Interviewing Women in Tech

Here at Codebase, we interviewed inspiring women in tech from a Software Engineer to a Head of Data. Continue reading to learn more about their career journeys and advice they have for young women pursuing tech careers.

Bianca Lee: Former Software Engineer Intern @ Facebook

“Always do something that you’re interested in!”

Meet Bianca!

Bianca is a rising senior at UC Berkeley majoring in CS and minoring in Political Economy. She started in Codebase as a mentored developer, was a client developer for 2 semesters, and was a mentored PM last semester! Last summer, she worked as a software engineer intern at Facebook and is excited to be a Kleiner Perkins fellow this summer and to work at Coda.

What has your computer science journey been like?

Coming into college, Bianca wanted to be a business major — she was drawn to creating something and owning it and saw business as the clearest path to do so. After taking CS61A and joining Codebase, she decided to study computer science instead. She views computer science as a way to build out her vision and the biggest way in which she can make an impact. In the summer after her freshman year, Bianca worked at a startup through Berkeley Skydeck on UI/UX design and in the summer after her sophomore year, she worked at Facebook on UI/UX rebranding. This summer, Bianca is going to be working at Coda, a productivity tool, and is excited about the company’s product and culture.

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Reach out to people! Bianca said, “Talking to people can help you see the bends and curves in their career journeys instead of just the linear path on their LinkedIns or resumes. You might feel like you’re bothering people, but more often than not, people are so willing to help others, especially when they’re starting off in their careers.” She suggests reaching out to alumni of organizations that you’re in, friends of friends, or through Twitter DMs!
2. When it comes to imposter syndrome, stop comparing yourself to other people. Even if someone seems calm and collected on the surface, you never know how much they are working under the surface. Bianca suggests finding strengths that you do have and reclaim your confidence in those areas.
3. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Bianca is a strong advocate for trying new things! She believes the most important thing is always doing something you’re interested in — whether that’s in tech or not!

Sahana Srinivasan — Software Engineer @ Salesforce

“You don’t have to be the best in every single thing!”

Meet Sahana!

Sahana is currently a full-stack software engineer at Salesforce. Sahana was involved in Codebase and consulting at Berkeley, where she enjoyed exploring different sides of the tech industry and building a community of peers and friends.

Can you spend a few minutes talking about your career journey?

Sahana didn’t come into Berkeley knowing she would pursue a major in computer science, but was drawn to it when she noticed its effective application in a biology lab she was doing research in. Software engineering can expose you to problem solving across various domains, which aligns with her desire to explore and try on many hats in the tech industry. At Berkeley, she joined Codebase during its early days and experienced what it was like to grow a small business — pitching Codebase at career fairs, sourcing projects, and working with a passionate executive team to define a long term vision for Codebase. She reflects, by wearing “a lot of leadership hats, operational hats… it was so informative to what I have identified as my strengths.”

Sahana started in Salesforce as a summer intern, where she was able to utilize these different skills as she was given the opportunity to design and implement a full stack customer-facing feature. Now, she continues to explore her different interests at Salesforce, taking the initiative to take optional courses and take on additional projects as an associate product manager. After sharing the opportunities that Salesforce has given her, she noted that unfortunately she has seen few women in leadership roles in her org, and hopes that the increased effort to recruit women in engineering roles will also bubble up to the executive level. Sahana will begin her MBA at the Yale School of Management this fall.

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Break down the illusion of perfection with your peers. Everyone at Cal seems like they know what they’re doing, but I am 100% sure that most of the people you think have everything planned and perfectly lined up don’t. By being transparent and vulnerable with those around you, you realize that faster.
2. Be confident and speak assertively. Many women tend to couch their statements unconsciously. Turn “I think…” into “Based on what I’ve looked into…,” work hard to know your stuff, and then be fully confident when you speak about it. Stop and think before you say sorry — ask yourself, “Do I actually have something to apologize for?”
3. Build a network amongst women. It’s unfortunate that women have to put in a more conscious effort to build that community, but reach out to other women in your organizations and bring other women into your company. It’s important that we lift each other up.

Julia Luo — Software Engineer @ Stripe

“Try to get some experience! The internship grind can be a huge stressor, but stay persistent and try not to get too caught up in it.”

Meet Julia!

Julia graduated with a degree in EECS at UC Berkeley in 2019. After interning at Stripe during her time at UC Berkeley, Julia decided to return to Stripe as a full-time software engineer after graduation and has been working there since! In her free time, Julia enjoys surfing and climbing.

How did you get started in tech?

Julia went to high school in Canada and first found her interest in tech when she took a computer science class during her junior year. The class was very elementary, skipping many basic concepts like recursion and objects, and largely involved playing around with GUIs in Java. However, this piqued Julia’s interest and led her to read into computer science outside of class where she discovered a deeper interest in the field.

Julia went on to apply for computer science majors in college and eventually decided to study EECS at UC Berkeley. In her time at UC Berkeley, Julia completed internships at several companies, including Stripe, which gave her helpful industry experience. Julia’s decision to take on a full-time role at Stripe was largely guided by her experience interning there.

