No Time to Mourn: Building a Tech Career Through a War

One morning, Diana Kocheva learns that the classmate she’d sat beside since she was seven has died. There is no time to mourn. There’s work, a podcast to record, and a mother in Zaporizhzhia who needs a generator to get through the winter. Diana, founder of London Tech Community, came to the UK as a Ukrainian refugee in 2022 and now runs a community of thousands of women in tech, while living, as she puts it, between two worlds. If you lead people, some of them are carrying something similar, and it will never show up on a dashboard. David and Diana unpack who gets labelled a refugee, the online pile-on that branded her a “red carpet refugee”, why luck is the only real difference, the defence innovation the West is missing, and why tech should talk far more about art. Press play before your next one-to-one. Tech Talks is powered by Harvey Nash, the leading global provider of technology and talent solutions. Click here to learn more about our services. The music on Tech Talks is created by London artist Lemzi.