Guestblog Maryam: Is IT still perceived as a predominantly male realm?

This is a guestblog from Maryam! She was one of the trainees of our blogtraining and she wanted to write about gender equality in IT. In this blog you will read about her experience as a women herself in IT.

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Gender equality remains a major issue in the corporate world. When we look around the world it looks like women are underrepresented in senior leadership jobs and top positions in companies. Women in colour are even less represented. And also there we see a payment gap of about 20 percent.

But is it perceived as a predominantly male realm? In some countries and in some societies this is still the case. But, I was lucky that I’ve been in a diverse environment at work and in my personal life. I believe that it all depends on your point of view; we can always change the situation outside of our sphere by taking actions. Nowadays I see more and more females in this field, at least among my peers.

What is it like to be a woman in the IT-industry?

In my experience in tech, sometimes I was the only woman in my team. And that came with a few challenges, which I will depict here

For instance my wardrobe. Before I started working, I didn’t really knew that much about what I should wear, mostly because there were no other female team members. I was more nervous that people would judge my skills and my capabilities based on my physical appearance. This was a daily struggle; I didn’t want to wear a typical tech bro outfit or a t-shirt and jeans. I also didn’t want to come off being too girly by wearing dresses which makes me more like an alien. And I refused to wear business attire because that would make them think that I was not an engineer. It usually takes me a few months to feel confident in my technical skills before I diversify my wardrobe!

Lunchtime: Especially as an introvert, lunch was a very scary thing to me. They always talked about things like the newest video games, sports, etc.. All topics that I really had nothing to contribute to. I was an awkward duck at lunchtime. It was like they never talked to a girl before or like I never talked to a boy before. If you were that lonely lunch time person, like me, speak up like you have no idea what you guys are talking about.

Assumptions in Tech companies

Something I hear a lot, statistically, is that in tech companies women are more likely to be in roles like marketing, business or design instead of being a system engineer or a senior back-end engineer. These are assumptions that not only male co-workers will make. It is something that is ingrained into our minds by society. Women will be better at humanities or art or writing while men will be better in maths and science.

Another thing that might be annoying and unfortunate are some patterns in many industries including tech. It happened to me often when I created a pull request that I received very critical comments. Similar changes made by a male colleague were reviewed less strong and perceived without problems. This caused my imposter syndrome kicking me that I wasn’t as good as my colleagues.

Tips for women in IT

So how to cope in a predominantly male realm? Well first thing that I would recommend is to not listen to people who are going to scare you with all the stories about sexism in it. On the contrary it is one of those areas where everyone has equal opportunities and your success in the profession only depends on how much you put into your development and realisation.

Also I would recommend to never stop learning or trying new stuff. Frameworks, methodologies, even new teams, companies. Try to find an environment that will encourage your development and provide you with a friendly atmosphere. The best environment is supportive and challenging which encourages you to grow personally and professionally.

And last but not least. Don’t forget your work-life balance. Make sure your life is not only about your work but make sure you spend enough time doing the things you love.

Fight your fears

So let's fight our fears. I will list a few that you might come across with as a woman in IT.

First Fear that you may notice is fear of being visible and noticeable. Our society prescribes women to be shy, not to speak loudly, to care about other feelings more than to care about our own. Remember that you won’t make anyone suffer by letting them know that you exist. You have your achievements, it is extremely important to allow yourself to grow.

Second Fear that you may overcome is the fear of technical demands. I believe that if you want to write code, to become a developer, you should never let anyone make you doubt the fact that you can do it.

Third Fear is highlighting your achievements. I think you should never be afraid of saying that something is made by you. That a great result was achieved because you have worked so hard. it’s not just working hard but probably because you also thought really hard about solving a really complex problem.

Women in tech are…

The women I worked with are different and that’s awesome. But unfortunately there are many misconceptions on what women are able to achieve or what we are good at. They say that girls cope with routine tasks better, but I think that’s because they try harder. Because they still think that men get more preference at promotional decisions. I want all girls and women in IT to believe that we are all worth it. We are great at maths, algorithms, software architecture and design, testing and management. So even though we still work in a predominantly male realm, it is getting better. Step by step everyone in IT will notice that women are just as capable as men are in their work.

Who am I?

Hello, I am Maryam. I am a woman in tech. Against all odds, I pursued a computer science degree and started a career as a developer. Currently I am a software engineer who is very happy with everything that comes with it. If you are a woman who is considering a career in IT and you want to know more about IT, please ping me and i’ll help you with anything you want to know about what it means.