Three different paths to tech

Elina Valeeva, CEO of Meditivity, Anna Radulovski, Founder of Coding Girls, and Claudia Mendes Silva, Project Manager for Siemens and an Ambassador of Portugal’s Women in Tech chapter, each came into the tech industry in their own ways. 

Claudia Mendes Silva and Elina Valeeva both met  Ayumi Moore, the President and Founder of Women in Tech through their tech connections.  When Elina met Ayumi at a tech conference, she says, “We had a really deep conversation about how diversity, inclusion and female empowerment  are being discussed, but not really solved.”  When Ayumi and Claudia met, Ayumi encouraged her to start the Portugal chapter of Women in Tech.

Anna Radulovski noticed and wondered about the low ratio of women to men in tech. “I wanted to know what was causing it, so I started researching,” she explains. “I found out that the problem actually starts in childhood, when girls and boys are exposed to sharply gendered toys and ways of playing.” To help remedy this issue, Anna started her own organization, Coding Girls, in 2017, which teaches coding to girls aged 7-12. “We announced one workshop, and then parents liked the idea so much, we ended up having two workshops in the same day,” she says proudly.

Four steps toward gender parity at your company 

Anna, Claudia, and Elina have advice for organizations that want to achieve more gender parity on their teams.

• Be realistic on job postings. “It’s more common for women to apply to positions when they have 100% of the skills listed, but for men it’s 60%,” says Elina. In light of this information, take a hard look at the job skills the role truly calls for.



• Establish mentorship. Whether your company establishes relationships with universities to find interns, or uses already existing, more experienced employees to show new ones the ropes, start a precedence of mentorship.



• Offer flexibility and support. Flexible hours and paid maternity leave are especially attractive to working moms.



• Shake up your leadership team. Many leadership positions rely on referrals. Diversify your hiring practices for leadership roles to connect with more women who may be qualified, but whom your roles aren’t reaching.

Learn more about the Women in Tech organization.

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