A Woman's Journey in Tech: Empowerment, Growth & Breaking Barriers

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A Woman's Journey in Tech: Empowerment, Growth & Breaking Barriers

What has your experience been like as a woman in the tech industry?

I’ve had an interesting journey. I started my career with a foot in two different worlds. My tech career started as a UX Researcher, working in the IT department at a freight and logistics company. While I spent plenty of time in the office, I spent just as much time in the field at service centers, working alongside my users– drivers, dockworkers, and freight inspectors. Nearly all of them were men.

During the 5 years I spent doing this work, I made some unexpected discoveries. This isn’t to say that you have to be a woman to build rapport with others, but in this setting, being a woman meant that people were more willing to engage, talk openly, and help me learn. And I noticed, most importantly, they trusted me. 

When I started to transition my career to SaaS product management, I took these experiences and sense of empowerment and confidence with me. While I can’t go zooming around the office, yelling at people on a forklift (which I am certified to do), I can bring that same unapologetic energy to my interactions with others, balanced with a good dose of humility. 

I’ve been fortunate to have had experience with companies that truly took women in tech as a point of pride - and backed it up with action. Delivering on promises to promote women from within, hiring more women, and loudly recognizing that women bring a diverse perspective to this industry.

One of the most high-functioning teams I ever worked on had powerhouse women in the roles of Product Manager, UX Designer, Architect, Engineering Manager, and Product Director. It was awesome to be able to look around the table and see each other on truly equal terms. 

With this feeling of empowerment, I’ve also seen my outcry of inequality and need for support fall on deaf ears. When the only other woman product manager and I spoke up about the overtalking and credit-taking of our ideas, our Chief Product Officer essentially told us to figure it out on our own, without even an invitation for dialogue. 

I’ve also seen activism working hard elsewhere. Department-wide discussions, led by leadership, about how it was observed regularly that women were being talked over in meetings. We had a respectful call-out culture, where I started to see men call out others to create space for women in the conversation. 

I know that being a woman in tech is always going to bring challenges, but I want to focus on celebrating the positives and identifying opportunities for action out of the negatives. 

What advice would you give to other women looking to grow their careers in tech?

Own your role

I spent a lot of years not identifying with the label “woman in tech.” And I didn’t do this for the purposes of othering, but because I did not feel that I experienced the same marginalizations, struggles, and lack of opportunities that women who were in more male-dominated tech roles did. As a white woman, I also didn’t want to take space away from BIPOC or double-marginalized women. 

But what I now realize, is that by removing myself from this label, I wasn’t putting myself in the best position to help others. And, we women in tech are a welcoming and inclusive bunch. Even if we don’t all have the same personal experiences, we do have a lot of general shared experiences. Being a woman in tech is so much more than how we see ourselves– it truly is how other people see us and treat us. 

Use your role for good 

I’m not a manager with the ability to hire and promote, so I have had to find other ways to use my role as a woman in tech for good. I try to look for opportunities where I can uplift women and make sure they get the recognition that they deserve for the amazing work that they do. Sometimes, it’s as easy as talking to the right person, saying the right thing, and giving credit where it is due.

I often think back to a time when I collaborated with a highly talented UX Designer to create high-fidelity wireframes for a new product. We spent countless hours refining the designs under an extremely tight review and turnaround deadline. When we finally finished, the designs were shared across senior leadership and other departments. I remember multiple conversations with various managers and directors (men and women) who were raving about the design. Each time, I asked, “You do know that [UX Designer] did all of this work, right?” I don’t think I have to tell you—they didn’t.

When I see open roles, I think about which one of my woman colleagues may be looking and offer to make referrals or introductions. When asked to write performance reviews for anyone, but especially for my women colleagues, I spend a lot of time thinking. Thinking about contributions that maybe haven’t been recognized, and trying to articulate not just the work but expanding to show the value to customers, the company, and myself. Depending on the organization, some direct managers may not be truly plugged into what people are doing, and peer performance reviews may be one of the only inputs to base their opinions and actions. 

Sometimes, using your role for good is small, like speaking up for someone in a meeting.  Or sometimes it's big, like giving a woman a promotion that they deserved after being passed over previously. But small things add up and can influence change, so we shouldn’t stop. 

Take credit for your work 

Based on these experiences, I make it a point to take credit for my work and contributions. In product management, ideas and deliverables often get presented up the chain, and along the way, the creator’s identity can be lost —or even deliberately overlooked or stolen. Of course, there’s a balance to strike when claiming credit, but I’ve found that when done graciously, humbly, and collaboratively, people are more often surprised than put off.

You can’t wait until your quarterly or yearly review to roll out a list of everything you’ve accomplished—by then, it’s old news. Taking credit at the moment is key—when your work is fresh, top of mind, and right in front of the people who matter. That’s when they’re most likely to acknowledge your contributions and, more importantly, give you credit in conversations you’re not even part of.

What excites you most about the future of tech and data analytics?

How technology evolves in cycles—similar problems keep resurfacing, but how we solve them changes based on where technology stands at the time.

Take cloud computing: On-prem data centers became too costly, prompting massive digital transformation projects to move to the cloud, often without fully understanding the long-term cost implications. Now, we see a shift toward better products and solutions for cost optimization, data management and ingestion practices, and more intentional cloud strategies and management. 

The same evolution is happening in analytics. It started with internal BI tools designed for analysts and decision-makers. Then, organizations worked to make insights accessible internally to individual contributors. Now, the focus is on embedding data directly into B2B and B2B2C products with minimal disruption to the experience. This also brings a fascinating design challenge when we introduce AI and more interactive data experiences. 

This continuous cycle of innovation—where past challenges inform new solutions—is what makes the future of tech and analytics so exciting.

Any final thoughts or words of encouragement for women in tech?

The job market right now is brutal. I know we don’t always have the luxury of being picky, but many factors can influence your success in an organization and your career. And a lot of those factors—especially the ones beyond your control—are shaped by the company’s culture.

Make sure to prioritize yourself. And while it's an organization’s responsibility to support their employees, this isn’t always done. So make sure the culture that you’re walking into is going to have the culture that supports you in the way that you need. 

So as International Women’s Month wraps up, I hope we collectively use this month as a springboard rather than a checkbox. In 2025, how are you going to own your role? Use your role for good? Take credit for your work? And prioritize yourself? Make your Woman in Tech resolutions!