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Don’t stress out (especially in freshman and sophomore year). It’s easy to get caught up in the often competitive atmosphere of computer science in college, especially in the Bay Area. Julia’s advice is to remember that “grades don’t end up mattering” that much since “99% of companies don’t really care about your GPA”.
2. Try and get some industry experience! The internship search can be stressful but “stay persistent and don’t get too caught up in it, especially in freshman year”. Look for freshman or sophomore programs if you have less experience.
3. Select a team that is open-minded and willing to answer your questions. Talk with the manager and people on the team to try and gauge the team culture, especially whether they will be willing to listen to your questions and value your opinions. Julia explained that “once you have an internship or a full-time role, it’s easy for women to feel more imposter syndrome because people around you look different” so a welcoming team can go a long way in making you feel more comfortable.

Alice Su — Senior Software Engineer @ Facebook

“Is this where I see myself working at 10 years? Absolutely not. I’m still trying to figure things out and I think that’s totally ok.”

Meet Alice!

Alice is a software engineer at Facebook, and has been working at the company for two years. Now that she has become more familiar with the company and gained expertise in her field, she has become an intern manager and worked alongside one of our Codebase members during their internship.

How did you become interested in tech?

Alice is originally from China and started thinking about her future career when she began her undergraduate schooling and decided to major in Chemical Engineering. After a short year, she switched to Electrical Engineering because it seemed more interesting to her, and was exposed to software as well. When she moved to the US for her Master’s at CalTech, she was still in Electrical Engineering but was certain that she would try to enter the industry with CS instead.

“I was very sure that I wanted to get a job in industry because I like resolving real problems and just the general day-to-day work in the industry”. With this in mind, she took a summer internship at Facebook during her time in grad school and joined full-time after graduating in 2019.

For her, computer science and software engineering isn’t her passion, but more of a practical decision. “Every decision I made, the thing that was driving me was I wanted to get a job where I could work with smart people and I could get good resources.” She doesn’t see herself working at Facebook in 10 years, but she wants to keep learning and eventually move on to new opportunities when she feels it’s time.

I think it was refreshing to see a female engineer speak her mind about her interest in tech. With the few women in technology, it seems as if there is pressure to only enter the industry if you are dedicated to computer science and software engineering. But we forget that there are so many men out there that see it similarly to Alice: not necessarily a passion, but a good opportunity to learn and grow.

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Acknowledge double standards. Alice faces discrimination in the workplace. As the only female engineer on her team, she notices that expectations are often different for her compared to her male counterparts. “If you’re being harsh or strict, as a man you might seem knowledgeable, but as a woman, they think: why aren’t you nice?” It’s important to not internalize these ideas that you are harsh and strict, but rather acknowledge them as a product of negative bias against women in the workplace.
2. See the bias as an opportunity. With the negative bias also comes a silver lining. She notices that she gets more opportunities as a woman candidate. And she advises others to take hold of those opportunities and to not feel guilty or less than because ultimately, it’s still up to us to take hold of these opportunities and show that we’re qualified. “At the end of the day, it is fair. Just because you’re a girl, doesn’t mean you get easier questions during the interview. They are still very fair at the final decision.”

Madison White — Engineering Manager @ Stripe

“Don’t underestimate peer mentorship amongst women. Ask yourself ‘how can you catapult each other higher by banding together?’”

Meet Madison!

Madison joined Stripe in 2017 as a software engineer, and is now a manager at Stripe. In her current role, she leads a Banking Integrations Team and Equate, the company’s employee resource group for women and non-binary people. Madison graduated from Stanford with a Bachelors and Masters in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

What does “imposter syndrome” mean to you? How have you experienced it in your day-to-day life and how have you learned to deal with it?

Madison describes “imposter syndrome” as the voice in your head asking “Who let me in this room and why did they do so?”. Throughout her career, she often experienced this feeling when she switched roles or positions, whether that be changing companies or moving up to leadership. To instill confidence and overcome “imposter syndrome”, Madison suggests recognizing your expertise by reflecting on your far you’ve come and how much knowledge you have to share. “Remember who you were the day you graduated high school and how much cooler you are now”. To wrap it up, Madison also noted that “imposter syndrome” is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can deter complacency, and motivate you to be more open to constructive criticism and self-improvement.

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Sometimes, it may feel like there’s a dichotomy between pursuing your passion or computer science. But, computer science can enable your passion. Studying computer science can open the door to career opportunities in a wide variety of industries. Since there are technology-related jobs available in nearly every sector, you’ll be able to find an opportunity in one that you are passionate about.
2. Don’t underestimate the value of peer mentorship. Peer mentorship is a fantastic way to make new friends and to develop as a professional. Especially since women are underrepresented in leadership roles, finding like-minded and ambitious peers can help you to develop a sense of belonging at work.
3. All the biggest barriers are inside your head. Many of the challenges you will face throughout your career will be self-imposed. Be confident, don’t let self doubt hold you back, and seize every opportunity you are presented with.

