#BuildHer: Meet Andreia Maia, Data and Analytics Principal Consultant, Slalom Australia
One of our key commitments at Slalom Australia is to drive important conversations around inclusiveness, diversity, and equity in the tech industry. With our #BuildHer campaign, we are aiming to inspire women to explore a career in tech and celebrate our own inspiring women and men at Slalom who continue to forge a path for others in the industry.
Today we meet Andreia Maia, Data and Analytics Principal Consultant at Slalom. Andreia has years of hands-on experience working as a senior engineer, architect, consultant and project manager with major companies such as Telstra, Cloudera and Google. She joined Slalom three years ago after working in Brazil, and in the heart of tech, in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
Andreia began her career after completing a degree in Computer Science and has built on her technical capabilities in various roles throughout her career. She’s a recognised expert when it comes to building data pipelines, data models, cloud infrastructure and developing successful cloud data warehouses.
With a keen eye for the risks and potential roadblocks clients may encounter when looking to move onto a modern data platform, Andreia has become a trusted client partner over the years. Andreia finds working with clients highly rewarding and enjoys the challenge of bridging the gap between teams and technical coordination.
Staying on top of technology and the latest trends motivates Andreia. She is always looking to keep her skillset relevant and strongly believes technology professionals should remember they are a “product in the market” and need to keep abreast of new developments to remain employable.
“Putting together a cloud solution can be like Lego — the configuration between technical components and different technologies can sometimes be tricky and we need to make sure they integrate in a secure way,” Andreia Maia
Let’s jump in to learn more about Andreia and why she believes the technology sector needs to change to accommodate and encourage women to remain in the industry.
Diversity brings perspective
Diversity in the workplace — like in life — balances out opinions and brings different perspectives to the table. Different cultures — as well as genders — working together, ensure a more diverse way of analysing and solving problems. Andreia strongly believes diversity also promotes a culture of teamwork and respect for differences and growth.
She also believes diversity is key for innovation. Diversity provides space for people to be more creative and bring all their talents to the table, and to learn and grow from each other.
There is no downside to greater diversity.
More diversity needed in Australia
From her experience of working in technology in different countries, Andreia believes there are not enough women in technology, and we have an opportunity to change that scenario in Australia. A lot of work and progress has been made attracting women into the sector, but the problem has now shifted to retaining these women.
Andreia says more work needs to be done to encourage women to stay in technical roles within the industry. She says women shy away from technical roles, preferring business and functional roles. Technical roles are still very much the domain of men.
Diversity in work conditions
For many years in Andreia’s professional career, she worked in teams
where she was the only woman. Not having other women as role models, to
look up to and learn from (especially when it comes to juggling career
and family), is one of the main reasons many women do not pursue a
career in technical roles. Andreia says the juggling act can be difficult when raising small children, which can naturally lead to gravitating towards roles and careers where one might find more women.
There are a number of flexibilities that could be introduced to help women continue in the technology sector, such as opportunities to take a longer break after having a baby and be able to return to work in a more measured way, to slowly adjust to the rhythm of work and potential changes in the industry.
We have asked Andreia to share three tips for women in the industry or looking to start a career in technology:
1. Be prepared to change tact
You need to keep learning, and you need to learn while being uncomfortable. This is important because growth happens when you stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. It comes with experience, and so does coming to terms with the fact there is no such thing as right or wrong.
The right path forward is really what suits you — it is not about comparing yourself to others. To reach this state of reflection often requires experimentation and being open to trying different things and opportunities which were not planned for.
2. Trust is everything
To build trust with a client, you need to be open and honest. It is OK if you don’t know. You will not be trusted or respected less because you own up to not knowing everything about everything.
Trust and reputation are key to success during your career.
3. Remain true to yourself
Life is very dynamic. The technology industry is constantly changing and so are our interests. Given we are hyper-connected, it is almost inevitable these days to fall into the trap of comparing yourself and your career achievements to your colleagues and friends.
When this happens, it can be difficult to remain true to yourself. It is
important to regularly take a step back and think, “what are my talents,
interests and passions? What is it that I already know I am good at?
and want to be good at?” and really focus on those goals.
Through our #BuildHer program we will introduce you to some of our extraordinary members of the Slalom team, who will impart their wisdom, share their viewpoints on what it takes to build a successful career in tech and continue the conversation on the importance of women in tech.
