What are the challenges that accompany being a woman leader in technology? How can you be an ally for women in your workplace? How do you overcome imposter syndrome? These are just a few of the questions Christine Awad—the Director of Engineering at Facebook—so kindly answers in this episode of Simple Leadership.

Christine Joined Facebook 6.5 years ago as a software engineer on the Facebook Video team and then transitioned to be an engineering manager supporting Video Creator Tools. She led the engineering team for Facebook Watch from its initial launch to being used by more than 1.25 billion users monthly around the world. She is currently supporting the engineering team building Video Chat and Rooms across Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook. Originally from Egypt, she went to school there and did an internship at Facebook in 2014 before joining full-time.

Special thanks to Kandace Korver for helping produce this episode!

Outline of This Episode

• [1:37 ] Get to know Christine Awad


• [3:25 ] The transition to management


• [6:46 ] Mistakes that Christine’s learned from


• [9:38 ] Statistics about women in tech


• [14:37 ] Christine’s negative experiences


• [19:40 ] The topic of imposter syndrome


• [25:30 ] Covid-19’s impact on women in the workplace


• [30:13 ] Two Facebook programs to highlight


• [31:04 ] The importance of support systems


• [35:10 ] How to navigate the interview process


• [39:39 ] How to connect with Christine Awad

Christine’s transition to management

Christine specifically remembers not wanting to be in any sort of leadership position. She loved coding and didn’t want to be stuck in meetings 24/7. But her manager at the time said she had great leadership capabilities and would make a great manager. When her manager went on parental leave, she was asked to do one-on-ones with her team while he was out. She discovered that people were having crucial conversations with their managers.

She had a new grad come in and wanted to learn the path from E3 to E4. This person took her recommendations and made changes and moved up the ladder. Another female colleague pointed out that people talked over her in meetings. Christine had a similar experience but had an ally who helped her voice become heard. Christine was able to be that for her. She began to feel a sense of fulfillment that she hadn’t before. She felt that her greatest accomplishments were working with her colleagues, not the products she completed.

What are some of the mistakes Christine made in the beginning that she learned from? Keep listening to hear her experience!

Diversity & inclusion in tech

According to Peer Research, women make up 46% of the workforce but only 14% are in software in engineering. 3% of computer-related jobs are held by African American women, 6% by Asian women, and 2% by Hispanic women. 50% have experienced gender discrimination at work. In 2016, women-led businesses only made up 4.9% of VC-backed deals.

Many companies implement courses about discrimination, managing bias, managing inclusion, and classes about being an ally. All of these things are good—but are they enough? Christine points out that it’s also helpful to see people in the room that look like you.

Often being the only woman in the room made Christine more ambitious. When Christine was young, she was also the first person to show up to her math class. Boys thought she was different because she liked math. So she saw it as a challenge to become better. She wants to be a reason for people to believe that women can thrive in these jobs. But other women in leadership positions feel like it’s a large burden.

Christine is in rooms where she’s the only woman. She’s in rooms where there are conversations about who to hire or who to promote to leadership positions. She tries to sponsor other women whenever possible. She notes a lot more work can be done to get more women to apply for these jobs. She believes that more women will apply when they see themselves represented in the workforce.

The topic of imposter syndrome

Christine has seen examples where someone doesn’t feel confident enough to apply for a job. Christine believes overcoming this comes from having people around you who lift you up. Over time, you won’t need people to push you. Christine pushes women to sponsor other people, that you can’t wait for people to come to you. Who might be qualified that isn’t coming forward?

When Christine had just joined Facebook, she had just come out of school in Egypt. She didn’t know if she was good enough. In every one-on-one, her manager seemed to only point out what she was missing. She was struggling so much that she lost it and felt horrible at her job. But her manager explained that she was really good at her job and that he pointed out what she missed so she could learn and grow.

She points out that you must remember that the fact that you work at these companies in the first place means you’re qualified to be there.

The impact of COVID on women in the workplace

Christine points out that all of the policies that were enforced before COVID no longer applied in a pandemic. She emphasizes that being flexible and realizing that people need that is key. Christine had had many parents able to take COVID leave—anywhere from weeks to months—to take care of their kids. Christine also implemented flexible hours while trying to make sure her teams weren’t overworked or burned out.

Women in computer science are there because they push themselves. Christine’s job is to tell them that we are in unexpected times. The fact that you’re struggling to cope with this doesn’t mean you’re failing—it means you’re human. Women tend to place unrealistic expectations on themselves and need to be told that it’s okay to focus on their family over their career.

Facebook has implemented a special program during COVID where you can work with your manager to decide what you’re capable of achieving for a Half and you’re evaluated on that versus t