Continuing our focus on women in tech, we discuss the multiple pathways to enter the tech industry, including coding, with our 3 guests, Elena Kolevska, a Senior Technical Enablement Architect at Redislabs, Helen Tabunshchyk, Director of ‘Women Who Code’ London, and Kristina Kushner, a Senior Project Manager at PMP. 

Coding’s gendered history

Though it’s not the case anymore, coding used to be more friendly to women. Helen explains, “Until the mid-1980s, programming was most often a woman's job. But as the profession started to bring in more money, the competition started rising. And then suddenly, it wasn’t a woman's job anymore.” 

Impostor syndrome is a symptom

Impostor syndrome is an issue all our guests share. Helen says, “Often, you start thinking, ‘It must be me.’ But when you have a community of women who all share the same story, you can totally see the common patterns. And you realize it's not you, it’s society and our gender education.”

Elena also links the chronic self-doubt characteristic of impostor syndrome to how women are socialized as children. “I think it's related to how we are taught to handle failure. As girls, we are taught to do everything perfectly and never make any mistakes,” she says, “And well, boys will be boys. But the world is not like that. We should be held accountable to the same standards.”

To code or not to code

There are many other touchpoints to enter the tech industry that aren’t coding. Our guests name several:

• Project or product management
• Human Resources
• Marketing
• Technical writing
• Finance/accounting
• Designers

But how can you tell if coding is right for you? If you prefer to work with people more, consider one of the above roles, says Kristina. “But if you prefer to work on your own, to go deep into analysis mode, give coding a try.”

Mentorship + teamwork are critical to diversity

In a previous episode, we’ve spoken about the importance of mentorship; studies also back this up. Helen says, “Research supports that it’s not diversity and inclusion training that’s effective, but mentorship programs.” She adds, “And working in teams as well. Those are the two deciding factors on how inclusive the work environment is.”

Get more ideas for closing the gender gap in your workplace at Women in Tech or Women Who Code.

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Platform.sh is a robust, reliable hosting platform that gives development teams the tools to build and scale applications efficiently. Whether you run one or one thousand websites, you can focus on creating features and functionality with your favorite tech stack.

Today we speak with three leaders and women in tech, Susan An, the Senior Sales Director of Tessian, Jessica Alderson, the Co-Founder & CEO of So Syncd, and Maria Antinkaapo, VP of Customer Success at Platform.sh, on the gender imbalance in tech, including the impact of internal and external biases.

Fixing the disparity in tech requires a perspective shift

The ratio of women to men in tech is often as unbalanced as 25:75. Susan is blunt, “We don't have enough female talent or leaders. Globally, only 2% of venture capital investment goes to all female-led teams.”

However, this disparity can depend on what roles or departments you’re looking at; Susan points out that management teams are often full of women. “So the question is if women are good enough to manage teams, why wouldn't they be considered leaders? What's the perception difference between a woman managing versus a woman leading?” She asks.

Imagining a different “profile” of success

When she started her career, her employers told Susan there was a “type” of salesperson to hire.“Loud and confident and aggressive ones,” she says. In addition to being more typically male-associated traits, which skews the hiring process, she adds, “I found that that’s not necessarily the profile that gets results. You can hire introverts with softer personality types, who are thinkers, introspective, or more methodical. They also sell very well to customers and add great value to the trajectory of the company.”

Jessica agrees. “When I talk to investors and ask the differences they see in women vs. men pitching to them, most of them say, ‘Men pitch a lot more boldly or exaggerate their numbers to some extent,’ But that’s a bias, because the stats show that that's not an indication of whether they'll be successful in running a company or not. Specifically, you should be more focused on the results you’ve achieved so far rather than these more superficial things.”

Becoming a parent can make you a better leader

Some companies still hesitate to hire or promote women for fear of losing them if they start a family. Susan has a strong rebuttal to that line of thinking. “Becoming a parent is not a handicap. After I became a parent, it changed something in me as a leader. I really started to think about translating how I parent to how I manage my team. I feel like I've become a much more empathetic and insightful leader as a result of being a parent.”

Check out Tessian or So Syncd.

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Platform.sh is a robust, reliable hosting platform that gives development teams the tools to build and scale applications efficiently. Whether you run one or one thousand websites, you can focus on creating features and functionality with your favorite tech stack.

Our guests today, Jane Frankland, owner and CEO of KnewStart, Fareedah Shaheed, CEO and founder of Sekuva, and Eliza-May Austin, Co-Founder of th4ts3cur1ty.company,  help us determine the state of the cybersecurity world today and how it can affect you.

Defining cybersecurity

All three guests admit the term “cybersecurity” is broad. Eliza May says,” Cybersecurity is broad for a reason; it has to encompass lots of different avenues of data; computer, network, phone, apps, and there is a social aspect to it as well.”

Education and social responsibility in cybersecurity

Jane believes those in the cybersecurity field have a responsibility to push the field in the right direction, but she acknowledges the difficulties. She says, “Cybersecurity professionals have a job to do in terms of trying to influence and steer countries into making the right decisions. But it’s very difficult as technology advances, and we become more connected — we lose a certain amount of control.”

Bringing more people into understanding cybersecurity can help lift the burden, explains Fareedah, “When we're trying to educate the public on phishing or social engineering attacks, we have to talk to them as if they're as smart as they actually are and in a way that they can understand, especially if they’re from different backgrounds. Really breaking down concepts and being there with them and helping them understand how it affects them and their daily life is critical.”

Cybersecurity strategies at a business level

As with most things, there is no way to protect yourself 100% when it comes to cybersecurity. But Eliza-May suggests some steps you can take to make your business more secure.

• Know your risk level and level of risk-tolerance
• Understand the variety of strategies you could employ
• Assess your resources  — what budget, processes, technologies, and talent do you possess to put your strategies into practice?

The work is never over

Our three guests emphasize that the cybersecurity field can be challenging for those who work in it. “Many cybersecurity professionals are stressed and under-resourced,” Jane admits. But that’s also because the nature of the work is inherently more complex. “It’s much easier for attackers; they only have to find one way in. Our job of protecting and defending is much harder.” she says.

Learn more about our guests’ organizations; KnewStart, Sekuva, and th4ts3cur1ty.

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Watch, listen, subscribe to the Platform.sh Deploy Friday podcast:
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Buzzsprout

Platform.sh is a robust, reliable hosting platform that gives development teams the tools to build and scale applications efficiently. Whether you run one or one thousand websites, you can focus on creating features and functionality with your favorite tech stack.