As you might know, the 8th of March is International Women's Day, a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It is also a day to raise awareness about gender inequality and to push for progress towards a more gender-equal world.
As the world becomes increasingly digital, the tech industry is playing a pivotal role in shaping our future. However, like many industries, it has historically been male-dominated. As we celebrate International Women's Day, it is important to acknowledge the unique challenges faced by women working in the tech industry and to provide some tips for success.
Why should we be more diverse?
We could probably write a book just on this topic, but here are three key areas.
1. Increased problem solving
Diverse teams bring together a range of perspectives and experiences, which can lead to more creative and effective problem-solving. If you have a gender gap within your team, you may only be solving problems with a limited set of perspectives.
2. Improved decision making
A more diverse team is better equipped to understand the needs and perspectives of a wider range of users, leading to a higher quality decision process that really suits the needs of your varied user base. This can also lead to quicker innovation as a diverse perspective allows your team to see new opportunities.
3. Better business performance
Companies that prioritise diversity and inclusion are more likely to have better business performance, as they are better able to attract and retain top talent as people will want to work there and be a part of the culture you provide.
Here are a few tips for women working in the tech industry in 2023:
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Don’t be afraid to go for male dominated roles! In my experience I have seen that some roles are still very male dominated, there just isn’t as much encouragement
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Remember that cyber security is an incredibly wide sector, you don’t need to be technically minded to work within this sector.
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You can take your experience within other sectors into cyber security, your skills from other sectors are transferable.
Your next tips are from Dhivya Poole from Willis Towers Watson. Dhivya is a penetration test manager and is passionate about cybersecurity and has worked hard to get where she is today. She was personally introduced into going into cybersecurity by actually having her own phishing attack.
- You don’t need to understand everything about the technology to work within this sector, it is impossible to know everything. Don’t let this hold you back.
- Make connections with people that you would class as role models, they will help you to gain access to not only this sector but also boost your confidence.
- Just go for it, technical or non-technical, and use open source resources to help you to equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible. We are all learning
If you want to find more tips please take a read of our latest ebook!
Latest Ebook Here:PRO TIP: It is not only down to women to make bold leaps and forge a pathway into cyber security for themselves. At an organisational level there also needs to be significant change to encourage diversity and to break down the preconceptions that exist within our sector.
Don’t forget to pop the kettle on and tune in to the full episodes of the Influential Women Within Tech podcasts and check out our other episodes too!
Listen to the latest episode on Spotify here:
Listen to our latest episode on Apple Podcasts here:If you want to discover more about us at Core to Cloud then you can get in contact with us.
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