The Key to a Woman’s Success in the Tech Industry: Making Intentional Choices With Confidence
Insights from six women tech leaders who have broken the glass ceiling
Many Girls Are Studying Computer Science, Yet Few Are Becoming Tech Leaders
The number of women in the tech industry is staggeringly low. Only 25% of all IT jobs are held by women. Only 5% of tech leaders are women. Does it take a miracle for a woman to become a tech leader? As a junior in high school trying to pursue a career in computer science, the looming question in my head was “How does one beat the odds to climb up the tech ladder?”
I decided to unearth these secrets by interviewing six women to learn about their journey climbing to the top of the tech world. After they shared their stories and struggles, I found some patterns pointing to the root causes of this problem. And to my relief, these struggles can be mitigated.
Here are the reasons why these stats exist and how they can be addressed.
Behavioral Expectations in Formative Years Affect Confidence
The way a girl is taught to behave in her childhood often correlates to her career success as a woman. Growing up, girls are not taught to be resilient enough against failure and are generally encouraged to show perfection. Families quickly fix problems for girls rather than have them “tough it out,” unlike the expectation with boys. Similarly, little girls are encouraged to behave very politely, whereas boys are encouraged to do as they please.
Some women in the tech industry were asked about this, and they said the key is teaching girls how to handle failure and never differentiating between what girls and boys “should” do.
Teach girls how to handle failure
Rama Akkiraju, an IBM Fellow and CTO of AI Operations, was listed as one of the Top 20 Women in AI by Forbes. She says that an interesting recurrence she has seen in the difference in the way men and women apply for jobs is that when a woman applies for a job, she often disqualifies herself from even applying because she doesn’t satisfy a few of the requirements listed. However, when a man applies for the same job, even if he qualifies for just a few of the requirements, he has enough confidence that he has the ability to learn the rest of the skills while he is working on the job. More importantly, he is OK with being called out for not being perfect.
“I have seen this kind of behavior from women stem from their upbringing, especially in families where girls are taught that obedience, respecting those in power, and being nice is what makes an ideal girl. This pattern translates to women feeling doubt when demanding what they deserve in their future careers.” — Rama Akkiraju
Girls should be encouraged to acknowledge not only their abilities but also to take on tasks that they don’t already have skills for. “Don’t jump in and fix things for them, but rather support them in the process. But ask the girls to take charge and finish tasks that they want to take on — even if they don’t have proven experience,” says Akkiraju.
I realized that although these societal norms are subtle and nuanced, they are very real with lasting effects. However, for all well-meaning parents, this insight can help avoid common mistakes.
Don’t hold gender-specific expectations
Laura Walsh, CRO at YDesign Group, shared that the upbringing of girls often plays a significant role in girls pursuing a career in tech. More often than not, girls are taught to look up to only women as role models. Values and aspirations should not be gender-specific but left open to anyone.
“I saw my dad and my grandpa leading a business and never thought about them being male.” — Laura Walsh
The reason she was able to pioneer through the tech industry to become a CRO at YDesign Group is that her upbringing told her that it does not matter whether you are competing against men or women for that position. It is your responsibility to fight as hard if not harder than them for what you want.
Be confident to ask for what you deserve
Akkiraju states that the results of gender-specific expectations during formative years affect how some women ask for opportunities versus men. Women often wait much longer than men to ask for promotions, and even when they do, they often ask apologetically instead of being confident in their work. However, a man will be confident about what he has done for the company and stating why he deserves what he wants.
“You’ll get what you want only when you ask for it.” — Rama Akkiraju
As counterintuitive as it may seem, parents need to challenge their girls to work for what they want and demand what they rightfully earned rather than encouraging obedience and conformity. Asking for what they want and earning it should be done during childhood to help their future careers.
Start Your Career With Audacity, Mentors, and Perseverance
Starting a career in the tech industry is daunting, to say the least, but it is possible if you are willing to take risks, be curious, and work hard. Often, women feel stuck in the current job they have because they are too afraid to try out different options in the tech industry. Many successful women from the tech industry believe in the concept of “Do not be afraid of trying something new!”
Be audacious with your career path
Reese McGillie, Senior Director of Insights & Analytics at Tinuiti, says that although trying out a different path in the technology industry seems risky, that is what kept her in the tech industry. McGillie started off as a programmer but soon realized that she was built for more out-of-the-box thinking, and being a programmer wasn’t allowing her to reach her full potential.
“Tech does not only mean programming. Tech can involve creativity, big-picture thinking too, but you need to be willing to try new things. Flexibility and adaptability keep you in the game.” — Reese McGillie
This mindset led her to pursue managing tech companies. Although the leap was scary at first, it was the best decision she could have made. Now she is a thriving senior director who believes in creating an environment for employees while building large-scale teams from the ground up.
Having a mentor proves useful
Avanti Ketkar, Vice President of Engineering at Inflection, also went through a similar journey, although her reflection from her experience is slightly different. A key tool Ketkar believes in for starting a career or a new career path is to have a support system. “Having a mentor is extremely useful in many areas, from giving advice on improvements to even recommendations for future positions. However, many women have trouble finding mentors in their companies because there are not many women in the tech industry,” says Ketkar.
