Women in Tech: A Glance of Female Empowerment

Hello World,

The tech industry is taking strides regarding hiring more women in technical roles and senior jobs. This International Women’s Day 2022, let’s take a look at some women in WordPress, Shopify, and Ecommerce website building who are leading the way for future generations.

In this article, we are sharing lovely stories of our female managers on their way to building their own businesses and contributing substantially to the community.

Hi, I’m Mika – the conversation starter of this post. I started my career/journey with WordPress back in 2016. During the time of my graduation, I came to know about WordPress but didn’t have much information about its operations. Basically, I can manage to create a personal blog with WordPress.com! 🙂

But I was always excited to learn new technology. Luckily, a couple of years later, I got a chance to work as a WordPress Plugin Customer Support. And my journey with WordPress began with it.

A New Direction to WordPress as a Quality Analyst

Having the chance to get connected with Monika Rao, Quality Analyst at CaseProof LLC, I am happy to connect you with one of the greatest WordPress female contributors.

Hi Monika, how did you start your WordPress journey?

I started my career/journey with WordPress back in the year 2015. When I started working as a Quality Analyst I was able to explore WordPress and take a deep dive into it. From that moment, I decided to make it an integral part of my ever-learning professional career.

WordPress is not just a tool that can be used to simplify website building, but also a platform where you can meet new people, share your thoughts, learn from them and improve yourself through the process.

When I first started out, I had many questions in mind, some really basic ones too, like.

• What are Themes & Plugins ?
• Who developed WordPress ?
• What is WordCamp ?

It’s the same time when I thought maybe I’ll contribute to WordPress one day.

How many members are there in your team/company? And how many out of them are women?

There are 30 members in my team, out of which 9 are women who work in different roles, for example, content writers, marketing and support.

What’s your challenge in working in the WordPress industry?

In the beginning, I thought there was no career path for Tester/QA in WordPress, but as I explored WordPress, I discovered there are a variety of fields where QA/Tester can contribute or begin with their careers.

Are you a contributor? What are your strengths?

Yes, I started contributing to WordPress in 2015 with Theme Review. Where I got a chance to work with WordPress code experts and at the same time I learned concepts of theme development. As I was very much interested in testing from the beginning, I did the same in WordPress and contributed to Core.

My first contribution was in WordPress 4.7 and I remember the day when I first saw my name on the WordPress contributor list. This thing encourages me to make more contributions towards WordPress. I continued my contribution to all WordPress core updates and am happy to be a part of the community.

Then I thought of translating WordPress into my native language Hindi. From there, I started contributing to Translation and became GTE (General Translation Editor) of the Hindi project. Then I participated in WordCamp Udaipur 2017 as a Women Panelist. Now I am delighted to be a part of the Core Release of WordPress 5.6 & 5.7 as a Test lead.

Did you have to struggle for education?

​​I was born and brought up in Udaipur, which is a beautiful city in the state of Rajasthan, India. It’s a state where a girl’s education isn’t given much importance, to be honest. But, my parents were supportive of my education and helped me get through college.

That’s great! Do you think women are put off entering the technology industry?

I don’t think so. Women are working in every field. The fact that women have personal responsibilities sometimes makes them feel put-off, but I want to say one thing. If you have dedication towards your work, managing a personal and professional life is not difficult. I’m really enjoying my work and having a good personal life.

The number of women in IT and technology roles has always been dramatically lower than that of men. But are there some influential women in tech that you like, admire, or just feel so special to you?

There are many women working hard to make WordPress better, and I’m inspired by them such as Francesca, Anne McCarthy, Carolina Nymark, Josepha Haden, and Tonya Mork.

What would your daydreaming life be like? 

I would like to be recognised as an expert in this sector. Also, I want to spend more time with my family and travelling.

Thanks, Monika, for sharing your journey and ambitions with us today! We wish you all the best on the next WordPress projects. And hopefully, we can collaborate soon in the future.

A Journey toward Freedom with WordPress

This section, let’s have a conversation with Hasmik Yenokyan, the COO of WPGlob, it is my honor to host her in this virtual interview.

Hi Hasmik, so you’re working full-time in a tech role?

Yes, I am. I have five years of experience in professional management. Skilled in customer relationship management, sales management, effective team management, technical content writing, HTML/CSS, etc.

How many members of your team are women? What are their roles?

