while to work out what I was going to do,” says Dan, who initially worked in care, before running his own business. “It was probably when I started working in training with programmes with creative people and coming up with ideas, it really sparked in me…you can come up with a good idea, if it has impact and it gets people excited and it helps people, you can pull people together to do this, there’s a way,” he adds.
Going beyond standard education
Dan started DV8 Sussex, a youth training organisation with the mission to “”empower creative thinkers to be successful in work and life”. It offered a range of educational programmes for young people aged 14-19 to develop the skills and confidence to move towards employment. Crucially, it was a different way to educate those who did not necessarily excel in what some might see as the limited parameters of the traditional school environment.
“A lot of these young people had not a positive experience in school and had often been seen as troubled,” Dan explains. “Then, they’d come to DV8, they’d be treated with respect and care. We took a different approach to them and often they would really blossom.”
Seeing the impact on others
Naturally, some of the best moments in Dan‘s working life have been seeing the human impact that his organisations have had – be it DV8’s influence on young people, or TechNative and the training of adults.
“I always loved our end of year events where we’d get all the young people performing, we’d show all their films and the parents would show up,” Dan recalls. “That’s probably where you get that kind of warm glow feeling.”
There was a similarly satisfying win-win scenario after TechNative’s boot camp masterclass programme, with three people getting jobs with firms which had partnered with the programme. “It’s been really life-changing for those guys,” said Dan. “For the businesses, they said this was the best group of interviews. For the guys who didn’t get the jobs, they’re much more employable now and we’re reaching out into the tech community to find them work. Seeing those guys get jobs is the start of a whole new life.”
Pirates causing ‘good trouble’
Dan was inspired by a book by Sam Conniff called “Be More Pirate”. Reading it crystallised in his mind the idea that there is nothing wrong with causing “good trouble”, even though many of us can be afraid to rip up the directions and rock the boat.
“You need to break a few rules,” says Dan. “You need to not be afraid to make some good trouble, to try and challenge the status quo where things aren’t working. (Pirates) were actually purveyors of social change, they were fighting being press ganged into the navy, so they’re seen as pillaging and robbing and whatever, but actually they were fighting against a different sort of corrupt regime, trying to make a better life for themselves.”
An environmental balance
The choice between working in an office or working from home in the modern post-pandemic environment might lead people to feel under pressure to weigh up the pros and cons of the two and decide which binary box they fit in. Dan‘s ideal environment includes the best of both worlds and he has managed to carve out a flexibility that suits him and his colleagues.
“I definitely need time and space to myself to work. I’m not so good in a loud, noisy office with lots of distractions,” he admits. “On the flip side, I also need to be amongst people. I draw my energy from being around people and sharing successes and wins with people and collaborating. I need to be able to work to my own terms,” adds Dan, who also describes working from home for too long a period as feeling like “Groundhog Day”.
Conclusion
The Career Equation reminded Dan that everything which he finds rewarding about what he does revolves around people. That could be seeing the difference that can be made to other people’s careers through getting them a job in a new field, or helping people to understand his vision and making a plan to get it off the ground.