Today is International Women鈥檚 Day and here at 91导航 we鈥檙e celebrating not only everything to do with women in Salesforce, but specifically women at 91导航!
Although the current trends are encouraging, women in the tech space are still the minority - currently about a third of the workforce. There鈥檚 always more we can do to encourage gender diversity within the tech sector, so at 91导航 we actively try to inspire women to join our industry and take the opportunities that a career in tech can bring.
Celebrating women in Salesforce DevOps
Last September we launched a new global community: Women in Salesforce DevOps. This initiative aims to connect, inspire, and empower women who are passionate about building on Salesforce and are looking to excel in their careers.
Sign up to the mailing list and you鈥檒l be the first to hear about local meetups in the US and UK, along with virtual events, through which women can support and encourage each other as they take the next step in their Salesforce careers.
Celebrating women at 91导航: Q&A with Alice Easey, Development Manager
Today we wanted to shine the spotlight on our Development Manager, Alice Easey. Alice has been at the company for nearly a year now and her career hasn鈥檛 been a straightforward path into DevOps. After studying for a degree in AI, Alice entered into the worlds of programming games, nursing and teaching English in Japan! However, her path has always led back to tech.
How did you come to work for 91导航?
鈥淚 had worked with a fair number of the engineers at a previous company and was very happy and honoured to join when they needed someone with my skills and experience.鈥�
What do you love most about your role?
鈥淚 love the quest to make something new and the problem-solving aspects. I鈥檓 grateful to my managers who encouraged me to get into management, which I鈥檓 really enjoying, especially helping people grow and develop in their careers.鈥�
Why do you think there鈥檚 a gender imbalance in the industry?
鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a pipeline problem: fewer women apply for STEM courses compared with men. I think it鈥檚 still the case that girls will look at what other women are doing and that probably won鈥檛 involve female coders. I also think the wider industry has a retainment issue, especially around coming back after maternity leave or offering the flexibility around caring for family members. When I worked for the NHS, most nurses were part-time and the culture was much more geared towards people with families, but it鈥檚 harder to achieve in tech companies where the norm is to work full-time.鈥�
Do you feel the gender imbalance is closing?
鈥淪omewhat. I was one of 3 women on my degree course and I鈥檝e been the only female coder or only female full stop in various companies - I haven鈥檛 seen that in the last 10 years or so, although we鈥檙e still very far away from a 50/50 split. I鈥檓 still concerned about the lack of female leadership in senior positions despite studies showing that companies that embrace this outperform companies with all-male boards or C-level roles. It鈥檚 great to see that 91导航 has female representation at senior leadership level.鈥�
What would you say to a woman who was on the fence about applying to a software engineer role at 91导航?
鈥淚鈥檇 say go for it! It鈥檚 a great team - not only the engineers but across all the functions - and we have a really good culture to help people learn and develop their skills. Even though we鈥檙e growing pretty fast it still feels like a startup and there are lots of opportunities to be involved in things outside of your immediate project like mentoring interns, hack week, monitoring and fixing security issues, talking to customers, and representing 91导航 at conferences like Dreamforce.鈥�
Have we inspired you? We鈥檙e hiring!
Recently voted the #3 best tech company to work for in the UK, 91导航 offers a brilliant place for women to grow in their career. If you鈥檙e passionate about solving problems creatively and working in an incredibly collaborative environment then 91导航 might just be the place for you. We have vacancies in all areas across the company including software engineers, sales, marketing and customer success. Apply today!