How They Did It | Masha Zvereva From Marketing to Founder of Coding Blonde
This is a summary that accompanies the original interview published on Work In Progress Podcast. Here we highlight the main takeaway and some useful resources. Listen to the full interview here.
“There are women who look like you [in tech] — everybody will find a role model for themselves, and I’m really trying to showcase that…. Women are amazing and we really need diversity in technology. This is how we can get there.”
— Masha, “Coding Blonde”
Masha grew up in Russia and moved to England when she was in her teenage years. After finishing college she realized getting a job would be more difficult than she thought, so she did a number of things to make her resume stand out. What compelled her to change from marketing to becoming a digital nomad? HOW did she get started? Tune in to find out!
How Masha Made the Switch & what she did in the past
- After Masha graduated with a master’s degree in Market Research and Consumer Behavior, she worked remotely in three start up companies. Requiring work VISA makes her job search more difficult than others, so to stand out from the other applicants, Masha taught herself to code with online resources and started a blog to document her journey. She wanted to work for Google so she networked and researched extensively to learn how Google interview candidates and what they value
- Starting the blog and taking initiative helped made her stand out as a candidate and she got to work at her dream company: Google. For the next two years she worked in marketing her responsibilities included education, community building, content strategy and business growth strategy
- The next transition happened when she moved to Boulder CO, which she dubbed a career pivoting moment. Two reasons propelled her to change: (1) she wanted to be closer to her boyfriend and (2) at the time she had been working at Google for two years so it made sense to try something new. She tried to move internally but there wasn’t any opportunity that was a good fit for her
- She came across an opportunity that caught her attention, the job title was: Global Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Colorado Boulder. The new role was very different from what she did at Google: aside from the academic setting, it required Masha to support innovation and entrepreneurial activities on campus, which were open ended responsibilities that she had to define for herself
- Seeing entrepreneurial spirit first hand made her realize her unique position to raise awareness for women in technology
What Masha currently does
- Masha is currently a digital nomad. She released a free online course at the end of 2019 that aimed to help people define what success means to them
What were the obstacles
- Having to deal with VISA issues everytime she moves or switches jobs pushes her to figure out ways to “stand out and prove herself in other avenues”
- The imposter syndrome: perfectionism can be one cause of imposter syndrome since you worry so much about how people perceive you. Masha learned to change her perspective from feeling like a victim to feeling like someone who in control and up for a challenge
What personalities helped Masha with her transitions
- Adaptability: moving from Russia to the UK (new language, new school, new culture) taught her at a young age that she is smart and capable and can always find friends and allies wherever she goes
- Seeing opportunities in everything that comes along
- Having a positive attitude
- Creating communities helps her build relationships without overwhelming her introverted personality
Where to find Masha
- Go to codingblonde.com or search for “coding blonde” on most social media platform
Resources:
