Women in Tech Leadership: Stories, Tips, and Challenges.

Welcome to the fourth series of women in tech leadership. In this week’s series, we have 3 mentors, Airene Tan, the UX designer at Section based in Singapore 🇸🇬, Sai Vidya Swaminathan, a Test Automation Engineer at Kissflow based in India 🇮🇳, and Carla Del Pup, the Senior Product Designer at UPshow based in Uruguay 🇺🇾

We hope through their stories and career pieces of advice will support your journey as a young or experienced woman in tech.

Grab your favorite beverage while reading ladies! 🍵☕🧋

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Women in Tech Leadership: What drew you into the tech industry?

Airene:

• Endless potential

"There is a lot of potential in the tech industry as a UX practitioner because you get to try different scopes and wear different hats, so it can be pretty exciting for someone who is easily bored like me. For example, you could be having fun interviewing users today and then using the data to influence your design decisions next. Then hop onto another session to validate the design with a different group of users.”

Sai Vidya:

• Countless possibilities‍

‍‍“The scope that it provides touches upon how people experience their day-to-day lives. Every day there are countless possibilities that emerge as far as tech is concerned and it is fascinating to be able to make a qualitative impact on solving so many real-world problems."

Carla: 

• Collaboration with incredible people

“I started working in the design industry as a graphic designer, mostly working in branding and advertisement areas. Once I heard and started learning about user experience design, I fall in love with designing user-centered digital products. Plus, you get to work with incredible people and within interdisciplinary teams which give you a bigger picture of everything.”

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Women in Tech Leadership: Tips in overcoming self-doubt

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Airene:

• Surround yourself with people who are willing to be brutally honest with you
• Seek their feedback whenever you encounter a block
• Get a different perspective from others than to have that internal monologue with yourself
  
  

Sai Vidya:

• Proactive interactions
• Keen observations 
• Active participation in every single facet of work

Carla: 

• Mentally list everything I have done to get into the tech industry
• Study and learn about an unfamiliar topic 
• Ask for help
• It’s ok to not know everything. Naturalize this idea and be proud of our skillset and happy with it

 
View the list of 10 Books to Overcome Self-Doubt.

Women in Tech Leadership: Challenges
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Airene:

• Dealing with gender stereotypes
  That women can come off as being emotional and/or abrasive. Especially when communicating in a male-dominated setting. Once I was asked "Are you being emotional because you are pregnant?" when I sat a male co-worker down to talk about our differences at work.
  
  
• Having a voice in the room
  Many women are conditioned to keep quiet, even if one has an opinion. Not many have the confidence to speak up for success.
  
  
• Salary negotiation
  A little bit of a paradox but women tend to lack the confidence to ask for more and even downplay their successes - which backfires on us when it comes to negotiating for a promotion or salary adjustment. It ties back to the previous point where we are conditioned to just keep our heads down and do good work, yet we expect our managers to 'see' our contributions.
  
  
• Being labeled as too ‘nice’
  My  pet peeve! What happens is that people expect you to be nice all the time, but when you call out bulls**t as it is, you are either not taken seriously or you get a different label (such as abrasive or aggressive).
  
  
• Imposter syndrome
  Don't we all feel like a fraud at some point in time? Women can be very hard on themselves.
  
  

Sai Vidya:

• Working hours especially being married and with kids
• Discrimination because of factors like pregnancy
• Fewer opportunities to lead
• Staying up to date with the current technology trends
• The obstructed flow of communication especially in teams that are composed majorly with men
  
  

Carla:

• Less confidence in your performance and fewer opportunities
• Few women in leadership 
• Bias against women

Watch a Tedx Talks video about Self-Love, be Intentional.

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Women in tech leadership: Career development and growth tips

Airene:

• Respond, not React.
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‍“Back to the point where women tend to be stereotyped as more emotional than men - If you are the easily triggered type, remember to always take in the situation before deciding on your next course of action/reaction. Reacting is quick, responding is slower. E.g. when someone says "I don't think you have done a good job handling this situation." Instead of saying "Well, if you can do a better job, then go ahead and knock yourself out!" Say "I am not sure what gave you this perception and I would like to understand more. Can you give me some data points?". If the other party is not able to substantiate with some concrete evidence, well then you know that the feedback is baseless and probably stems from something else."

Sai Vidya:

• Not shying away from asking the tough questions
• Being an active listener in everyday conversations and researching proactively
• Solid and consistent work ethic
• Clear expression of boundaries
• Focusing more on collaboration to get things done with a sustainable relationship with people

Carla: 

• Mentoring younger designers and new designers. Also, finding great mentors for myself. 
• Inspiring young women to explore Tech - I’m a Girls in Tech Advisory Board member. 
• Caring about the people I work with. Always being team-minded.
• Being kind but assertive. 
  

Women in Tech Leadership: Words of encouragement for women in the tech industry

Airene:

• Learn as much as you can

“The tech world is all about moving fast and keeping up. Learn as much as you can so you can find the confidence to speak up for success. When you know your s**t, people will take you more seriously. When you feel like you have tried your best and you still think you are failing, remember that sometimes it is not about you, it's about them. Your role could be a misfit, and it's not really about you as a person or your capability.”

Sai Vidya:

• Do not limit ourselves‍

“The only limits we have are the ones we place on ourselves. Tech provides unlimited scope for learning, failing, and experimenting. All that is needed from our end are sustained efforts, the willingness to learn from failures, and actively seeking out the right people who can help us grow into successful professionals.”

Carla

• You can do ANYTHING

‍"There’s nothing you cannot do. There are many women to support you on this new path. Join a community. Ask. Share. Find a mentor. Be curious. Read much. Enjoy the ride.”

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Read other Women In Tech series by ADPList mentors or book a free 1:1 mentoring session!

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Contributors:
Airene Tan (ADPList Mentor)
UX designer at Section
ADPList account: https://adplist.org/mentors/airene-tan
LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/airenetan/ 

Sai Vidya Swaminathan (ADPList Mentor) 
Test Automation Engineer at Kissflow
ADPList account: https://adplist.org/mentors/sai-vidya-swaminathan
LinkedIn account:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sai-vidya-swaminathan-6016a439/ 

Carla Del Pup(ADPList Mentor) 
Senior Product Designer at UPshow
ADPList account: https://adplist.org/mentors/carla-del-pup
LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-del-pup/ 

Editor and Writer:
Farah Radzi
Content Marketer and Writer at ADPList
LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/famr/

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