Cloud Hosting

Most of us have already heard the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the workplace: Diverse teams make smarter decisions and even make their companies more money. While research has consistently shown why DEI is worth the effort, these efforts are still hard to scale and replicate, especially for technical teams.

Whether you think it’s a “pipeline problem” or something much more complicated, no company has completely solved it yet. But asking people in the field the right questions is often a great first step on the path to creating lasting organizational change.

For Nisha Paliwal, becoming managing vice president of enterprise data technology at CapitalOne came decades after an unexpected career shift.

“My career in engineering started by pure happenstance,” Paliwal said. “After I completed my master’s in microbiology, I moved in with my mother and became her caretaker while she was ill. I needed a job, but there were few microbiology jobs available. So I decided to learn C#. That ended up being the start of my career in engineering — a journey of learning, unlearning and relearning.”

A big part of Nisha’s journey has been dedicated to nonprofit work with organizations like Boolean Girls, CodeVA and Wings For Growth that help open educational and professional doors for women in tech.

For Confluent staff developer advocate Danica Fine, who has spent her entire career in engineering, these kinds of programs are beneficial but could use some improvement.

“We’re still at a point where being a ‘woman in tech’ is relatively novel. That’s why I am baffled that so many women in tech groups and career development programs are run and supported exclusively by women. As important as those programs are, everyone should support the effort to bring more women into the industry,” Fine said.

Smriti Sridhar, a solutions architect in Confluent’s professional services team, illustrates how company-sponsored programs can help women succeed in the field.

“I joined Confluent as an associate consultant engineer (ACE) after completing my master’s degree. The ACE program was exactly what I needed. I was looking for something different from software development, but non-traditional roles like product management were out of reach for someone so early in their career,” Sridhar said.

Sridhar explained that she soon advanced to a solutions architect position partly because of the learning opportunities she had during the year-long program.

‘[Engineering leaders]should not only help women engineers at the entry level but also encourage them to stay at their companies, invest the time to advance, and become leaders as well.’

“I joined my ACE cohort alongside two other women, and learning alongside people facing similar challenges was invaluable,” she said. “Now, I’ve seen the diversity of roles available and want to see the number of these programs grow and get better for women long term. They should not only help women engineers at the entry-level but also encourage them to stay at their companies, invest the time to advance, and become leaders as well.”

According to Sneha Wadhwa, a senior software engineer at Confluent, efforts to bolster women’s success in engineering need to go beyond training and recruitment.

“Leaders also need to implement flexible work policies that accommodate women who may be balancing work with caregiving responsibilities. Offering options such as telecommuting, flexible hours and parental leave can help retain talented women engineers,” she said.

Wadhwa added, “Women have a lot to offer in engineering and tech. They bring different skills, ideas and ways of thinking that make the field better and more welcoming for everyone.”

While each of these four women has distinct roles and responsibilities, they have consistent advice in one area: prioritizing continual learning.

“Always be pushing yourself to progress as an engineer, and your career will progress,” Fine said.

Paliwal echoed that sentiment, “Learn constantly, keep up the certifications and don’t be satisfied with the status quo. Challenge and push yourself to reach new limits.”

For Sridhar specifically, her experience working with customers has been an incredible opportunity to add to her skills and confidence in her technical expertise.

Sridhar explained, “My role is to help customers remove technical barriers by training their teams, recommending use cases and doing hands-on work alongside our consulting engineers. Being the jack-of-all-trades has pushed me to be prepared for anything, have confidence in my knowledge and think creatively. These are things I want all women in tech to experience, and I think many of them would find these lesser-known roles in engineering very fulfilling and empowering to take on.”

‘While more women are joining the field as entry-level engineers every day, their representation decreases progressively at each level up the corporate hierarchy.’

Similarly, Wadhwa has found her voice to be one of her most powerful assets in her software engineering role. When asked about the advice she wants to pass on, Wadhwa said, “Speak up. Have confidence and don’t shy away from voicing your ideas and opinions or taking part in healthy debates in meetings and projects. When you give your input within and outside of your team, you not only get a bigger picture of the organization and its mission, you become an integral part of its success.”

Paliwal said, “I’d love to see more companies mentoring and sponsoring women across the board. There’s a frustrating lack of women in middle and upper management. It’s on companies and higher-ups to help change that.”

To make that happen, Fine believes companies need to give women in tech a broader base of support, one that’s encouraged from the top down.

“Too often, I see so many women bogged down by the unreasonable expectations that they need to keep these programs running for themselves. Support should come from everyone across the company,” she said.

As a vice president with first-hand experience contributing to these initiatives, Paliwal recommends a hands-on approach. She laid it out, step by step:

“First, start participating in nonprofit organizations that devote their time to the early education of girls in tech. Second, find two to three women whom you may want to sponsor so you can share insight and guide them throughout their careers. Lastly, focus on more than just recruiting women. You need to retain, nurture and advocate to open opportunities to women engineers and women leaders in your organization.”

While each of these women put a lot of effort into furthering their education and careers, all four learned best when others were ready and willing to help them grow. Both Paliwal and Wadhwa expressed the importance of leadership in creating opportunities for inspiration, career advancement and mentorship to ensure that successful women engineers see the career advancement they deserve.

“While more women are joining the field as entry-level engineers every day, their representation decreases progressively at each level up the corporate hierarchy,” Wadhwa pointed out.

“I can’t wait until [women have] made enough progress across the industry for it to no longer feel like something we need to call out.”

“The longer this trend continues, we’ll reach a point where we can say there are many women engineers but still few women leaders. That’s not the future I want to see. Leaders need to champion active allyship in the workplace so women’s contributions are recognized, rewarded and compensated equally.”

Like the other three women, Fine believes that being a successful, visible woman in engineering is something to be incredibly proud of. At the same time, she said, “I can’t wait until we’ve made enough progress across the industry for it to no longer feel like something we need to call out.”

YOUTUBE.COM/THENEWSTACK

Tech moves fast, don't miss an episode. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stream all our podcasts, interviews, demos, and more.

SUBSCRIBE

The rest is here:

4 Women in Tech on What Engineering Leaders Need to Hear - The New Stack