Women in Tech (Please Mind the Gap)
With Constellation AI Data Scientist, Ella Walters
As diversity gathers steam as an increasingly hot topic, it would be easy to assume gender parity is closing within technology. That’s not the case. Study figures show the rate of women in tech is falling. According to Girls Who Code, only 7,000 women graduated with computer science degrees last year, compared to 30,000 men. Women in Tech found that just 23% of those working in technology in the UK now are female, down from 37% in 1995.
If the #WomenInTech conversation is getting louder and the demand for tech roles is rising, why are the numbers falling?
There are a host of potential explanations for the gender gap: a drought of decent STEM education in schools to appeal to girls, lack of female mentorship and unconscious masculine bias in job posts and recruitment could all block potentially stellar female candidates at the starting post. It’s high time to level the playing field.
We asked our power-house Data Scientist, Ella Walters, about her experiences, what it’s like to be a woman in technology and why we should keep fighting to close the gap.
How did you get in to Data Science?
Problem-solving has always appealed to me. I used to hate writing essays at school, I could never understand why they were right or wrong. I prefer to approach something logically, solve it and move on.
I graduated in 2009 and it used to be that the only route out of a Math’s degree was straight in to finance, so I left university and began working for a small hedge fund. I started to teach myself how to program; which led to a master’s in Data Science, which then opened up the world of tech. I moved on to a digital marketing company where the Lead Data Scientist, Jenny Thompson, totally supported me. She became an incredible mentor who encouraged me to discover my abilities. Having a female role-model in my first job within data science had a profound effect on my view of the industry. I was lucky.
Describe what you do as a Data Scientist at Constellation?
It’s broad. I work within Machine Learning and AI — taking very large sets of data and training models that we can then use to make predictions. Most of my work is in natural language processing. We figure out how machines can understand human conversation and then use codes to replicate the neural network architecture of how a human learns. Specifically, how they learn language.
One of the main complexities of data science is looking at how we can speed things up. When you’re trying to understand language, you need to study as much data as possible to get an overall view of the patterns of conversation. Then it’s all about figuring out how to process things in the least about of time. When we started training our machines in sentiment analysis it would take us two weeks, now we can do it in a day. It’s very exciting.
What is it like to be a woman in tech?
It’s not very often I think about the fact I’m a woman working in a male-dominated industry. We all work on the same level at Constellation. There’s a conscious effort to cultivate an inclusive environment and so gender isn’t an issue. There have been times in previous companies, where there have been chauvinistic comments or male ego clashes. I find women don’t seem to have those as often. Men rarely step down from their opinion or show perceived weakness as much as women feel able to, and say; “Oh, ok I was wrong”. Which I think is the right thing to do. It’s ok to be wrong. That’s how you learn things, isn’t it?
Have you ever found it advantageous?
It definitely makes an impact when people realise that you know what you’re talking about. You can see a visible reaction when people find out what you do. You break an assumption that you’re there to interview as a personal assistant… you’re a scientist. Hopefully their assumptions are challenged, and they’ll think differently in the future. As a woman you are different and that can be an advantage. But you do have to prove yourself more in the beginning.
Do you think we’re going to start seeing a fairer, more even gender ratio, or will the industry always be predominantly male-heavy?
It depends on the basis of education and how we’re going to excite younger people in to wanting to work in science, AI and technology. We do need to re-evaluate how we teach it in schools, especially to girls. They’ve started teaching basic coding programs, similar to Python, in primary schools and that’s good news. Post-grad roles are evolving fast and there is a world of possibilities for women opening up. There are lots of routes in, but it’s all about perception. There was were only 6 girls on my master’s, out of 30 students. Hopefully the bias is changing, but we’re a long way off from an even ratio of men to women in technology.
Why is it so important to champion women in tech?
Fundamentally, women think very differently to men. Historically, men have always been the main producers of AI, which means that there is always a bias in the way that it is built. Even if subconscious or unintentional; it’s in the data you choose, in the way that you create a model; everything becomes biased. If it’s just white men creating it, then without a doubt the results are going to be biased.
This is the age of artificial intelligence; the greater representation of every race, culture, gender or sexual orientation the better. The interesting and necessary thing about the parity of women in the industry is so bias can be broken or moulded in a different way. So that it can change the future. At Constellation, our aim is to create AI that is completely unbiased.
What’s been the biggest learning experience of your career so far?
The fluidity and constantly evolving environment of a startup has been a big learning experience. The smallest things can be the most important in how our product evolves. When I left my last job, I remember saying to my mum, “I want to work with someone who will teach me how to be the best at what I do”. I now work with Alfredo (Alfredo Gemma, Constellation’s VP Engineering). My data mentor. He has so much experience in every different area that I’m learning something new every day. He oversees and guides you, but lets you discover things for yourself. It’s a dream come true for me. I can take the opportunity to discover something new as far as I want to go, and it’s always supported because it benefits the company, which is great.
Do you have any advice for women thinking about a career in tech?
Be confident in your ideas. Don’t let people make you feel stupid or bulldoze you.
It’s not necessarily a man vs woman thing, but women can often second guess themselves or dumb down just how capable they are at something. That’s often the opposite in men. Stay confident in yourself. If you have a degree or a masters or PHD or years of experience, then it’s likely you know what you’re doing. My advice is to just have faith! Just do it!
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