Being a woman in the tech industry
I have read many articles in the last few years around the topic of women in tech, how there are not enough women in the sector, and how women that are in the sector feel sometimes discriminated.
Today, having spent time in the tech industry and helping others learn how to code, it’s time to share my own experience and point of view.
In my first job experience as an engineer, I noticed straight away the imbalance in the engineering team. In fact, I was the only girl in the team along with a QA engineer, but this wasn’t an issue for me. I never felt discriminated and the guys in my team were always ‘correct’ with me and willing to help; I found being a woman a big strength for myself and my team. Having said that, I have to be honest and say that I have seen male engineers have a problem: their ego, which can block them from seeing outcomes from different perspectives and that’s why having a woman in the team makes a big difference! Women are usually more empathic and thanks to this we constantly put ourselves into someone else’s shoes. This is really helpful when developing software, because you develop software for others and not for proving yourself, but this doesn’t mean we are better than a man. A pinch of that man-ego when writing software helps because that is what pushes you to find solutions and fix problems. It is always a matter of balance, never a matter of choosing between black and white and this is why diversity is important for team dynamics.
I am a firm believer that we do need more women in tech, mainly because we are really good problem solvers! Sometimes we struggle though our day to day job in a male driven environment; I can be scared to share my view in meetings because I will sound bossy, or maybe afraid of asking for help because I don’t want to look like the princess needing to be saved from the dragon. But at the end of the day, it is me creating my own problems!
Some form of discrimination does seem to exist for women in tech or leading positions in general. It’s sometimes really subtle, but day after day can become a heavy burden to carry with you and it does limit you in your professional life. I think the main cause of this can be the company culture. If you are lucky enough to work in a company which naturally has diversity built in then it’s seen as broadening possibilities, there is no such presence of discrimination. Conversely, if you work in a company where diversity hasn’t ever been encountered or seen as an enrichment for the company, there may be a chance that you will find some amount of underlying discrimination because of the culture of that company has built over time without a broad influence.
So, to wrap up this article, I do think we need more women in the tech industry because we provide a new set of skills; we’re great problem solvers, we see problems from a new perspective, and we’re even good communicators. At the same time I know that sometimes integrating can be challenging, we compare ourselves to male colleagues and within the culture we might feel discriminated. This needs to give us strength to change things rather than make us feel down and left out. We’re in the perfect place to drive our industry forwards and make it better for ourselves and the people to come.
