About Rae Forward
Nobody tells you what working in tech actually looks like.
The roles, the reality, the routes in. Rae Forward exists to change that.
Why we exist
It started with five hands.
In November 2024, Holly walked into a high school in Leeds. She was part of a team presenting to over 250 Year 11 and Year 12 students about working in tech. Before the session started, they asked the room a simple question: how many of you are thinking about a career in tech?
Five hands went up. Out of 250 students.
Two hundred and fifty young people, curious, capable, with their whole careers ahead of them. Only five thought tech was even a possibility.
The session that followed was not about coding. It was about project managers, business analysts, change managers, data analysts and product owners. About communication, organisation, problem solving and empathy, and why those are not nice to have in tech but essential. Most of the room had not heard of half of the roles. Several had not realised project management could be a job in tech at all.
At the end, the same question. Over thirty hands went up.
Same room. Same students. One conversation. Nearly six times as many people willing to consider something they had already ruled out.
Those students had absorbed the myth at sixteen and seventeen, before anyone had told them what tech actually is. If it runs that deep in teenagers, imagine how deep it runs in someone who has believed it for twenty or thirty years.
Rae Forward exists to have that conversation with everyone else.
What we do
Honest books. Practical guidance. No gatekeeping.
Books
Two published titles that explain what tech actually is, what the roles involve, and how to find your place in it. Written plainly, with no assumed knowledge.
Free resources
Guidance, links and starting points, open to anyone. No sign-up, no gate, no email required.
Coming soon
Rae(l) Strengths
A framework built around twenty real-world strengths the tech industry genuinely values. Not a personality type. Not a label. An honest look at what you bring.
What we hold ourselves to
Four principles behind everything we make.
Empowering
Every word should leave you feeling capable, not overwhelmed. You already have more than you think.
Honest
The real picture of tech, including the parts nobody tells you. No jargon, no gatekeeping.
Practical
Resources and guidance you can actually use, wherever you are starting from. No theory, no fluff.
Reflective
Finding your place in tech starts with understanding yourself. We ask the questions that help you get there.
The person behind Rae Forward
Holly Rae
CMgr MCMI · BSc (Hons) · MCT · UK Next CIO 2025
Holly Rae has spent over twenty years working across tech, from hands-on roles right through to senior leadership. She has built high-performing teams, made plenty of mistakes along the way, and learned something useful from every one of them.
She is still in the industry today, leading a professional services practice at a UK managed service provider and running a team that designs and delivers modern workplace technology for organisations across the country. This is not advice from someone looking back at a career. It is written from inside one.
She will tell you that too. Sharing the real stories, the things that went wrong as much as the things that went right, is what she believes actually helps people. Not the polished version. The true one.
Getting Into Tech started with a simple realisation. Nobody tells you what working in tech actually looks like. Tech only works because of the people across every part of it, not just the ones writing code, but the ones managing, communicating, solving problems, leading, and connecting everything together. She wrote the book to say that out loud.
Holly is a Chartered Manager and a Microsoft Certified Trainer, working towards a Master’s in Executive Leadership at the University of Leeds. In 2025 she was named UK Next CIO by IDC and CIO UK. She is a member and supporter of Girls and Tech, and she is passionate about making sure the door into tech is open for anyone who wants to walk through it.
Independent publishing
Independent, but not unsupported.
Rae Forward is an independent publisher. Every book is written, designed and produced in-house, which means nothing gets diluted on the way to you.
As a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Rae Forward has access to trusted self-publishing guidance, professional resources and a community committed to ethical publishing standards. It is one of the ways the books are created with care, quality and integrity.
Ready to move forward?
Whether you are just starting to wonder whether tech might be for you, or you already know and want a route in, there is something here for you.