Women in Tech

[MaryQueenofSocks]

As promised, a new women in Tech thread!

This is a space to talk about our industry, celebrate our successes without apology and moan about anything we want to!

We can swap stories, ideas or just shoot the breeze.

Guidelines for this thread:

We are supportive
We encourage each other
We celebrate each other
No judgement on what we earn or what we want to earn/achieve.
If we are working mothers, then no judgement.
If we are child free, no judgement.
Ignore any derailing or goady posts

If anyone wants to add to the above list then feel free.

Come on in, grab a virtual coffee and park yourself on a comfy sofa 😊

You are my dream future self... I'd love to have a coffee with you <3

Yeah, women make up 18% of the CyberSec population in the U.K., so we were the odd ones out at this thing 😂

my DD though I was a hero when I got home, had about 10soft toys, a safari hat, enough pens and notepads to stock a paperchase, a UV light sanitiser box combined with wireless charger for mobile phones, a Minecraft style plastic light up sword, a couple of dozen pairs of techy branded socks, T-shirts.....

@SummerCycling322 'Tech' is very broad and covers a variety of roles as you can see from this thread. Unless you want an engineering role you don't necessarily need a STEM degree (and even then some like myself have squeezed in).

There are many graduate schemes that take people into 'analyst' roles regardless of degree. My colleagues have done everything from Classics, to Fashion....

@CyberCritical now that's an impressive haul

I'm 51 and early in career I definitely felt like the rare animal at the zoo back in the 90s ....sounds like it's a little like that still in some areas.

Loads of women in my org but I'm in a vendor and they have made a huge effort to increase the intake.

Interesting though as I'm client facing I get it when the senior female clients who see me walk in and you see the relief/smile on their face. Like oh thank god 🤣.

Hello, can I join in? Inspired for my first post ever in MN.

Head of Data, early 40s. BSc in computer science early 2000s, worked my way up via MSc Applied Stats finally completed (part time) two years ago.

Struggling to bump up to running big teams with no demonstrable experience.

Also trying trying to get onto the speaking network. You'd think they'd be crying out for us!

👋 hi, can I join too please?
I have been in tech for 15 years. I've been a Major Incident Manager in Financial Services, worked in a number of other Service Management disciplines, been a PM and am now in Tech Compliance.
I saw this thread on the Active tab. It's nice to meet so many other women in technology.

@CyberCritical

Love me a good branded thermal mug 😁

I follow WiCyS on social media and they do lots of events and ask for speakers all the time, if any of what you do crosses into CyberSec then might be worth a look.

I so need this thread. I'm 50, Systems Admin role but also in senior leadership. However, because I only got into tech 4 years ago, I also have massive imposter syndrome.

@CyberCritical my work doesnt, but maybe it'll lead me down a rabbit hole and I'll get some ideas. Thanks!

Did you do an adjacent role before that?
This is interesting, sys admins are very technical but the job title is shall we say undervalued... seen as as commodity 'IT' role. Someone making decisions at a leadership level will usually have shall we say 'heavier' job title

Also @Wildernesstips I don't think you're alone, of course if you learnt everything from scratch that's impressive but there are lot of 'techie' people who changed careers. They've been fiddling about with stuff at home long before that though. Setting up routers, loading cheat codes into video games etc etc.

Mostly dudes, but if they can do it so can we :)

*techie but didn't do it for a living that should say.

@RedDedRedemption I worked in the business before so I feel I am the "human" link and that I can interpret what the business want into what the tech can deliver. In that respect I feel quite privileged.

Management changed my title to Systems Manager, but essentially I am still Sys Admin!

Hello, female software developer here!
In my 40s. Started as a mainframe Cobol developer 25 years ago. Made the switch to dotnet.

I have a question: are you worried that as you get older you might not be able to keep up with the rapid changes in tech? I’m trying to learn Angular now, but i’m so terribly slow. It frightens me a little: where will i be in 10 years? Under a layer of dust and spiderwebs?😥

Thanks for the comments, it’s a great thread, I suspect my youngest DD has a good natural skill set to get into a tech career if she can survive school. Lots to think about, I think the ship has sailed for me in my 50s as menopause is seriously impacting my ability to pick up new skills now even though I did do math’s & statistics A level many years ago and dabbled at analytical stuff in my job. Interestingly my eldest DD is expected to do really well in her maths & physics exams results next week but is going a different route entirely.

For those thinking the ship has sailed, I started from scratch mid forties. Literally from nothing, and self taught no-code marketing tech. Now a world leading authority in a specific piece of martech. So don’t assume it’s too late to start, especially in no-code apps.

Hello! What a fab group, so happy to have found this chat!

I'm late 30s working in specialist solutions marketing for a tech company in a global role.

I'm fully remote, and work with colleagues across the globe, so lots of early mornings and late nights!

@Titerama could you share a little on how you got? I’m a total generalist (not v techie) in a client facing role and would like to work towards a potential change in the background but not sure where to begin

Your experience is super interesting, I am learning javascript as well and find the creative aspect very interesting . May I ask have you experienced any ageism while job hunting during your career change?
Thank you very much.

V happy to see this thread in Active and to read everyone's stories- lots resonates. I have spent 25 years in Service Delivery for a big corporate- in various guises, with various clients, last role in cybersecurity as delivery lead. I took a package in June and have had a couple of months off, and start a new role as a CSM for a cybersec company on Monday. V different, much smaller organisation - am slightly terrified 😳

@DutchCowgirl I started as a mainframe cobol programmer too albeit in 1985! I carried on learning new stuff right up until I retired (am 60 now). The key is to be open to any opportunities for training or on the job learning or just reading around your field. I specialised in databases so ultimately it’s like an onion, just adding new layers. Don’t underestimate what you already know.

Good morning and hello. I'm 40's, a project consultant with three kids. NW based yet fully remote.

I think specialisation helps… i’m trying to be a full stack developer. And it is difficult keeping up with the younger guys who can spend so many hours practicing. While i’m also a mom who has to do family stuff every evening.

This thread in feminism chat has lots of advice, experience and tips on getting started with no code