Women in Tech, Part I: Building and sustaining diverse teams
Authors: Marguerite Thévenin-Viallet & Andrea Zhu
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’re starting a conversation around women in tech. The kind that just seems to flow — fluttering freely from topic to topic — the kind you have with your friends in a cozy corner. So we upholstered a Slack channel into a makeshift virtual salon and invited the SSENSE tech community to fill this space with their voices, experiences, and advice.
Over the course of about a week, developers, managers, and colleagues of all genders and backgrounds prompted and posted points whenever they had a few moments in their day. Thoughtful chatter blossomed in various threads as we riffed together asynchronously. Probing questions gave way to everything from bullet point takeaways, to reflective long-form anecdotes, to a flurry of +1 and sparkling heart emojis.
Turns out a conversation about women in tech is a conversation about so much more. The discussion touched on teams, career progression, learning, recruitment, parenthood, and allyship.
As the first installment of a three-part series on women in technology (WiT), this article shares snippets about teams: building & leading them, joining them, and being in them. Product Managers, Marguerite and Andrea, lead conversations with some of their colleagues from Product Management, Software Development, and Data Science.
Be sure to check out:
- Women in Tech, Part II: One year into COVID
- Women in Tech, Part III: Breaking through to a way forward
A quick note on the language used in these discussions: we interchangeably used the words female, female-identifying, and women throughout our discussions. We recognize how intersectionality impacts each of us, and hope our conversation can be inclusive of all female-identifying persons across sex, gender identity, and gender expression.
1/ BUILDING & LEADING
Nicole, you have been at SSENSE for just over a year working as a Software Developer. You are now co-leading the recently launched SSENSE Women in Tech Employee Resource Group. How do you think we can contribute to promoting Women in Tech?
Nicole, Software Developer Level 3:
My view is there are two approaches to promoting women in tech: initiatives specifically for elevating female voices and bringing women together — SSENSE’s International Women’s Day Panel is a perfect example — and just having women in positions of leadership without drawing attention to it, which can be incredibly powerful in and of itself.
The Women in Tech ERG is still very new, but we’re already exploring how we can promote women in tech on both fronts, and there are so many amazing ways to do so. Working to increase representation and eliminate barriers and bias while also hosting events for professional growth and creating community.
If you could ask one thing from advocates of WiT, what would you ask of them?
Meng, Software Developer Level 3:
I would ask about a challenge that one is currently dealing with. While sharing accomplishments and celebrating achievements are crucial to the encouragement and enlightenment of our path, I benefited a lot from a talk with our colleague, Matty, at the beginning of the pandemic. We shared worries not only about the pandemic but also talked about the way we increasingly took to heart the feedback we received. I felt solidarity from that talk, and less alone knowing we are facing similar struggles, and even though, we don’t yet have solutions/answers to those, we are working hard on those too.
Jack, you first became a manager in January 2019, I was your first employee. Since then, you have built a team of 20+, including hiring the first woman Tech Lead, the first woman App Dev Manager, and you’ve consistently shared articles that promote diversity and inclusion for women in Tech. What are your biggest learnings around becoming a manager and building a diverse team?
Jack, Director of Product:
There are infinite reasons to build diverse teams. At the risk of oversimplifying why this premise is important: My goal is to (1) help assemble a roster of world-class, creative problem solvers and (2) provide these folks with a safe and dynamic context in which to deliver quality work that they’re proud of.
I’m privileged to be in a position to set what this context looks like for our team. It’s my responsibility to understand where the team is today and where we want to be tomorrow. Tactically, that means building the ideal context bottom-up (through new graduate and internship programs) while intentionally recruiting talent that decreases homogeneity in senior roles across Engineering, Product, and UX Design. Even though I, as a white male in tech, contribute to the underrepresentation in the industry.
We’ve made progress here, but we have a long way to go.