In fact, I work on two WordPress projects.
In the first project, there are 10 women in the team (a total of 13 members).
Meanwhile, all members of the second project are women (a total of 5 members including me). They work as Content Writers, Social Media Managers, SEO Specialists, Team Manager (me :)), Graphic Designer, and even developers and QA specialists.

Wow, that’s a great proportion! And how did you start your WordPress journey?

I have started my career in Customer Support Specialist role (Plugin Development company) and ended up with COO (Chief Operating Officer) 🙂

What’s your challenge in working in the WordPress industry?

As a manager, finding enough skilled team members is difficult to do. We are ready to invest in employees to integrate them into the workflow, though there is a huge gap in the soft skills the work demands and the skills job applicants have.

Yes, the task does require specialized skills! Can you let me know what are your strengths?

I have a huge contribution to both teams. My strengths include my previous experiences, technical skills, continuously learning ability, bonding with my coworkers, problem-solving skill, and so on.

Did you have to struggle for education?

I think no. My schools and tutors have helped me to connect to new people, and I got to know many people already working on WordPress.

Do you think women are put off entering the technology industry? If yes, what are the reasons, globally or specifically in your country?

Oh, I believe, the decreasing number of women in tech is associated with discrimination on the basis of sex. Women are consistently underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Parents and the surrounding environment force women to choose more “girly” roles such as focusing on more languages, marketing, fashion industry, etc. Mainly, they believe that women can not have success in the mathematical fields do not have enough logical thinking ability.

Are there some influential women in tech that you like, admire, or just feel so special to you?

There are some influential young women in my country that motivated me a lot, however, they are connected with digital marketing rather than IT and technology.

Also, some female entrepreneurs are using WordPress and WooCommerce themes to create their own online businesses, which inspires me a lot!

What would your daydreaming life be like?

Actually, I live my daydreaming life currently; working in the best team and providing value to society with the work I do.

That’s way too cool! Thanks for joining our conversation! It’s my privilege to have you here and share these things with us! I hope that we can collaborate soon!

Sure, I wish you success in your future endeavors!

Entrepreneurship as a Life’s Work

In this section, we feature Daphne Ng, CEO of Dedoco, and Leung Pui Yan, Senior Executive Director of Vertex Ventures SE Asia & India.

Hi Daphne and Leung, Dedoco was expected in 2020 and officially launched in June 2021. So how is it going?

Dedoco is a decentralized digital document and workflow management platform that aims to make digital business transactions simple, compliant, and trusted. It has 150 clients spanning across diverse sectors — governments, banks, FIs, real estate, and professional services on board.

We have expanded beyond Singapore, establishing offices in the US, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Australia, too.

How have the previous work and experience helped you in establishing Dedoco?

Prior to the Dedoco platform, I spent eight years across different roles within corporate banking and trade finance. I had the chance to self-teach and manage the accounts of large corporations and multi-national companies. Gaining acquaintance with complex compliance requirements is a prerequisite to facilitating the international transactions that I am involved in today.

How will you describe yourself in three words?

“Calculated risk-taker,” maybe? I’m naturally quipped with an “experimental attitude” — never shy away from new experiences in life. How it is translated in work? For instance, it is an established practice at Dedoco’s weekly meetings for team leaders to list down “blockers” – the key problems that they have trouble solving.

So who are your target clients?

We aim to make the platform’s technology accessible to companies of all sizes. Dedoco plans to cater to different client segments, from larger enterprises all the way down to small and medium-sized businesses.

Great, finally, do you have a word for other female founders?

To my fellow female founders and founders-to-be: Be yourself, find your champions, and dictate success on your own terms.

Also, in the evolving job market, pursuing work from home job opportunities has become increasingly accessible, allowing for greater flexibility and global reach in tech roles, thus opening up more avenues for women around the world to excel and make significant contributions to the industry.

Wrapping Up

Although it is impossible to mention every female contributor, I hope these little journeys are inspiring and personally encourage you and me to undertake new challenges. All we need is just some determination and commitment.

Today, let’s start working on the skills you have with yourself so that they won’t eventually fade away. Don’t underestimate the value of any skill. It will all soon pay off in your career!

And when it comes to WordPress and e-community, I encourage you to contribute to open-source, not just in code but in every possible way. Many of us have the potential to do better than what we are doing already.

So let’s get started and be consistent! <3

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