“Although there are not many women to be mentors, there is no reason a man cannot mentor you just as well. Be bold in your decision-making. Don’t be afraid to take up new responsibilities.” — Avanti Ketkar
Both Ketkar and Walsh stated that their mentors were men, and they ended up learning a lot and received the support they needed to navigate their careers.
Perseverance will get you through
Often, we don’t take the risks that we need to. Ketkar says that the fear of failure is what makes us lose opportunities. This is a common problem to face no matter what stage you are at in your career — change will always be scary. But persevering through those hardships is what brings out the best in you.
“When things get unclear, do not quit. If you don’t try, you will neither fail nor succeed.” — Avanti Ketkar
A common mistake many people make is to give up before trying because it seems impossible to succeed. According to Ketkar, “The fear of failure is what often keeps both men and women from achieving their full potential in their careers.”
You Don’t Have to Choose Between Kids or Career
56% of the women who join the tech industry drop out of their career midway through, and the #1 reason for this is the desire to start a family. For women who strive to obtain a balance between their family and work lives, the biggest advice from women who have been able to do it is to make intentional choices with confidence.
Fitting into both worlds
Camille Fetter, Founder, and President of Talentfoot Executive Search and a mother of a five-year-old girl, has been running her multi-million-dollar business for over 10 years. She believes that the key to her success is making intentional choices in all aspects of her life, from life decisions to how to spend each minute of her time.
“Here I was struggling a little bit to fit into the world of being a new mom while continuing to focus on building a fulfilling career driven by intention and purpose. I was never accustomed to wrapping up work by 5 p.m. It wasn’t in my DNA, but now I make the conscious decision to wrap up work by 5 p.m. for one reason: to see my daughter before she falls asleep and share the peaks of our day.” — Camille Fetter
Being a working mom is an intentional choice. You should constantly contemplate your priorities to weed out the unnecessary parts of your life. If you consciously make decisions to advance your career, you can live the best parts of both lives. In fact, this ends up being a lot more fulfilling.
A good mom or a good career?
Anita Ganti is the Vice President of Flextronics, Former Vice President of Wipro Technologies, and mother of two teenagers. She had to be very intentional with her drive to pursue her career because she actually had to fight for it.
“Be intentional with your choices. It doesn’t come easy, but if you go after what you want with purpose, you can acheive anything.” — Anita Ganti
Being a good mother does not mean sacrificing your career. Outdated standards of the “ideal” mother do not apply to the modern woman. A mom doesn’t have to bake cookies for every school activity to be a good mom. Make your own criteria for what a good mother is, and don’t follow societal norms. Be your own kind of mom — that is what being a good mom is all about.
A good career is not a default — it is a choice
From a young age, Fetter knew she wanted to run a business. However, when she decided to start her company at age 29, it was definitely not the most convenient time. It was the same year the stock market crashed in 2008. Then, when the company was only four years old, Camille had her daughter. During this whole time, she was highly discouraged from pursuing her business from people all around her.
“Women of my age were starting to have families, starting to settle down, and leave the workforce. So here I was starting my business, and I really had to decide if this was worth it for me. I decided that no matter what was considered ‘normal,’ I was going to build my own recruiting firm, and it was worth it.” — Camille Fetter
Building a career and keeping her company successfully running was not something that would have happened if Camille didn’t push every day to make it happen. She meticulously plans her days to make sure she is spending her time only on her priorities. Keeping their careers growing is not a default position for most women, which is why at the start of motherhood, they stop working.
Trust yourself — you know what is right
To actively grow your career while raising your kids requires self-confidence. Ganti dealt with her own self-doubt when her son was experiencing health problems at school. It required her to take more time off work and rethink her view of her work.
“My working time is my me-time. Your job must be your passion if you want to be a working mom. Don’t measure yourself against others. Measure yourself against yourself.” — Anita Ganti
This mentality allowed Ganti to not only climb the ladder of success in her companies, but it also allowed her to sustain the confidence to keep working hard on her career and her children. With a strong, persevering mindset and a deeply rooted drive to follow your dream, any woman can have a successful career — no matter who they are or what struggles they face.
Conclusion
Though the stats show that many women drop out of tech careers too soon, the insights from my research prove that there is a recipe for success that any woman can follow to grow an outstanding career. Here are some things to ensure a successful tech career, whether it is your daughter’s or your own:
For young girls
- As a child, girls should learn to be resilient against failure.
- They should also learn to not differentiate between what a man or woman can/can’t do.
For women starting their career
- Be audacious with your career choices. Often, you may feel stuck in one career path. Although it feels risky, you can change your career path to fit your skills and personality.
- Mentors are quite useful in figuring out the quirks of a new job. Be open to having a man or woman as a mentor.
- Perseverance is important for anyone, but especially a woman starting a career in the tech field. You may be in a job where you have to constantly fight to keep your position, so be willing to work extra hard to stand out from the crowd.
For working mothers
- Remind yourself that your career is important to you. This will give you the self-assurance and confidence that you are doing the right thing — no matter how much others disagree.
- Determine what makes a good mother for yourself. Don’t follow the conventional, outdated standards of what being a good mother entails. Be your own kind of mother.
As a woman, growing a career in the tech industry is not an obvious path. But as proven in this article, it is possible.
