Cracking the Career Code
According to CIO, in 2024, only 27% of women have jobs in computing. The percentage of all women in the workforce is nearly double that.
Yet, there are pioneering women who have been in tech for a decade or more, and they have carved out more seats at the table for others. Although they admit there are challenges, many say their work is fulfilling.
“Want to be nurtured and challenged and find the superhero version of yourself? Join tech,” says Silvia Rocha, Vice President of Engineering at OutSystems.
How can women and other underrepresented groups succeed in tech? What are the benefits of diversity and inclusion in hiring? To answer these questions and celebrate International Women’s Day, Sabrina Palacios, Regional Vice President, Customer Success - Americas at OutSystems, hosted a LinkedIn Live session with two tech leaders who are OutSystems customers. Susan Danielson, Product Line Lead, Automation and Rapid Application Development at Roche (an OutSystems Innovation Award winner), and Giada Binelli, Global Product Owner, Low-Code, at The HEINEKEN Company joined Sabrina to share their experiences as women in tech. Here are some of the takeaways from the conversation.
Getting started in tech requires perseverance and passion
Giada came to IT by way of digital and innovation, developing the technical skills needed to implement an internal bot, to solve problems using Design Thinking and Agile, and to choreograph processes, technologies, and interactions in complex systems. Sabrina started in customer success. Both Giada and Sabrina agreed that their paths were slightly easier because they were hired for their abilities that were tangentially related to IT and over time, built up their IT skills. Susan’s start in IT was through informatics, a more traditional entry point.
Even so, the path wasn’t easy for any of them in their largely male-dominated IT departments. Giada described how her childhood experiences enable her to connect different worlds, which helped her navigate her way into her technical role. Sabrina shared that she spent time after working hours learning about the back-end of technology so she could contribute valuable input in meetings. Susan encountered numerous stereotypes about the role of women in the workplace and relied on her communication skills– learned when studying journalism–to break through biases.
Thanks to the evolution of technology, it can be easier to break into tech today. Giada explained that with low-code and other platforms, people can develop or build software and applications without knowing how to code. It’s easier to make the case to women (or anyone) that they can work in IT without being a programmer or having a computer science degree.
Being confident is key to acceptance
In a field where men are so much more prevalent, especially in leadership positions, what does it take for a woman to be accepted? It can be difficult to look around in a meeting and only see one or two other women–if any–in the room. Susan, Giada, and Sabrina all said that being confident is the answer. In IT, people are ultimately valued for knowing their subject matter and being able to express it effectively.
Susan explained that she used her interest in computers and her communication skills to contribute to conversations even when she wasn’t an original participant. Sabrina said that her after-hours work helped her “up her game,” and her contributions to discussions earned her team’s respect. Giada pointed out that many men in IT are confident and respond well to it in others. So, she made sure she had the knowledge to speak intelligently about the technology being discussed.
Addressing the lack of women in tech means changing perceptions
The conversation surfaced lots of ideas for how to make the tech industry more open to women and other underrepresented groups. Sabrina said that simply admitting the lack of adequate female representation in tech would be helpful. Women need to be given a fair shot in recruitment processes. Susan added that companies need to view hiring from the lens of diversity and inclusion, emphasizing that equal representation is needed at all levels.
Giada pointed out that women leaders must step up and implement programs and networks to make sure that more women and people from other underrepresented groups are hired. Making a change has to start with those who have walked the path before–and have a certain amount of influence. But, she continued, the fact that this conversation is happening in more companies this year is a sign of progress. She added that the next sign will probably be when people start thinking of women and other groups as leaders and instead of as “women leaders” or “minority leaders.” A leader is a leader, she concluded.
Mentoring and paying it forward is important
Someone in the audience asked the group if mentoring or sponsoring was a success factor for women in IT. The answer was unanimous: “Absolutely!” Susan said that she had several mentors and advocates throughout her career, and she referred to them as allies. In fact, her first boss at Roche was her ally. He saw her talent and helped her nurture it so she could go farther in the company. Giada shared that she was fortunate to have people who believed in her but also knew where to push her to grow. Most importantly, they gave her space she could make her own.
Giada, Susan, and Sabrina firmly believe that mentorship is a two-way street. They recognize and are grateful for what their advocates and allies have done for them, so they are mentoring co-workers, too. By doing so, they are not only sharing their experiences and knowledge to help others grow, but they are also learning from their “mentees.” Yes, the coworkers are looking for advice, said Susan, but in the process, she is gaining new perspectives. And in some cases, when she’s helped someone solve a problem, she’s found that it also helped her address one of her own issues.
A diverse workforce opens the door to more innovation and ideas
Throughout the conversation, the overarching message was that bringing people with different lived experiences and backgrounds together and giving them a voice enables more innovation. When people who see the world differently are having conversations or participating in a network or community, they will bring a different perspective to the table.
The result could be a new way to solve a problem or even the next disruptive product or service. Or it could mean discovering common ground with someone you thought was completely different from you. In the end, it could change how leadership is defined based on those qualities rather than your demographic profile.
To learn more from Giada, Susan, and Sabrina, check out the LinkedIn Live recording.
