Four women tell how they've survived and flourished in the IT culture.
Mary Brandel
August 6, 2007(Computerworld)
In her early years as an IT professional, Monique McKeon found that work/life balance was a struggle. Two of her early employers a large software firm and a Big 6 consultancy were somewhat unclear on the concept. At the consultancy, her travel schedule kept her out of town more than she was comfortable with. Then, when her first child was born, the bottom fell out. I heard through the grapevine that one of the partners said I wasnt as committed as before I had children, she says. That was the day I started looking for a job.
McKeon eventually found a welcoming culture at The Chubb Corp., where she is now an application manager, but other women in IT simply leave the industry. And fewer women are embarking on IT careers in the first place. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of women in the IT profession today has dropped to 26.1% from 28.9% in 2001. And the future looks even worse: According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), just 21% of computer science degrees go to women today, compared with 37% in 1985.
So, whats gone wrong here? Some blame lingering stereotypes of geeky programmers working in isolation; others point at societal messages that discourage women from pursuing math-and science-oriented careers. Once on the job, the peer pressure to put in punishing hours the last jacket on the chair wins mentality that pervades some IT shops can also be a turn-off, especially for women, says Jenny Slade, communications director at the NCWIT.
And problems for women in IT sometimes extend beyond work/life balance, says Eileen Trauth, professor of information sciences and technology at Pennsylvania State University. Ive heard women talk about pinups, not being invited to lunch and the kinds of jokes people tell, she says, emphasizing that these are anecdotes from her research, not problems that all women have encountered.
Computerworld talked with four successful women about their own experiences in the IT profession: what theyve found difficult, what theyve found fulfilling and what they think it takes to attract more women into the field.
Monique McKeon
Application manager, The Chubb Corp.
Monique McKeons early career experience at the Big 6 consulting firm was off-putting, and her life at the software company wasnt much better. When I was interviewing, I asked, How do I know Im going to be measured and rewarded based on what I deliver, not the hours I clock? she says. And I was baffled that they almost didnt understand what I was asking. That should have clued me in that I wasnt going to get the balance I was looking for.
Responsibility for her children required a type of flexibility that was provided only grudgingly at best, so McKeon eventually left the software company.
At Chubb, however, the companys encouragement of work/life balance is evident in the laptop it provided so she can run out the door early if necessary and pick up work again after dinner.
Still, one of the first things McKeon did when she arrived at Chubb was ask about the womens group there. Within two years, she became chairwoman of the Chubb Partnership of Women, a grass-roots organization formed by two women (one an IT manager) six years ago to provide skills training and opportunities for networking. It now has 600 members, more than half of whom are in IT, she says.
McKeon feels she has never been denied an opportunity because of her gender, but she owes that to some tough choices. You cant have your cake and eat it, too, she says. Its a physically demanding career, and you cant be in two places at one time.
There are times when she misses the pace of consulting, but Im at peace with that, she says. I need to be able to say, Im a good mom, a good wife and a really good IT manager. Could I be a [consulting firm] partner today? Yes, I could. Would I likely be married to the man I love? Probably not.
Advice: You can balance an IT career with your home life, but it means making choices that are true to your priorities and understanding the trade-offs. Having it all is a fantasy.
Katy Dickinson
Director of business process architecture,
CTO organization and Sun Labs,
Sun Microsystems Inc.
Katy Dickinson has been in software engineering all her professional life, although youd never know it from her degree: a bachelor of arts in English with a specialty in Shakespeare. She attributes her affinity for engineering to literally growing up in an engineering R&D lab. Her father (a nuclear physicist) and an uncle (a mechanical engineer) started a business together when she was a child; together, they have more than 30 patents.
Dickinson joined Sun in 1984 and has worked there ever since, including five years as a single mom. Currently, she and her husband are raising two teenage children.
The population of women in software engineering is sparse and shrinking. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2006, only 21.7% of computer software engineers were female, compared with 24.5% in 2001. (Other estimates are bleaker.) And Dickinson is quick to note that women software engineers do feel the impact of being in the minority.