Maura Kelly — VP of Engineering @ Mailchimp

“The only person I can change is myself.”

Meet Maura!

Maura Kelly is the VP of Engineering at Mailchimp, responsible for aligning business strategy to the engineering team and ensuring the execution of product development initiatives across all user-facing properties. Before college, Maura became fascinated with problem-solving in her computer science courses. She decided to pursue her B.S. in computer science from the University of Tennessee, and an MBA from the University of Illinois. Maura began her career at a small agency where she built websites and continued in various engineering roles after that. After many years in the industry, Maura became a senior engineer, and although she still enjoyed her work, she realized that she wanted to make bigger changes within the company and her own team. She decided to apply for a management role, and in the process, she was able to interview with people who were in the management space. Realizing that the job was a great fit for her, Maura was able to discover her love of management and has been pursuing her career in this field ever since!

What is a barrier you’ve faced in rising to your leadership position?

One of the greatest lessons that Maura has learned during her leadership careers is that the only person she can change is herself. As a leader, you want to “bring folks together, inspire them, and move towards a goal,” but it’s difficult to do this when you have a huge need to control everything and tell everyone what to do. “The key to success is inspiring your team to go after bigger things. I can only control what I do, and how I respond to other situations.” Maura noted that shifting her mindset over the years has been a long and difficult transition, but it has been really useful in her various management roles. In order to really continue practicing this mindset, Maura takes her dog out for a walk at the end of each work day and works out things that happened in her meetings in her mind. Whenever she gets frustrated and starts to blame others, she takes a step back and thinks, “What could I have done differently?”

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Be thoughtful about where you decide to work. Interviews are bi-directional! The company interviewing you, but you should also be interviewing the company. Finding happiness in your job is all about the right fit.
2. You can respond to a bad situation by calling someone out or calling them in. Depending on the severity of the situation, you might decide to choose one over the other. It can be really difficult to navigate some of the subtle microaggressions that you might face in the workplace, but remember that you have the ability to call someone in by reaching out to them privately and letting them know how their comments affected you.

Natasha Julka — Head of Data @ Riot Games

“Be mindful about what you’re going to say next, and how your remark can impact others.”

Meet Natasha!

Natasha is the Head of Data at Riot Games, responsible for setting the data strategy and operation as a data-powered company with a deep understanding of Riot’s players and games. During her formative years in India, Natasha’s parents set high expectations for their children, guiding them to pursue professional careers. Luckily, Natasha’s natural love for problem-solving helped her discover her true passions and carve out a path towards a successful future. As a child, she did a lot of hands-on problem-solving, helping her dad change out tires and fix video players. In school, she also loved solving mathematical challenges. Although she had a knack for solving puzzles, Natasha mentioned that she had never even thought about becoming an engineer until her brother introduced her to coding. She discovered her love of programming, and eventually, pursued her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science.

What do you think are the biggest challenges that women in tech face today?

One of the biggest obstacles that Natasha has faced as a woman in tech has been gender stereotyping. In Natasha’s early career, a few of her coworkers questioned her decisions at work, assuming she was making emotional decisions rather than rational decisions. By looking at men as rational and women as emotional, Natasha stated that we are “simply reducing men and women to caricatures.” Although she was frustrated about being stereotyped in this way, Natasha began to observe that all of the leaders around her not only possessed IQ but also EQ. As she’s grown through her various experiences, she’s come to realize that emotional intelligence is a key factor in being a successful leader.

Natasha also commented on some of her negative experiences during work meetings. As an introvert, she found it difficult to speak up because she wanted to make sure that others had the space to express their opinions. At the end of one of her meetings, Natasha chimed in with a technical comment. Once she finished making her remark, her coworker turned to her in surprise and exclaimed that he had no idea that Natasha was in the engineering department. Although being gender stereotyped as a non-engineer continued to be frustrating, Natasha explained how these experiences taught her that it’s important to not make assumptions on behalf of others. “We currently don’t put enough investment into understanding other people’s backgrounds, perspectives, and opinions. At the end of the day, if we’re all a little bit more careful and thoughtful about what we say next, we could improve the work environment for everyone, regardless of gender.”

Do you have any advice for young women pursuing careers in tech?

1. Don’t be afraid to take risks early on in your career. As you move up in your career, you also start to make a bigger impact. It’s okay to fail in the beginning. The lessons you will learn are an essential part in helping you to become a more confident and capable woman in technology.
2. Don’t try to set your own standards for others. Everyone is different! Take the time to understand other people’s strengths and how you can help support their weaknesses.
3. Be confident in expressing your opinions. Don’t hold yourself back when you know you have something important to contribute. Even if your ideas get rejected, they can help spark new ideas, and others will know that you have an interesting perspective.

Written by Kalea Chu, Kathleen Kong, Emily Su, Stephanie Xiao, Lily Yang, and Isabelle Zhou