The route in: Darren Curry at TechNExt 2026

From data entry clerk to the top job

Darren Curry runs digital, data and technology at the NHS Business Services Authority. He started there in 2000 as a data entry clerk, keying six-digit numbers off prescription forms, thousands an hour, and twenty years later he’s the one running the tech. His talk was about how that happened: not luck or hustle, but a series of people who noticed him, backed him, and created the opportunities that let him move up.

The checklist worth stealing

His message was practical: design the routes in, and design the routes on. Look hard at your job adverts, are the qualifications really essential, and can someone read them without insider knowledge? Add “or equivalent experience” and mean it, so the person who ran their own business for ten years isn’t filtered out before anyone reads their application. Think about who gets the stretch opportunities, pay your interns properly, and notice who goes unheard in meetings. As he put it, talent is everywhere, opportunity isn’t.

Opportunity is built, not given

What stuck with me was the framing: progression isn’t one lucky break, it’s a sequence of opportunities that other people create. Confidence comes after action, not before, so anyone who hires or leads has a real chance to open a door for someone. I took a roundabout route into tech myself, so I didn’t need convincing that opportunity matters more than a tidy CV.

Darren Curry presented at TechNExt 2026, the tech festival for the North East, on 15 June 2026.