Its not unusual to be the only woman at a meeting, she says, and because of that, theres often a tendency to remain silent unless you think you have something really remarkable to say. As one member of a small group, you feel you have no right to be mediocre, Dickinson says. Youre not just representing yourself; youre representing [females] with a capital F.
But Suns culture is friendly to women, particularly in its flexibility about working from home, she says. And sometimes she is so well accepted that male co-workers seem to forget her gender. Ive been in meetings with executives, who, when I say I have to pick up the kids, have almost responded, Cant you have your wife do it? she recalls.
The flip side of that acceptance is peer pressure not to take advantage of the workplace flexibility thats available. And that doesnt always come from men, she says. Ive seen women try to out-boy the boys and be much less supportive of the need to balance work and family, she says.
One of the most important steps toward success for a woman in IT, Dickinson says, is to find someone preferably a mentor who knows how to achieve that balance. In her role as manager of Suns international mentoring program for engineers, Dickinson once found herself helping a female engineer who was struggling to express what she most wanted to learn from her mentor. She finally said, Im pregnant, and I dont know how to be a mom and an engineer, too, Dickinson recalls.
Its something many people have to deal with, she says, but you dont have to give up your love of engineering because youre a parent.
Advice: Join a networking group specifically geared for women IT professionals, to meet people in similar circumstances who can support one another.
Donna Lamberth
IS manager,
L.L.Bean Information Services
Donna Lamberth has never felt discriminated against, even at her first job at an insurance firm, where most of her co-workers were men. But shes glad that, when she wanted to start a family, she was able to seek the advice of her boss at the time, a woman CIO who had a long commute, a very demanding job and a couple of young children.
The advice she gave me was that in IT, where the work never stops, she had found ways to capitalize on the 24/7 nature of the work to gain flexibility in life, Lamberth says. She felt comfortable heading out to the soccer field to watch her kids play in the afternoon, because there was always productive work she could be doing at 7:00 in the evening.
The secret to being an IT professional while also raising two children or even working toward an MBA, as Lamberth is currently doing is to understand how to make the best of the situation youre in, she says.
The work is 24/7, but the expectation cant be that youre working 24/7, she says.
At L.L.Bean, Lamberth says, women are definitely not in the minority. Her boss is a woman, and of the eight-member leadership team in her division, only two are men. I sit in an awful lot of meetings that are exclusively women, she says. Within our own department, the glass ceiling appears to be broken. Its easy enough to find female friends and mentors. Of places that I have worked, I would say that L.L.Bean appears to me to be the most neutral in terms of gender being a factor in a persons ability to get work done or advance in the organization.
Advice: Women in senior IT positions have grappled with issues similar to yours. Find a woman in a leadership IT role who can be your role model or mentor.
Robin Beck
CIO
University of Pennsylvania
Robin beck has found that making IT a good place for women is less about establishing policies than it is about creating a culture where people can be honest and clear about their priorities. Beck feels that people work best when theyre not stressed and worried, which makes it incumbent on individuals to be honest about the accommodations they need to make their lives work. Its difficult at times for women to have the courage to say, I need help, she notes.
Such a culture didnt always exist for Beck. Sixteen years ago, she worked at several business units of General Electric Co. They had wonderful benefits, but one business in particular was very hierarchical and male-dominated, she says. The culture didnt support your taking advantage of those benefits.
When she came to the University of Pennsylvania, where the current balance of IT workers still favors men, she was excited about the prospect of working for a female boss. Now, she wants to help the younger women coming up the ranks. Actually, I want to mentor and coach all the bright people in IT, she says.
As part of that coaching, she tells women to get past feeling defensive about the male-dominated IT world. Case in point: sports-centered small talk. You go into a meeting, and it starts with a discussion of whatever sport was on TV that weekend, and instinctively I dont have much interest in that, Beck says. But I remind myself all the time that its just the icebreaker. You have to peel back the onion and see whats really going on.
Advice: Be very clear with your employer on your priorities and the schedule that works best for you. The same goes for your family. Ask them for help in making changes that will work better for you. For many women, it takes courage, personally and professionally, to tell people you need help.
Brandel is a Computerworld contributing writer in Newton, Mass. Contact her atmarybrandel@verizon.net.