Further, it is important to identify and dismantle ways that the team and organization might unintentionally reinforce bias, racism, sexism, trans/homophobia, and other systems of marginalization. This effort is as important as focusing on recruitment, fair compensation and recognition, and keeping the team together. It’s also, in my view, relatively more challenging. It requires equal parts deeply listening to the team, while also proactively improving glaring issues with the status quo. We try to foster this environment through female-focused recruitment initiatives, benefit structures that encourage fair and unbiased compensation, focusing on retention and encouraging flexible hours to be conscious of various living situations. Our team recognizes all types of contributions to our work — from heroism to technical expertise, to being “glue” (h/t Tanya Reilly) to facilitation, to crisis management, to documentation, to leadership — and treating and celebrating these contributions equally.
Some so many amazing people publish their thinking, and I have benefitted immensely from following their work over the years. A few that come to mind: @tatianatmac, @jewelia, @scribblingon, @suksr, @ruthmalan, @IanColdwater, @hpdailyrant, @keavy, @jina, @mipsytipsy, @MinaMarkham, @b0rk, @nrrrdcore, and more. Here, I try sharing their relevant work with the teams as much as possible.
2/ JOINING THE TEAM: from school to SSENSE
As the new generation of women in tech, how would you describe your experience going from school to a real company as a developer who identifies as a woman?
Alexa, Software Developer Level 1:
Although some might think differently, I tend to believe that the experience as a female, a software-oriented student is quite different from that of a female developer or engineer in the industry. At school, you are a number — a name on a list that will receive a grade regardless of sex or gender. Your ability to do well — by this I mean get good grades — relies solely on brainpower and not on other qualities, such as interpersonal skills, which would be coveted in the industry. There may be fewer female students in the program, and people may be surprised by your abilities, but that does not slow one in achieving academic success.
However, all of that completely changes the moment you sit down for an interview. Skills that were not needed in school suddenly become exceedingly relevant, and, as industry mentality is changing and companies are trying to bridge the gap regarding the male-to-female ratio, your identity as a woman inevitably becomes an important factor. This is a major aspect that I had not realized before I started applying for internships in the second year of my degree. In many cases, the fact that I am a female has been an advantage, since tech companies have started valuing giving women more opportunities — SSENSE is the perfect example. Writing this text for a WiT SSENSE-TECH article is proof of its own.
Obviously, I am more than grateful for everything SSENSE has already given me in the short time I have been here. Nevertheless, I have always felt this phenomenon can also be a bit of a double-edged sword. Being in this situation has always prompted me to ask myself if I was hired for the right reasons, and I can’t imagine that I am the only one. Having spoken to many female graduating students as an SSENSE Campus Ambassador for recruiting, I further noticed a general uncertainty regarding this somewhat sudden thirst for female developers. Although I can now confidently say that I was hired for the right reasons, and that my skills speak for themselves, that nagging thought sometimes still makes an unsolicited appearance.
Nonetheless, despite what I mentioned above, my experience moving from a school environment to the workplace has been incredible. The enthusiasm regarding promoting women in tech at SSENSE has been one of the most empowering phenomena to be part of. To be surrounded by fearless, intelligent women is inspiring and encouraging. But to answer the question, I just firmly believe that, throughout the hiring and onboarding process, we should make sure that being a woman doesn’t overshadow the rest. I am a good developer. I am a good communicator and a good fit for SSENSE. I just happen to be a woman.
Cassiel, Software Developer Level 2:
Undoubtedly the factor in my onboarding that contributed the most to my confidence as a developer was having fellow women in the tech department; and this has also by far been one of the biggest differences for me between being a student and being an employee.
I’ve not once had a female STEM professor at university, and I remember fondly the one female TA I met. In contrast, from day one of my internship, SSENSE made a conscious effort to make sure I had a woman in tech that could be my touchpoint, who I could meet with one on one, and who was my guide to understanding both the technical and the social responsibilities of being a developer. Now having returned to SSENSE after graduating, the number of women around me has only increased. As role models, teachers, mentors, and also simply as fellow people who are helping balance the overwhelming numbers in software, their presence is enormously uplifting.
