Women in Tech: The Power of a Generation

As women gain more and more visibility in CEO, presidential, and Technical Director positions within the IT industry, it seems unnecessary to demythify its common association with men and men only. Online communities like the WomenTech Network, however, unite thousands of women around the world to share their experience and challenges as women in tech, even from positions of power. (If you’re not familiar with “the gender gap” I suggest you google the term, and dive in some stats after reading this article).

The beauty of our generation? the possibility of global, interconnecting conversations about every myth and reality concerning women’s equality in the work place. There’s a magnifying glass on the subject that empowers those who have felt alone, and builds a bridge of understanding and education for those who need to know more.

We talked to Jessica Zhou, a member of the Career Advanced Training Program at Enhance IT, about her own experience as a woman in tech. Jessica has a Business Bachelor’s Degree and a Masters in Information Systems, has been to 11 countries, and wrote “future billionaire” on her Instagram Bio.

Here’s everything she had to say.

1. How and when did you decide your career path?

When I was in college, my major was accounting. My parents told me this would be a good career for a girl, easy and stable. I thought they were right back then, until I started working as an intern in accounting. I found that it wasn't what I really liked and in contrast, I was fascinated by the accounting system they used. I didn’t know much about programming back then, but I just fell in love with big data and the system behind it. My dream career path has not changed since then.

2. What inspires you the most?

I want to say my parents were the first ones who inspired me and they still inspire me every day. My dad studied Electronic Engineering when he was in college. His stories of “almost” starting to learn robotics was my first interaction with computer science. They also showed me the world outside, traveling across the country and abroad. I think that’s where I started to like exploring new things. I would get bored just doing things the old way and facing the same every day.

3. Did you ever think it was unusual to become a girl in tech?

I think girls in tech should not be something special. Girls naturally have the same capability of doing anything, the same or more, than a guy. Nowadays, though, it seems like it is unusual to be a female programmer.

4. Do you ever get reactions of surprise or comments on your profession?

Yes, I remember one time I was calling the cloud platform customer service. The customer service was surprised that the user for the cloud data service was a girl. She was also a female.

5. Did you ever encounter difficulties or know women who have?

Most of the difficulties come from us being women. We naturally care about our environment more than ourselves. Facing the same questions, we tend to doubt our ability while guys doubt the other person’s ability. Really, I think it’s easy to list these difficulties but we can also change things when we choose not to sit comfortably in the back of the room while others take control.

6. How do you think women of our generation are creating change and re-shaping the future?

I believe we are. Work, technology itself, interestingly, is reducing the myth of guys having more power. As technology pushes boundaries, women use and create technology just like men do.

7. What would be your advice for young girls interested in tech?

If you really like it, go for it and work hard towards it. Disregard what others say.

8. What’s your favorite thing about working at EIT?

The pace of the courses really push you to learn and break your limits. They have everything else taken care of so that we as consultants can focus on building skills and our careers.

9. How do you see yourself in 10 years?

I will keep doing what I am doing right now, as a Data Engineer. But who knows what will happen? Maybe I’ll become a photographer and travel around the world. I will always keep trying new things.