Ten Tips To Become a Kick-Ass Female Software Engineer

How to excel in a male-dominated industry.

This article has some awesome tips for any Software Engineer, regardless of gender. While some content is directly applicable to women, you can identify however you please and still walk away with valuable insight! So take a look around and let me know what you think!

In a 2018 Women In Tech Report by HackerRank, 74.5% of female respondents aged 18–24 entered the technical industry from a Computer Science background, as opposed to from STEM or Liberal Arts. Computer Science has long held a stigma for being more suited for men, but this stigma has already begun to dissolve.

And while these are encouraging statistics, there are still improvements to be made in the technology industry demographic.

You see, although more women are joining the tech industry, “women over the age of 35 are 3.5x more likely to be in junior positions than men.”

Throughout my four years of college as well as my 3 years in the tech industry, I’ve gathered some insight that I hope can encourage other women developers and engineers out there.

Let’s change the stigma of women in tech!

Growing up, I never dreamed about becoming a Software Engineer. In fact, I had my entire life planned out: I was going to become an OBGYN. (Spoiler alert… I didn’t become an OBGYN).

Both of my parents work at IBM: my dad is a Software Engineer/Architect and my mom is a Senior Designer. Thus, as kids do, I had a strong inclination to run as far in the other direction as humanly possible.

I grew up going to “bring your kid to work day” at IBM, and had the idea burned into my mind that engineers were all men. Even in middle and high school, tech or computer clubs were populated by mostly (or all) males.

It wasn’t until my Sophomore year of college when I realized that “hey I’m pretty good at this computer science stuff… and also, IT’S FUN!”

There are plenty of women engineers in the history of engineering, but for some reason, younger girls aren’t viewing the industry as pertinent to them.

During the last few years, I’m sad to admit that I have heard the phrase “You’re a Software Engineer? But you’re too pretty for that.” And even sadder is the fact that this wasn’t a one-time issue.

How can we change the stigma that to be a female in the engineering industry is a deficit?

I hope these tips can help other women engineers to break down the barriers of being a woman in tech.

I’ve been fortunate to have some awesome jobs in my three years in the industry. I got to work on great projects with great colleagues and as a result have gained invaluable knowledge.

It’s okay to switch positions until you find a role that encapsulates everything you want in a career. And as a result of moving around to different roles, I’ve gained a ton of knowledge in different technical areas as well as different team dynamics.

Unfortunately, there will always be a select-few people in the tech industry who will look down their noses at you because of the fact that you’re a woman. And it’s not your job to change their opinion.

But by practicing some of these tips below, you can greatly increase your job performance. And who knows, maybe you’ll succeed so greatly that those doubters will change their opinions of you!

Confession: I was always so afraid to ask questions for fear of seeming ignorant or uneducated.

Reality: I inhibited my ability to learn because I didn’t know how or when to ask effective questions.

Learning the proper questions to ask, and the most effective way to ask them, is a learned skill, and truthfully a balancing act. It’s important to always try to solve the problem yourself before asking for help. But it’s also important to know when the time expenditure of researching the answer outweighs the benefit of self-discovery.

If you have been struggling for a two-hour problem that can be answered in two minutes by your colleague, it’s time to put away Stack Overflow and ask for help.

A good method for question asking is to explain the problem, explain the steps you took to solve it, and any hypotheses you may have.

This shows initiative to problem solve.

One approach to solving a difficult task is to isolate the root problem at hand. From here, you can problem solve similar to traversing a data tree: start at the root, list all possible next steps, and delve depth-first into the first option until you can go no further. If you hit a dead end, traverse up the chain of decisions to a point you can branch off again.

Even if you find a solution early-on, it’s possible you can optimize it. If you get frustrated, take a break. Often drawing diagrams of decision trees, or important information, will help clarify the confusion.

As women, we tend to be a bit more timid speaking up in large meeting which is dominated by men. But we should always feel comfortable voicing our opinions in meetings (so long as it’s done in a respectful manner).

It’s important, especially early-on in your career, to make a name for yourself. You want your management team to know your name in accordance with being a kick-ass contributor. You want your team to know that you’re full of creative solutions.

And although it may be scary to speak up, for fear of being criticized, it’s one of the best things you can do to ensure that your entire team values you as a team member, and you’re not just blending into the background.

Another great way to get “noticed” is to volunteer for company activities! Sign-up to give a presentation which will help educate your colleagues, or participate in their volunteer day.

When you start to get involved in the company, it becomes more of a community. This is a symbiotic process, because you’ll find more value in your job as well as networking within the company.

The technology field is ever-changing which means the day you stop actively learning, you put yourself at a deficit. Although this is more of a gender-neutral tip, by keeping up-to-date on your skills and on industry news, you can actively participate in highly-technical conversations with your colleagues.

Not only that, but you might even be able to suggest a new technology for your product.

If your team is building a large-scale application with React, learn more about Redux and propose it as the coolest state-management solution that you should integrate.

Not only does this show initiative, but it shows a deep understanding of your domain.

There are so many resources for learning. If you’d like a comprehensive list of courses, websites, books, and influencers, head over to my blog post about How To Learn JavaScript.

A lot of my colleagues (male-specifically, husband included) spend all of their free-time coding. But when I come home at the end of the day, all I want to do is curl up with a good book. It’s hard to find the motivation to keep learning.

So I set specific days or times of the day which I devote to learning. For example, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during lunch, I have a German class, and Tuesday and Thursday I watch technical courses.

This way, I’m making the most of my lunch hour without taking time away from my de-stress time at home.

