Note to girls...and boys

I've been invited recently to think about the theme of 'Women in Technology' as broad and generic as it sounds. My first reaction was along those lines: 'I really hope next time I will be invited to talk about Technology or my ideas or products I worked on rather than my experience as a woman (struggling to) working in Tech per se!'.

Stereotypes towards gender differences are taught to us since and early age. In an interesting experiment run by BBC is shown how educators both female and male, were biased towards gender in regards of proposing toys and playing activities to a baby boy and a baby girl who were 'masked' to look like a member of their opposite sex.

This is just a small sample of the innate gender biases we (both boys and girls) all have to work with in order to modify our behaviour and help providing equal opportunities to both female and male based on meritocracy which will enable workplaces to really select their candidates based on their existing and potential skills and accomplishments rather than being influenced by their gender.

I have decided to talk about 'Women in Technology' by talking about my story which I am sure I share with a lot of other women and men and that I have decided to share here in a summarised version.

Statistics show a pretty sad picture in regards to women in technology.

Even when you look into those Big Tech Giants who we all expect to show a much better attitude to women in Technology, stats again show that women are vastly underrepresented in Silicon Valley Tech jobs. Even companies such as Google claiming to work super hard to get to a more balanced gender distribution within jobs in technical roles as well as leadership roles recently got under the spotlight for having had an overt and quite brutal expression of gender bias by one of their male engineers claiming that women are unsuited for tech because they like people, whilst men like things.

Data though can only illustrate what's happening in the present or in the past and maybe predict a bit of the future. However the future still needs to happen and therefore needs to be shaped. So perhaps we shouldn't focus so much on how is the situation of gender distribution in Tech workplaces today but rather what can be done to enable gender equality.

Childhood - self confidence building blocks

Been treated as a person rather than a girl by my parents and being able to play with what I wanted (mostly Lego and Barbie) and with who I wanted (boys and girls) since early age helped me growing my curiosity and fearless attitude. How your parents instill in you the concept that anything is possible if you really want it and how they make your feel safe and capable of achieving anything you want as long as you work hard for it, is key to develop that pinch of self confidence that anyone needs to succeed in life.

Exploration and experimentation under my skin

I can easily say that I have explored new things and experimented new domains all my life, mainly gambling on personal and work related choices which have shaped and affected my existence permanently. After having worked super hard at my education which I then found out was also my passion and mission in life - researching and experimenting on the brain and then after that within the technology space- I have continuously refined my understanding of how I could translate and augment my existing skills of cognitive neuroscientist into the technology and big data space. I worked with lots of data, statistics, research methods and validation paradigms for a decade which I translated into product validation, experimentation and development leveraging big data, machine learning and cloud computing.

Never stop learning - if you think you're the smartest in the room you are in the wrong room

One of my mentors, Prof. Glyn Humphreys taught me whilst supervising my PhD thesis that anyone can have a good idea as long as you put it through a solid validation process. He is one of the most prominent mind in Cognitive Neuroscience but yet was listening to your proposals and ideas as if he was discussing science with a peer. He made me completely accountable and responsible for the work I have done, made me manage my time and resources independently (at times even too much so) but he was always there at the right time providing that small advice or guidance to help me stay adrift. He was the most bright and creative mind I worked with and at the same time the most humble, open and curious person I ever met despite being a rockstar in the field. He provided me with mentorship, freedom and guidance and at the same time with INSPIRATION.

Be creative with your experience and re-invent the world

You don't need to be a software engineer to work in Technology. I am a living proof.

I found a way to connect my existing skills with new ones I wanted to develop. I definitely had to work super hard to learn new things and skill up in a short span of time to keep the peace with new technologies coming up or new domains of knowledge. By getting out of my comfort zone and not fearing to get stuck into new things I managed to find my way. Yes, it can be uncomfortable at times but that's the beauty of it! You are doing something new and challenging and that triggers the need of developing coping mechanisms, adaptation and neural plasticity (your brain will have to rewire and create novel connections to cope with new problems). I found a strong bridge between Cognitive Neuroscience and Technology and I crossed it and found myself in a new world which I may have the chance to contribute to.

I don't intend here to start talking about the general theme of unbalance in the workforces between genders nor touching upon the sad latest news around sexual harassment in the Silicon Valley. I will rather focus on summarising the main points that any girl wanting to work in Tech should focus on regardless the reality stats and media show.

• You don’t need to be a software engineer to work in Technology
• Build strong knowledge around technology systems, approaches, development methodology, new emerging trends, data, the art of the possible (and the impossible) in mobile and A.I. etc. enhancing your existing skills
• Never stop learning - invest in your education, be curious, never think that once you’ve learned something and you got to a point of your career where you are comfortable, you don’t need to learn anymore…someone else will in your place!
• Use your critical thinking and be courageous - never listen to people telling you that something 'can’t be done' or this is 'crazy'….dare and challenge ideas in a constructive way
• Be confident of your views and own them.
• Maintain your integrity and hold onto your principles and beliefs

As a woman working first in Science then in Tech (which are renown to be both male dominated fields), I probably needed to be a bit more persistent and working harder than my male counterpart to get through where I am now but I never really thought about it that way. I just worked hard, did what I thought was the right thing to do for me and my career in order to cultivate and grow my passion and kept trying and kept learning.

I'll leave you with a story about a very inspiring Woman in Technology who thought 'she was onto something' and by being persistent, emphatic and creative has managed to come up with a great invention:

Haiyan Zhang - Innovation Director at Microsoft Research

Thank you for reading