4 Real-Life Stories and Opinions from Girls into Software Engineering
Despite being still a men’s predominant area, things have been, fortunately, changing in software engineering (similar in other hard science & engineering areas) and, gradually, more and more women are feeling encouraged to pursue this career.
Here at Mindly (and Estonia), diversity is strongly encouraged, and to celebrate that, we interviewed 4 women that have been successful in their journey into software engineering and asked also their opinion on how companies could encourage more women to pursue a software engineering career.
The results are inspiring, to say the least.
A bit about the interviewees
- Agnes Kuus is from Tartu (Estonia) and works at Mindly as a software engineer, building challenging solutions for financial institutions;
- Maarja-Liis Helü is from Tallinn (Estonia) and works at Mindly as a software engineer and helping us in building innovative products. She also has an Instagram account for our official Mindly’s Mascot (Lexi the Staffy);
- Rhonda Hill is a Front End Developer and Engineer from New York (USA) that works developing web application & business solutions (you can follow her at Instagram for more inspiring stuff).
- Bárbara Marquez is from Blumenau (Brazil) and works as a software engineer at HBSIS (AB-Inbev tech company in Brazil). You can follow her Instagram account for more information.
The Interview
- Tell us how did you start into software engineering.
Agnes: I’ve been into computers and software engineering since I was little. Although I did my bachelor’s and master’s degree in materials engineering and mainly focused on science during my time at University, I also took several programming courses. After I graduated, an amazing opportunity opened up to work as a junior software developer at my friend’s company. At the same time, there were no interesting materials engineering job opportunities. I have been working as a software developer ever since and couldn’t be happier with my choice.
Maarja: I’ve always been good with mathematics and science. And also technology was something that seemed to be interesting to me. I always got everything done before others in computer class in high school, and that made me a lil bit more curious about it. So the only logical thing for me was to go learn Informatics in TalTech.
Rhonda: I first got started into software engineering when I won an art scholarship at FIT (Fashion Institute of New York). There I took an intro to the web course — back then it was more basic but I got my first experience with html and css.
Bárbara: I was introduced to the software area by my family, growing up while my cousins were working as programmers, and, from these days, I have been always passionate about this kind of “magic thing” that software means to me. I still remember my first “hello world” and the joy I felt.
2. Tell us about the major challenges/struggles you faced and how you overcame them.
Rhonda: One of the major challenges I have faced was dealing with imposter syndrome. Ah, that dreaded term, but it’s very real. At the time, I didn’t even know there was a name for what I was dealing with, and I really felt guilty about some of my amazing accomplishments. Doubting myself and there were times that I couldn’t believe that I am me. Like wow, I actually did that. It’s taken a lot of meditation, affirmations, and boosting my self-confidence to overcome it.
Bárbara: The main challenge I faced was to make my voice heard among my team. Being very young and woman, I was usually interrupted and ignored but, after some time passed and thanks to my personality I was able to open way and conquer my space gradually.
Agnes: All beginnings are usually challenging and there was just so much new information when I started to work as a software developer. What I learned in school and the reality of working as a software developer was quite different. But I actually felt really encouraged and supported by my colleagues and family which really helped me to overcome these challenges.
Maarja: The only struggle was in university when it was hard finding the motivation when there were so many other classes that weren’t related to programming but I was just disciplined and that’s how I got graduated. But since I got to work, everything went smoothly and I always had the best people to work with so that I could develop myself more.
3. How do you see the situation in the job market today for women aiming for a career in software engineering? Do you think it is improving in terms of offering equal opportunities for women?
Bárbara: I see that companies are, in these days, trying a lot to increase the diversity at the job openings, but considering the usual scarcity in the market for these professionals, usually these positions are not filled and, by the end these companies end up frustrated and canceling the openings.
Rhonda: I definitely see the job market today as at a whole new level and pathway for women aiming for a career in software engineering. Say compared to 5 years ago or even 10. While there is without a doubt more to be done, it’s improving in terms of l opportunities for women. More of us are being heard. We are vocal and bringing these amazing talents and ideas to the table.
Agnes: In my opinion, women have as good as or even better opportunities than men in software engineering currently. Women are a minority in the software engineering field, so it is definitely easier to be remembered during the hiring process.
Maarja: I haven’t had any bad experience regarding me being a woman. It’s been more like a help rather than a downside. So I think it’s relatively good opportunities for women, at least in Estonia.
4. What the companies, in general, could do, in your opinion, to motivate and support women willing for a career in software engineering?
Agnes: It seems to me that many women think that they don’t have what it takes to work as a software engineer, so they rather opt for a QA, analyst, or project manager role in IT. This also means that such companies have a great opportunity to support these women in QA or other positions and gradually transfer them to a software engineer role if they are interested.
Rhonda: I think that it’s extremely important for companies to listen, engage, and take action to motivate and support women willing for a career in software engineering. Those sorts of gestures go a long way and show that it is not only a two-way street, but you’re willing to support them whether it be through training, communicating, and setting clear goals and expectations. Also — have an open door policy in place.
Maarja: Companies should hire more women to see what we are capable of. Also helping and encouraging women to develop their careers inside the company and making more teams with diversity, makes a big difference.
Bárbara: By investing in training and projects/initiatives focused on attracting girls to the software & technology area.
Conclusions
Believing in yourself, following your inner call (sometimes very clear and logical), making your voice heard, and moving forward, even if it demands a career-changing step, are some of the lessons that we can get from our interviewees for sure.
A well-observed point is that looks like a considerable number of women sometimes don't start a career into software engineering for, mistakenly, believing that they don’t have what it takes but, real-life and history have several examples that girls rock on coding.
You can consider some of the following examples:
- Ada Lovelace, who created the first-ever computer algorithm;
- Kathleen Booth, who created the first machine code language in 1950;
- Margaret Hamilton, who is considered the person that coined the term “software engineering” and, developed the software systems for the successful Apollo 11 mission;
On the companies' side, it’s more than clear that diversity brings better results for business and innovation and so, more than agreeing/motivating, they need to be an active figure on these changes by identifying possible talents, giving the chance, and supporting during the first steps.
Special Thanks
We’d like to say thanks to all interviewees & participants, Agnes Kuus, Rhonda Hill, Maarja-Liis Helü, and Bárbara Marquez. This post would not be possible without your time and patience in replying/contributing.
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Mindly is a tech company with a team that has more than 20 years of attending fintech, retails, and other industries on creating kick-ass software products and an end-to-end portfolio of related services (UX/Design, Business Analysis, Integrations, Testing and so on).
We are based in Tallinn (Estonia) but we are composed of several nationalities (Brazil, Iran, Turkmenistan, and more) and have a global reach.
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