I’m getting dangerously close to using the word ‘empowering’… Empowerment is a well-used, well-(over)worn buzzword. I’d like to emphasize that it’s valuable not because it’s ‘good optics’, but because it has tangible, profitable results for tech companies and their employees. A person who is welcome (not isolated, not working against the current) in their workplace, especially one who is fresh out of school and just learning the ropes, is going to be substantially more inquisitive, more effective, learn faster, participate more, and be a better asset to their team in the long-term than one who is not. I know, I know…I’m quiet but trust me, I could be much quieter! Confidence begets ability.
Love what you wrote, very powerful. One thing that I have noted while onboarding or buddying women interns was the lack of confidence and the question of legitimacy to be here. “Am I able to do this work? Am I asking too many questions and disrupting the team? Am I the right choice for the company?”
Marguerite, Senior Product Manager:
The advice I have given consistently was re-iterating a truth I have learnt early in my career and I am always vigilant for: It’s known that women tend to look at their weakness first instead of their strength. For example on a job offer, we will look at required skills and highlight everything we don’t know how to do whereas men would look at the skills and think “This I can learn.” So let’s try to have the same mindset “Can I learn this? Yes or no?…”
The second thing I try to do as a PM when onboarding a junior developer is to start with a small easy to do, end-to-end task, that once completed, you would feel satisfied and re-assured on your skillset.
For the junior hires I buddied up, as I could not control their backlog, I would recommend they talk to their manager and PM, to find this easy end-to-end task that would bring satisfaction and confidence. To motivate them, I always ask them “Next time, demo what you have done!”. Having this quick 1:1 demo, I think builds confidence.
As a woman developer, what do you do to help build your confidence? What could you advise others?
Marguerite, Senior Product Manager:
As a Product Manager, I would advise new developers to:
1. Identify if I am not focusing too much on my weakness instead of my strength
2. Find some quick wins that will boost me
3. Get validation of my quick wins from another person that will validate the win (eg. through a demo)
Matty, Software Developer Level 3:
Great tips and great questions!
My advice is to:
- Allow yourself to be imperfect: Remind yourself that it is ok not to always be stronger than people around you in a specific aspect. It is a good sign that people around you are strong in different ways because they will become your learning material. Learn from them.
- If you are unavoidably in some deep self-doubt, write down what you have learnt and achieved during the past few days. You will surprisingly find out that you were busy for some reasons. It’s also ok to be self-critical during this process but write these critiques down. Find a person you trust to validate if these critiques are objective; give yourself some self-improvement activities if the critiques are constructive. Then, ALWAYS remember: improvement comes with time, practice, and hard work.
Alexa, Software Developer Level 1:
For me, I do two things:
- I 100% agree with the small E2E task. I know, because you’ve used it on me, and it works. Being able to work on something individually and produce quality results is a huge confidence booster. I also personally found it very efficient in indirectly leading the person to learn about the whole codebase and processes without it feeling like you are just being thrown off into the deep end.
- In terms of tips, I can’t say that I have many — I’m still at the stage where I am working through my insecurities and learning about myself as a developer. However, I can agree with Matty, she was my mentor and we spoke quite a bit about this, and Cassiel that surrounding yourself with the right people is key. I find that working with talented, driven people pushes me to be a better developer and teammate without most of the pressure associated with wanting to be “better”.
Andrea, Associate Product Manager:
@Matty, on your point on allowing yourself to be imperfect, I had a breakthrough on this when I saw some Instagram posts about perfection as a form of patriarchy. It spoke to how we allow boys and men to make mistakes. We explain their slip-ups as circumstantial. We promote based on potential. But for women, there is an expectation that we are obedient, flawless, and effortlessly on point. The male struggle is glorified. The female struggle is shamed. I had never seen perfectionism through the lens of gender and the second I did I had a giant wake-up call.
