10 Women Working in IT and Data Share their Experience
Is the IT industry still considered as men-dominated field, or are the times slowly changing? We asked female IT professionals from different countries in Europe about their experience in IT or data-related jobs.
Why does it matter if the people working in the tech industry are more often women or men? Today tech recruiters are often trying to ensure diversity in IT and data teams to make sure that a team of 10 software engineers or data analysts won’t come up with the same 10 solutions to a problem.
Despite these efforts, according to a study from McKinsey in Europe only 22% of all tech roles are held by women. That does not come as so big a surprise considering the low enrollment of women into STEM study fields in universities. Furthermore, based on data from Eurostat, women’s graduation rate in STEM disciplines during higher education is declining.
Therefore I have asked 10 female IT professionals with various experiences in the IT field to share some of their highlights as well as their struggles in the tech industry to help young girls to decide if they want to try a career in IT or not. (More details about the women interviewed can be found at the end of this article.)
Question 1: What do you consider as the biggest advantage(s) for a woman working in the IT/data field or in general for anyone working in this field?
Maria: I’ll answer this question in terms of the person working in IT/data. Because I think the advantages are here regardless of gender. IT or data-related jobs are in very high demand. This gives you the opportunity to choose, and for me that also means power.
You’re not desperate to get anything, you can choose what better suits you. Some other advantages are the ability to work from anywhere because you literally just need a laptop and wi-fi. The high pay rates are another consequence of the current high demand for these roles. Also, I really like the challenge and the possibility to solve something, but I would say that’s more personal than anything else.
Aya: The advantages are various job…
