Changing the conversation for women in technology
I’m a software engineer. But if you had asked me when I was a little girl if that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have had no idea what you were talking about. And I genuinely love what I do now, so why wasn’t it my answer?
I also teach Sunday School. Once I asked one of the girls in my class, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and she immediately answered, “a software developer..like you!” I don’t know what your answer was when you were eight, but “software” wasn’t even a part of my vocabulary. My answer included other awesome careers that I had seen — much cooler if I knew women in those roles.
But that question isn’t just for kids. Even now, we get asked, “What are your goals for the next quarter? Where do you see yourself in five years?” Our answers might seem to be limited by our current career path or even more thought-out than our childhood responses, but the inspiration behind our goals may still be deeply influenced by those we see around us. This is why I’m so thankful for the few women in technology who I can look to as I dream of where I could be in five years. However, these women are often hard to find and it makes me wonder if my list of goals again does not include what I could be doing because I haven’t seen many women in that role.
So, after talking to my female mentors and peers about my concerns, I started hearing the same narrative over and over again: “Women just have to push through.” Push through; the familiar words that I knew all too well from my own career journey.
I also heard another sentence in multiple conversations that surprised me: “I’m not sure if I want to push through anymore.” For the few women I see in leadership roles, they had seen even fewer women leaders, if any. I’m incredibly lucky to know and work with women who are pushing through, but this got me thinking — how can we empower women to further their careers in technology? How can we retain women who inspire the next generation, when they no longer want to “push through”? At the time, I thought these questions were headed in the right direction, but this just led to conversations that revealed more discouraging experiences rather than solutions. So, let’s change the questions.
Why should these women continue to stay in technology?
What can I bring to software engineering? The responses I got from these conversations were overwhelmingly relatable. My sensitivity? Past emotional experiences? Words that I never wanted to define my working style started coming up in the discussions as the answers. My conversations started to shift from focusing on the frustration of working in a male-dominated industry to actively redefining why these women excelled at their jobs in the first place.
Perspective. Empathy. Sensitivity.
Let’s explore these three ideas and start the conversation here.
1 — Perspective
Inevitably, every person brings their own experiences to their work whether it’s technical skills or lessons learned throughout their career. As technology is often user-focused, perspective is a key contribution that each team member brings from their personal lives to work. For example, in college, I took a course on video game design and found that the majority of the class was male. In group discussions, I quickly learned I had an important female perspective. Ideas such as creating an applicable storyline for all users or simply including a female character within a game’s setup were completely ignored until I brought them up. Even for a simple class project, a diverse team was crucial in creating a single game.
Recently, I got the chance to talk to a woman leader in the video game design industry. My story wasn’t just a reality in my classes, but translated to an unbalanced gender ratio and lack of female perspective in user experience design at work. Her perspective now provides effective product input for the business. In order to deliver impactful products, our female perspectives are essential.
The next two ideas may not be personally relatable, but hopefully starts to help form your own answers to what you bring to technology. These answers are not an attempt to stereotype all women in this field, but instead help drive culture change by encouraging women and other minority groups to personally answer and think about their own contributions and why they should continue to pursue their technology careers.
2 — Empathy
This was where I realized these conversations with women leaders and peers were going to be tough and introspective. Attempting to find a balance between bragging and sharing, many women feel uncomfortable while pitching. An “elevator pitch” is a quick, but persuasive description of who you are and reveals the value you bring. This can change based on your audience, yet there seems to always be a suppressed confidence when women share about their work. Many women feel as if they are simply bragging and are constantly aware of how someone might perceive them. Others would even start to internalize that person’s judgment. At first, I thought it was humility. Now, I wonder if it’s empathy.
At Slalom, we use a local-business model for consulting: local consultants serving local clients. The focus is on our local community. This immediately transforms a regular client-consultant interaction into a genuine neighbor-to-neighbor relationship. We empathize by connecting with our neighbors and understanding the experiences and feelings of our local city. Personally, it’s one of my favorite aspects of Slalom! Empathy naturally occurs as we invest in the community we already live in and understand.
So empathy is essential in client-consultant relationships, but it may also be the reason why women focus on how they are perceived by others. Rather than getting stuck in self-criticism, what if we saw how important empathy is in our work and how it has contributed throughout our careers? This could drive important change not only in our community, but also internally within each person. The subtle empathy that pushes women to self doubt, is the necessary empathy that drives wins with our local partners.
3 — Sensitivity
Out of all the responses, sensitivity was the hardest to accept. Yet once I was able to embrace my sensitivity, it was the most transformative. I thought being too sensitive or too artistic were my weaknesses or even things to hide. I’ve always enjoyed drawing and sketching little doodles on the sides of my notebooks. It’s how I get my creativity flowing. However, I started to stop myself when I remember the time one of my past coworkers saw my paper. He commented that I was “too artsy” for software engineering and that I should consider a different career. Creativity felt like a weakness and throughout college, I even limited myself to work only in front-end development. His words may have simply been a passing comment, but it made me reconsider my career path and even wonder if I was too sensitive to stay in technology.
Now, I see that my creativity and sensitivity are strengths — qualities that do not confine me to a specific career path, but define my own personal standards as a full-stack developer (which includes work both on the front-end and server/database engineering). Software architecture requires a detailed understanding of each layer and creative solutioning. The same sensitivity to a coworker’s suggestions and criticism also strives to value each team member on a project. Sensitivity translates to an awareness that is crucial in both leadership positions and teamwork.
The words that have been used to describe women and discourage them from persisting in technology may actually highlight the reasons they should pursue it. And once these “feminine” words can be viewed as strengths, irrespective of gender, women no longer have to focus on just “pushing through” with the things that hold them back, but instead can focus on the authentic value they bring to their careers, colleagues, and personal goals.
But changing the conversation is by no means an easy or comfortable process. Vulnerabilities need to be freely discussed in order to start viewing these words as strengths. In order for women to continue doing what they love, it’s a change that needs to happen.
Why does this matter?
Let’s say you have to do fifty push-ups. Your first few may have perfect form, but later on, when you’re just “pushing through”? Our brains like to take the path of least resistance. Your form might start to crumble. You could be prone to some lower back injuries. It hurts.. You get the idea. But that’s why this matters!
I’m so thankful to even know a few women who have had to “push through”, but we can’t just stop with gratitude. What makes Slalom great shows through our core values — we care about our people. Allowing women to be their authentic selves means that their career journey can no longer just be a rigorous 100-push up challenge! Caring about our people means changing the narrative to empower women to “walk-passionately by” or “adventurously-jog forward” in their careers. This is how we can celebrate authenticity. Let’s change the conversation to empower each woman in technology.
My three answers as to why I’m in technology may not be your three — but it’s worth asking your authentic self: What do you bring to technology? Because if you’re curious enough, this could be what inspires the next woman to pursue a technology career!
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