Volunteering
Recently I have started doing more volunteer work. This volunteering is more relevant to my field of work and more specifically what I have developed a passion for, in the recent years.
I have a special place in my life to work towards creating diverse and inclusive workspaces.
People think ‘Here we go again. Another woman in tech talking about increasing the number of women in the office.’ We need to educate these thoughts. Why do we even need to be bothered about the above issue? It is because we need to encourage our children to feel comfortable about choosing any profession they would like. They must not be daunted by the idea of not having many role models or people who they can relate to in their chosen profession.
When I started my field of study in Pakistan, we had a good 50/50 mix of girls vs boys in the class. As we moved semesters, some people got dropped out, but the ratio didn’t move much. All of us graduated, but unfortunately only 3 or 4 of the women chose to pursue their careers in computer science. Those who didn’t, had multiple personal reasons which I won’t go into here.
Coming to the UK 14 years ago, I have been quite surprised to see and hear that there is a problem with diversity. I think almost all of the companies with tech departments are looking into this problem and trying to crack the code. As a woman in tech, I completely understand the problem and why it needs to resolved. The roles I am in, in the companies I work for do not really include any expectations to help with this cause. And this is where volunteering comes in.
After being in the industry for over a decade, my heart goes out to serving a greater cause. We learn so much from our pioneers and it’s important to give back.
There are tremendous volunteering opportunities to help with creating diverse workspaces. When I attended HopperX1 London a couple of years ago, I found out about ‘Inspiring The Future’. It’s an organisation which helps you link up with schools to talk to them about your work. The schools contact the volunteers with suggested opportunities. Mostly, the idea is to enthuse students with various options available to them as they leave school/college and help create role models for them to look up to.
Another opportunity I stumbled across was volunteering with AnitaB.org London. This organisation is working towards an initiative of 50/50 by 2025. The local chapters invite volunteers to help support the purpose. And this is where I volunteered. Often I find that meet-ups or conferences organised around this are usually targeted towards ‘mothers in tech’. I had complained enough about this, so I thought I should actually contribute and make a difference by organising events where the topics are diverse as well and cater to all types of crowds.
Diversity is not the only thing that matters to me though.
Recently, I have also found that reviewing CFPs for conferences is also an eye-opening experience. You learn so much more by other people’s experiences at work…and in life.
It enriches your thought process and helps you embrace ideas and opinions that you usually wouldn’t think of.
The more one volunteers, the more humble you become and the more you realise that there is a greater purpose to your work…and subsequently your life.
