This document summarizes 5 common traits of successful women in tech according to the author: 1. Find your voice and communicate confidently without hesitation or apology. 2. Invest in your own technical expertise through continuous learning both formally and informally from any source. Your career development is your own responsibility. 3. Build a strong professional and personal support team of people you respect and enjoy working with who share your values. 4. Perform well in your work but also promote your and others' achievements, and cultivate relationships and steward projects to keep them on track. 5. Make smart compromises to meet overall business goals while allowing requirements to evolve over time.

1. Beyond the webgrrl:
5 common traits of
successful women
in tech
Perry Hewitt
December 12, 2013

2. Disclaimers:
 Not an expert on workplace gender
issues
 Observations ≠ statistically sound data
 Has never worked in IT (but all around it!)
Credentialers:




Is female
Has worked in a lot of tech companies
Managed software developers 15+ years
Enjoys building and managing crossfunctional teams of any and all genders

3.  Communicate and amplify
Harvard’s mission of excellence
in teaching, learning, and
research while making the
University and its contributions
relatable and relevant in an
always-on world
aggregate
build
amplify
curate
data
 Enable communications and
engagement approaches to live
digitally, and often digital-first to
enrich our constituents’
experience of Harvard
ship
measure
iterate
COPE
mobile
social
video

4. http://youtu.be/yRNt7ZLY0Kc

5. December 2013: Still no progress after years of no progress

6. 1. Find your voice

7. I’m sorry if this is a
dumb question, but
I was wondering …
I’m not sure if
anyone else agrees
with this, but …
This is probably offtopic, but …

8. You’re defining the
problem as X. From
my experience…
Here’s my question:
…
I’m going to jump in
here, and add…

9. Social media as connecter and
amplifier

10. So! Getting women to submit content: easy? Um.
When I’d talk to men about the conference and
ask if they felt like they had an idea to submit for
a talk, they’d *always* start brainstorming on
the spot. I’m not generalizing — every guy I talked
to about speaking was able to come up with an
idea, or multiple ideas, right away…and yet,
overwhelmingly the women I talked to with the
same pitch deferred with a, ―well, but I’m not an
expert on anything,‖ or ―I wouldn’t know what to
submit,‖ or ―yes but I’m not a *lead* [title], so
you should talk to my boss and see if he’d want
to present.‖
– Courtney Stanton, geekfeminism.org

11. 2. Invest in your own
technical expertise

12. Quiz time! Who is the most invested
in your career advancement?
 Your boss
 Your company’s HR
 The trainer hired for your professional
development
 Your colleagues
 Your family
 Your direct reports
 You

13. Learning-first approach
Identify unexpected
“teachers”
Apply and ask, apply
and ask
Focus only on discrete
technical skills
Wait for formal
credentialing to be in
place
Training-first approach
Seek informal and
formal learning
opportunities

14. Develop industry knowledge broader
than your technical training
Consumerization of IT means …





Web/digital trends
Business Intelligence
Mobile ecosystem and behaviors
Emerging standards
Measurement best practices
Your professional development is
your responsibility.

15. 3. Build your
professional/person
al support team

16. ―Figure out the people around you that
you want to work with for the rest of
your life. Figure out the people who are
smart & awesome, who share your
values, who get things done—and
maybe most important, who you like to
be with and who you want to help win.
And treat them right, always.‖
-- John Lilly, Greylock

18. 82% of executive businesswomen played organized
sports after elementary school – what does that imply
about teamwork and resolving workplace differences?
photo credit: rose lincoln

19. 4. Perform, but also
tell the story /
cultivate / steward

20. There’s still value in watching a pot to
keep projects on track …
photo credit: renee s suen

21. … but recognize that firefighters get
rewarded, however the blaze took hold
photo credit: warriorwoman531

22. Your
achievements
Colleagues'
achievements
A card,
a call,
a letter a day.

23. 5. Make smart
compromises

24. Not everything can be dialed up to 11.
Where can you compromise to meet overall business goals
while recognizing that requirements may shift over time?
photo credit: rich900

25. Selected Resources

26. A selection of books about work
 The Power of Habit
 Thinking Fast and Slow
 Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People
 Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of
Avoiding Negotiation
 Catalyst 2013 Census of Women in Fortune
500
 What Works for Women at Work
 Lean In