Sadly, it’s not uncommon for women to be labeled as “too emotional”, especially in the tech industry. I, myself, am guilty of getting over-emotional during a conversation with my team lead or manager. And I have been told (and known female colleagues who have been told) to get my emotions under control.

What our colleagues don’t realize is that being “overly emotional” about a topic indicates passion. And when you’re passionate about a project, it means you genuinely care about its success.

We need to change the stigma about being emotional in the workplace. Okay, if you’re having emotional breakdowns on a weekly basis, that might be a different conversation. But there is nothing wrong about “getting emotional” when discussing the future of a project you’re passionate about.

Learning to handle these emotions and discuss your feelings in a productive way is the key.

I recently had a conversation with my team lead and mentor about my fear of choosing difficult tasks at work, because it will force me to admit when I don’t know all the answers. (And I don’t like admitting when I don’t know something.) But by having this conversation openly, in a private room, and stating the facts of “When I do this…. I feel this…” it shows that you genuinely care about your project and career, without starting an all-out bawl fest.

This title could also be re-named “How to be a good human”, because honoring your commitments doesn’t seem like a difficult thing to do and can be applied in all areas of your life. However, in your career, when you commit to getting work done you need to not only honor that commitment, but blow it out of the water.

Treat your colleagues the way you want them to treat you.

If co-workers are depending upon your work to continue their progress, make sure you deliver on time.

If you generally struggle with meeting deadlines, it’s better to “under-commit and over-deliver.” The feature you think will take you a week to complete? Estimate a week and a half.

This way, when you deliver early, it will impress your team. But if you take the full week and a half, that’s okay because that’s what you committed to.

Like I mentioned above, I struggle with choosing the difficult tasks for two reasons: they will take me longer to complete, and I don’t have all the answers.

The problem with always choosing the tasks you’re familiar with is this:

You cannot grow if you’re continually completing tasks with which you already have experience.

Additionally, you steal an opportunity from your colleagues to be able to tackle something new. When you relinquish an “easy” task, you now put yourself in a position to become a mentor to the co-worker which snatches it up.

Will it be scary to take that super technical task about the RTC Gateway? Yes absolutely. You might even need to ask for help from your team lead or colleague (see tip 1 about how to ask questions). But the value, and sense of achievement, you’ll gain from completing this task will make the next RTC Gateway task not so daunting.

Plus, your manager loves to see the fact that you’re not scared to tackle new things, and you relish learning new skills.

A great way to enhance your performance at work and within your relationships is to encourage those around you.

I am a huge proponent of giving credit where credit is due. If your colleague delivers a bad-ass feature, be sure to let them know.

Additionally, it’s important to always have your team’s back. Whether this is in a heated meeting discussion, or a personal favor, you’re part of a team, which means you need to rely on, and trust each other, inside and outside of the office.

When you’re constantly uplifting and helping your colleagues, they’ll most likely return the favor when you’re under pressure.

Not only that, but a positive attitude is a great way to attract other people. As humans, we want to surround ourself with positive and trustworthy people.

Doing little things around the office to foster a sense of trust can have invaluable impacts towards enhancing your career. When you treat colleges as humans first, you forge a stronger relationship. So get them a birthday card on their birthday. Attend their presentation at a meetup in town after work. All of these things will allow you to form deeper connections and work more efficiently together.

One of the best things you can do to further your career is to ask for constructive criticism.

I used to have trouble not taking things personally when co-workers would tell me areas I needed to improve on. But I quickly realized that this mindset would absolutely sabotage my career growth.

We need to be an activist for our career. So to do this, you need to outwardly ask for places in which you can improve.

Once you become aware of these deficits, make a plan to work on them. And as you continually work on these areas, ask for feedback; see if you’ve improved in the eyes of your teammates.

I am a huge proponent of mentorship. Not only is it a great way to expand your network, but it’s a wonderful way to gain invaluable knowledge and advice.

There are many different types of mentorship relationships you can cultivate:

• Technical: Someone who has the technical expertise to help you improve your JavaScript skills.
• Professional: Someone in your dream role, someone who can help get you where you want to be five or ten years down the line.
• Personal: Someone within the company who can help you through your ethical dilemmas or questions about the business.

It’s important to have goals for these mentorship meetings. And each relationship is unique. Some mentorship relationships may meet only once a month. Others, like the technical mentorship, might meet ad-hoc.

But be clear with your goals for the meetings and ensure you’re seeing progress. It’s your responsibility to drive these meetings, as you’re asking for help from a colleague, so be sure that you make the most of your time together.

When relationship is no longer beneficial for one or both parties, then it’s okay to say goodbye and keep the network open for future communication.

We are working in one of the toughest industries, skill-wise and socially, to excel in. But it’s important to never give up. There will be days that are so difficult that you come home and eat a pint of ice cream and cry yourself to sleep.

That is okay.

But see every day as a clean slate. Your manager hired you for a reason. You are a valued member of your team and they are there to help you.

If you’re seriously frustrated with your career, take a vacation or get some space.

You’re passionate about technology for a reason, and in order to maintain that passion, it’s important to take some time away to remember why you fell in love with programming in the first place.

You are a badass, and as such you have so much potential to excel in the technical industry. I hope these tips were helpful and encouraging. Unfortunately there’s no 10-step guide for getting a promotion, or becoming the next CEO of Google, but by practicing these tips I’ve outlined above, you’ll be in a much better position to advance your career.

An additional tip is to build an awesome portfolio to showcase your kick-ass skills. Get it up on GitHub, or build a personal website. But make sure you showcase it somewhere that is visible.

Who knows, it might just land you your dream job?