A Spotlight on Women in Tech at Teads
Teads is passionate about contributing to the feminization of IT jobs. In 2019, we launched our first Engineering Camp, a two-day training session we offered to 17 Tech professionals from diverse backgrounds and from all over the country. This bootcamp was dedicated to women and featured sessions from our Engineering Team on the Scala programming language and Data Science.
As we were planning the second edition in early 2020, the pandemic changed our plans and we had postponed our bootcamp for now. In the meantime, we tried to find other ways to bring more diversity in the tech ecosystem.
We recently had the opportunity to interview two remarkable women who have been contributing to the success of Teads and were able to learn more about digital and engineering during their time with us.
1 — Could you tell me more about yourself and your educational or professional background?
Jessica: My name is Jessica Deplanche. I am 30 years old. I am from Bordeaux and have been living in Montpellier for over a year. I am currently undergoing a career change path. After 10 years spent in the beauty sector, I decided to look for other opportunities. I was helped by a job counsellor who reviewed my skills. In September 2020, I started a training program to become a digital professional.
Pauline: After getting a diploma in economic and social science, I decided to study art history and archaeology at the University of Montpellier. Unfortunately I didn’t like it. The following year, I attended the IFRSS nursing school in Grenoble. I decided to quit only after 1 year. I was not made for this job. Now, I am taking a gap year during which I do as many internships as I can and hopefully find my dream job.
2 — Why have you decided to change careers and explore the IT or digital industry?
Jessica: I was very interested in a career in digital, because it is absolutely necessary to understand it if you want to make a business successful. Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of that. That’s why I joined the Up To school, based in Montpellier. This school has one main objective: make digital more inclusive and accessible to people who are underrepresented in this field.
Pauline: I decided to discover the IT sector because I didn’t know this field at all. But, as I started to learn more about it, I became interested. Now I want to learn more about career opportunities in the Tech industry.
3 — How did you hear about Teads?
Jessica: My training counselor put me in touch with the company. Teads and the Up To school both stand for diversity and inclusion in French Tech companies. They have been working together for a few years now. And every year, Teads welcomes one student from my school.
Pauline: My brother-in-law has been working at Teads since 2016. He encouraged me to apply for an internship. I wanted to learn more about Teads’ main product, the “inRead”. It is an online advertising format not only fulfilling the interests of the brands and the publishers but it also respects the users.
I immediately liked this. And as I could see during my internship, Teads attaches great importance to ethics but also emphasizes on good working conditions and on diversity.
4 — What have you discovered during your internship at Teads?
Jessica: I discovered a world that was unknown to me until now. I was given a warm welcome by the entire team who treated me like one of them and not as a simple trainee.
I could also put all my knowledge and know-how into practice, thanks to the help of my colleagues. I discovered meetings, the concept of Teads, the organization of a great team and so on.
Pauline: Lots of things! First of all, I discovered the premises and I had no idea that it would be so well decorated, luminous and cozy. The people who work there are very friendly and explained to me what their job consisted of. I discovered many jobs such as Office Manager, Technical Solutions Engineer or Infrastructure Engineer. Moreover, I attended many meetings including those with the Analytics and Finance teams.
At first, it was hard to understand but fortunately my internship mentor took some time to explain all the professional jargon. I like the fact that the computing jobs look complex and diversified here. It makes me want to learn more about it.
It was really interesting and exciting to discover Software Engineering and business. Maybe I will enroll in a computer science school next year. This internship was so helpful and I am so grateful to Teads.
5 — What would you like to say to all women considering a career in the IT or digital industry?
Jessica: Do not hesitate to take the plunge, if you are interested in a career in IT/Tech/Digital. The Internet is a gold mine of information and you can easily find resources to learn about this topic.
Pauline: I would tell them to trust themselves and go for it, don’t be afraid of the fact that women are a minority in this field because the Tech ecosystem needs you!
We wish Jessica and Pauline all the best and the success they deserve in their careers. Through this initiative we would like to encourage companies to open their doors and welcome talented individuals coming from diverse curriculums.
Thanks FACE Hérault, Up To, Simplon, 1 jeune 1 solution and Montpellier Métropole for all their initiatives.
This article was written by Tony Baptiste — HR Global Projects.