I also think it’s really important to have role models for this. My mom is very experimental when it comes to cooking, never following recipes and often creating never-seen-before foods that are phenomenal, but also sometimes inedible lol. When that happens she laughs and figures out ways to deal with it (use it for compost??) and this playful approach to innovation has also been helpful for me in the realm of perfectionism.
@Cassiel, “confidence begets ability” is worth highlighting. I would also argue that ability begets confidence. When my friends ask me where I get my confidence from I also just tell them I create proofs for myself. Like what are you insecure about? How do you measure that thing? And then, how do you build towards it until you knock your own metric out of the park??
3/ BEING IN THE TEAM
Team Xenon is an all-women squad. Have you found it different from working in male-dominated squads?
Matty, Software Developer Level 3:
For me, the answer is no. I probably can make certain jokes more easily with the girls but work-wise, there is not yet an outstanding difference. I have to mention that Cobalt — my other team — is full of people who are supportive to whoever needs support. Gender does not play any significant role in how we work with each other.
We’re very fortunate to work on teams where we support one another and deliver great work — regardless of gender.
With that being said, I acknowledge this isn’t the case for all women in tech, and I still find myself saying how I love that we have an all-women team. It’s inspiring to look up to, learn from, and build relationships with other women — and research suggests that assembling teams with several women, rather than spreading women across teams, addresses “onliness” experienced by women in dominantly male organizations.
As we work towards a more inclusive tech industry, I look forward to the day where all-women teams will no longer be an anomaly, but simply one of the many permutations of team structures that we see.
What traits would have allowed you to be successful in your career path? Did your identity as a woman weigh in on your career choices? If so, in what ways?
Nicole, Software Developer Level 3:
Always pushing to be in the (virtual) room. I’m passionate about software architecture so I pushed to be in all the high-level decision-making meetings so that I could grab the opportunity to lead the design, and be the one driving subsequent steps like presenting for approval and determining details of implementation.
Although my identity as a woman didn’t weigh in on my career choices, I feel it’s important to use my role to open doors and advocate for women to allow them to be in the room too.
Back in office days, both of you were very involved in our SSENSE tech women’s Slack channel — aptly named #eatcodelove — and participated in a lot of knowledge-sharing sessions. Could you tell us more about this experience? What motivated you? What did you learn? How do you think we can attract more developers to lead those types of sessions?
Mikhail, Staff Developer:
Personally, for me, it wasn’t a “woman only” event thing. I genuinely just enjoy teaching and working through problems with people. I used to be a TA at Concordia University and tutored in comp sci as well. The group was super receptive, brought interesting challenges and questions, and we got to learn and work through problems together.
Graydon, Senior Data Scientist:
The motivation for me was to find out what coding topics were conversation starters. I have plenty of knowledge gaps coming from a pure science background, usually treating codes as input/output functions. In the first session, we were talking about dynamic programming using the Fibonacci sequence, which I always treated as a for-loop answer. The way Mike et al tackled it (ie memoization) was a new perspective for me!
Andrea, Associate Product Manager:
I want to chime in here to share too, I think it’s super important to learn from experts — regardless of sex or gender — when looking to build knowledge. The danger with “women-only” events is that you are cutting out half of the population! I challenged the SSENSE HR team on this when they chose to assign only female mentors to mentees. I’ve learned a lot from men and strongly believe we need to keep including everyone in all initiatives.
CONCLUSION
Stay tuned for the next two installments of this SSENSE-TECH series focused on conversations around Women in Tech. We would like to thank the support of Senior Director of Product Sara, Director of Product Jack, Software Developers Matty, Cassiel, Alexa, Nicole, Meng and Product Manager Valerie, Staff Developer Mikhail, and Senior Data Scientist Graydon for sharing their perspectives.
Read more about our Women in Tech here:
Concept & Afterword by Andrea Zhu,
Editorial reviews by Deanna Chow, Liela Touré, and Paolo Pazzia.
