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Women in Tech 2021

For International Women's Day 2021, we're promoting women we admire in the Umbracosphere 💪

Chloé Skye
Written by Chloé Skye

International Women's Day is here - and all week, we'll be highlighting 5 of the accomplished women in our ecosystem.

Our interviewees make the case for a future when we don't have to set just one day to recognize their accomplishments đź“… Ultimately, we should recognize #WomenInTech all day, every day - and create a world where they can just be in tech without having to refer to their gender.

Whether you've seen them around on Twitter, featured on a uProfile, or on our Gold Partner list, meet Kimberly, Ayu, Ingrid, Alice, and Lauren 👇

From pushing organizations to help women remain in tech rather than just bringing them on board...

...to building support groups among women colleagues...

...to resolutely beating to the sound of your own drum (especially if that means wearing a ton of literal, colorful hats đź‘’)...

each Umbracian gave us wonderfully diverse tips and perspectives. 

And the best part? While all interviewees acknowledge the dismally low numbers of women studying, entering, and remaining in tech, a few of them report not facing - or fearing - gender-based prejudice. Now that's the progress and fierce determination we deserve in the 21st century đź’Ş

Make no bones about it: There is still a big need to increase gender diversity in the tech community 👩‍💻 And clearly, it's on its way to becoming more inclusive in no small part because of the resilience of women who openly challenge the industry status quo. 

Kimberly Blessing

Kimberly Blessing, Head of Web Development and QA at Dog Digital in Glasgow, Scotland

"It’s likely that anyone entering any field is going to encounter some difficulties, but for a woman (or any minority-identifying person), to remain for the long term in a field that predominantly favors white male cultural norms requires a wide array of traits: perseverance, patience, grit, determination, self-confidence, and a thick skin. It’s not fair and it’s why we need a more diverse industry -- so that we don’t require everyone to be all of these things, all of the time."

Unwrap Kimberly's story

Ayu Laksmita, Back-end Web Developer at Luminary in Bali, Indonesia

"When it comes to increasing gender diversity in tech, support is hugely important - and a lack of support can cause uncertainty for those who are interested in entering the industry. By supporting each other, women can help boost their confidence and make them more comfortable trying new things. Workplaces should strive to provide mentorships and create a women-friendly environment."

Unwrap Ayu's story

Ayu Laksmita
Ingrid van Beek

Ingrid van Beek, Optimization Lead at Basic Orange in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

"The improvement of gender diversity in tech starts with recruitment, plus making both tech innovations and application processes more visible. Show that it is fun to work in the tech industry and open tech events, conferences and meetups to more women speakers and attendees. Don’t let it be limited to one day or week but give it more attention during the year; if you make it important it will become important."

Unwrap Ingrid's story

Alice Puricica, Software Engineer at Norlys in Denmark

"Improving gender diversity in tech starts with parents. So, dear parents and future parents: Congratulations, it’s a girl! I hope you will encourage her to be brave rather than compliant, to chase her dreams rather than just encouraging her to start a family. Buy her a remote controlled car, Lego sets, and Arduino board and never say “this toy is for boys.” If no one tells her there’s nothing she can’t do, she’ll believe it! And it’s more likely that she won’t be afraid to join the wonderful world of tech."

Unwrap Alice's story

Alice Puricica
Lauren Maguire

Lauren Maguire, Application Development Team Manager in the United Kingdom

"A mutually respectful and inclusive working environment should be led from the top, and if it isn’t, it’s not your responsibility to assimilate into or try to change it single-handedly. You are there because your work is good - keep doing it well and don’t be shy about it. Finding an external mentor in women in tech/networking groups can be supportive - just being able to talk about it helps."

Unwrap Lauren's story

Related story

Kristina Liebute
Written by Kristina Liebute

Women who code in the Umbraco community 2019

The tech industry may be (very) slowly getting on the right track towards increasing gender diversity, but it still remains an issue that is important to talk about. And so our tradition lives on. For the 2nd time, to commemorate the International Women’s Day, we interviewed 6 marvelous women who code from the Umbraco community. They will share with you how they got introduced to Umbraco, what in general led them to coding, what they think could help to increase gender diversity in the tech community and finally, what advice they’d give to fellow women aspiring to learn to code.