Sam Humphries

CRN: What's the most pressing issue preventing progress with diversity today that no one's talking about?

SH: " The sad mantra of ‘well we have to hire for merit'. Yes, yes OR COURSE we do, but if we don't widen the initial talent pool we're still reducing the chances of improving diversity. I feel like this is still being used as a weak excuse to cover up poor hiring practices, badly written job descriptions, and ultimately the fact humans still want to surround themselves with people who fit within their comfort zone of ‘they're like me'. We HAVE to change this. Einstein (probably) said it best 'The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.'"

CRN: How much progress do you believe the industry has made in diversity since you started working in IT?

SH: " I've been formally employed in IT for nearly 25 years, so the industry has had a long to time to change during my watch, but I can happily say things are considerably better than my early days of technical support, when often people (read: men) would ask to be put through a support person when I answered the phone.

"Beyond physical diversity, no one talked much publicly about neurodiversity, sexual/love preferences, socio-economic diversity, age-ism and more. The late 90s/early 2000s weren't anywhere near as accepting as we are today, and whilst we still have a way to go I do see some very pleasing leaps forward."

CRN: What should senior management teams be doing more of to help create a more inclusive industry for everyone?

SH: " Be the change, speak the change, drive the change you wish to see in the world. Championing Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), mentoring and sponsoring underrepresented minorities in and outside of your organisation, and driving real change in hiring practices will all make a difference."

CRN: How did you first get into the IT industry?

SH: " Not wanting to advocate for child labour at all, I was 6 years old when I first did Quality Assurance for my Mum's computer disk copying company. I'd had a Sinclair Spectrum from the age of four, as my mum had realised there was something in this computer malarkey, and she upgraded my kit to a BBC Micro and a double disk drive. Next thing I knew, she was bringing home games they were mass producing for schools and I was asked to play them and provide details of whether they worked correctly, and if not show her what and when something broke.

"Fast forward a few years, I was working as a business travel agent, where as a side note I learned how to "hack" flight fares – not for illegal gain, but once I understood a system I knew its limitations and its capabilities, so my travel clients did very well out of my skills. I was the travel senior consultant looking after a company called Network Associates (who became McAfee) – they ended up hiring me and that was the beginning of a long career in cybersecurity."

CRN: What have been some of your experiences (both good and bad) with how the channel has historically approached diversity?

SH: " Just like IT in general, when I first started the channel was very much a CIS-mal white boys club in the UK, but what I love about the channel as a whole is that companies are very willing to give people from different backgrounds a chance to grow and succeed. If anything, the channel is prepared to take more diversity ‘chances' and be way more agile, and done right it definitely pays off."

CRN: Do you think companies should be compelled to publish ‘ethnicity pay gap' data?

SH: "Not just publish it, pointing at a problem just to say it exists changes nothing. Publish it and do something POSITIVE about it."

CRN: Has it always been easy for you to be open about your identity in the workplace?

SH: "Fortunately, yes. I know I have been privileged in my path, especially during the early years. My primary school headmaster called my mum to say I was lying when I announced to the class that ‘I've got one of those' when he brought the sole school computer into our classroom.

"I wasn't lying, but I know now that at the time I was so bloody lucky to have a parent who had dropped something so awesome into my lap. We weren't particularly well off at the time, she'd scrimped and saved to get a second hand one, but without question it was the bedrock of my career."

CRN: Who have been your biggest role models in your professional life, and how have they helped you to succeed?

YM:" I have so many. My Mum, clearly I have a lot to be thankful to her for. And my awesome kids, Ash and Trinity, drive me every day to do and be better as a human and as a professional that ultimately I love them to look up to.

"Beyond family, Jenny Radcliffe (aka The People Hacker) is a great friend and huge inspiration, my executive coach and amazing friend Eric Reiners is such a big part of my life and drive to succeed, and I've had a tonne of superb managers who have continued to champion my career. I do a lot of work with the cybersecurity community too, through events like BSides and DefCon and there is a veritable myriad of folks who are daily reminders that this is the best career and life in the world."