How Chillisoft Supports women in software
Anujah Bosman
Managing Director Yutori Design | Director of Chillisoft | Management Consulting, Strategy, Building and Nurturing Resilient Companies
Women in the software or a technical industry is topical and as a black female CEO, this is a common question that I have to repeatedly answer.
1) Chillisoft strives to create a culture and climate of learning, where failure is part of learning. We strive to create a climate of trust, and inquisitiveness, making it easier for female devs to learn in a safe environment. It is safe because the emphasis is on learning and improvement and not on perfection. Learning is gender agnostic :)
2) We work regular hours, requiring our devs to get their work done during work. This allows for a work-life balance.
3) We do not reward heroic, unsustainable behaviour. Chillisoft strives to create a drama free environment :)
4) Sexual harassment or innuendos are not tolerated.
5) Your career path is based on competence, and does not depend on socialising with management, playing golf, or being able to down shots of tequila :).
6)Every Chillisofter, knows that they were hand selected and that they are highly competent. By being a Chillisofter, you are starting out with a requisite competence level, and you do not have to continually prove yourself, just to be heard or seen.
Most importantly however, Chillisoft teaches you how to increase your level of resilience, so that you can work in a stressful, ever changing, challenging environment. We build resilience by:
- Deliberately encouraging social interaction and support
- Treating problems and failures as a learning process
- Celebrating successes
- Being optimistically engaged
- Nurturing a positive self view, and sense of purpose
Overall, I love working at Chillisoft because the idea of being prejudiced against an individual because of gender is non-sensical. Every individual displays feminine and masculine traits that are continually in ebb and flow. Neither trait is better, its just different.
I will post a series of comments from female Chillisofters, explaining why they love working for Chillisoft during the course of women's month.