Working in technology — from the perspective of a young, black woman.
By Pascale Smith — Software Engineer
Pursuing a career in technology was always a passion of mine. I had always enjoyed computers, product development and problem solving as a young girl, so it was a no-brainer for me to seek software development as my chosen career path. However, it wasn’t as plain sailing as I had hoped it would’ve been. Due to my name, most employers assumed I was a boy before the face to face interview — despite the “e” on the end, but whatever.
And upon first glance, nobody would ever hazard a guess that I am in fact a Software Engineer for Sainsbury’s — nope, not a member of HR or Marketing, but a “techy”. Although shocked by some of my own experiences, I had been pre-warned of the struggles for a woman, young and black nonetheless, in technology.
I attended an all-girls secondary school where I began my journey into tech by studying ICT. When seeking advice for the best subjects to choose for a successful career in tech, I turned to my teacher who had previously worked in an IT firm. Upon sharing my interest in software development, she sighed and provided me with an anecdote of her personal experience with being a woman in tech, which went something like this:
“The printer was broken and my colleagues had put in a request to get it fixed. I turned up to do the job and was greeted by preconceptions and gender-bias statements such as “you don’t want to do that darling. We’re waiting for a professional to come and sort it out.” I turned around and told them that I was said professional and they couldn’t believe it. This industry isn’t easy, you’ll be undermined at every step. Are you sure you want to do this?”
As a 16 year old girl, I couldn’t answer that question. I knew I genuinely wanted to be a developer, but was I prepared to encounter situations such as those? How would I react? Would I feel comfortable enough to be myself? Would I be able to voice my own opinions despite being in a minority? I didn’t have the answer to those questions, but I knew now more than ever I needed to try.
With newfound determination, I chose to study A Level Computing at a mixed sixth form and hoped that my teacher’s experience wouldn’t be one I’d ever have to go through. With my head held high, I walked into my first ever Computing lesson — only to find out I was one of two girls in a class of 10.
I can’t put into words how unnerving it was to go from a classroom filled with just girls to being almost completely the opposite. But I pushed on through to be one of only two students who passed the first year, with the other person being my fellow female peer. We both suffered from imposter syndrome and believing that we weren’t good enough for the course, let alone to progress in a technology career. But we were well on our way.
So did I go to university?
During college I discovered that my learning style had adapted drastically to the point where I could no longer retain information purely on a visual, auditory or reading/writing basis. I was a kinaesthetic learner. Therefore, instead of going down the traditional education route, I decided to look elsewhere and apply for an apprenticeship or two. That’s where my journey with Sainsbury’s began.
I applied for their first ever software engineering apprenticeship which allowed me to explore various technology stacks, from app development, to web front-ends and microservice back-ends. In my assessment group, I was the only girl out of the six and although my imposter syndrome flared up again, I took a deep breath and did the best that I could. I was the only candidate that landed a position in my assessment group and was delighted to hear that two other girls from the other groups had been successful as well!
Don’t get me wrong, whilst three out of 10 is not a massive deal, it did prove to me that the percentage of women in technology was on the rise, and did provide me with a little more reassurance that things could get better for us.
We as a sector still definitely have a long way to go in terms of diversity and inclusion but Sainsbury’s is actively trying to make a difference.
Last year, I was part of a brilliant initiative up in Manchester to encourage young school girls to pick STEM subjects and to also reinforce that technology is as much for them as it is for men. I feel like this is crucial as a lot of girls (much like myself) won’t have been given the positive guidance and real life stories about how rewarding a career in tech can be. More importantly, having a female role model to look up to makes a career like mine much more relatable.
This year I also attended the Women of Silicon Roundabout conference at Sainsbury’s expense, to encourage myself and other women to help spread the word about our amazing opportunities. It also gave me the opportunity to network and meet many other women like me. There are so many women in tech jobs doing their thing despite the odds.
Recently I’ve started teaming up with AWS to go into schools and mentor girls who are tech-curious or are as-yet unsure about pursuing technical careers. Sainsbury’s are giving me the time to get involved with these things and these are just some examples of how proactive they are being when it comes to diversity and inclusion.
So what’s it like being a young, black woman in tech? It can be tough. There will always be situations where you feel inferior to those around you, but having a supportive and empathetic team makes all the difference. And that’s what I’ve been lucky enough to find at Sainsbury’s; an organisation that actively encourages you to believe in yourself, take risks, network with like-minded people, inspire and encourage those who are in similar positions to what you were once in.
A word to the wise though: you’ll have to prove yourself at some point in your life, in whatever career you choose. Men typically apply for jobs despite only having met 60% of the desired requirements, whereas women won’t apply for jobs unless they’ve met 100% of said requirements. We as women need to believe in ourselves more — we need to take charge and realise that we’re just as capable, if not more, than the men that we work with. And what better way to prove that than to go after a job in an industry that’s male-dominated?
