{"id":22532,"date":"2018-01-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/itid\/women-in-tech-triumphs-and-barriers\/"},"modified":"2022-08-16T04:52:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T04:52:12","slug":"women-in-tech-triumphs-and-barriers","status":"publish","type":"itid","link":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/itid\/women-in-tech-triumphs-and-barriers\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in Tech: Triumphs and Barriers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

An experienced project manager, a promising data scientist and a determined software developer share their stories about working in IT and chasing their dreams.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The IT industry in Ukraine is very dynamic. Every year, the amount of IT companies in the country grows, and current companies are expanding in size. The job market\u2019s demand is much higher than\u00a0the amount of\u00a0available specialists, so recruiters are always hunting for the most talented and educated experts.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Unlike a few years ago, the Ukrainian IT market isn\u2019t dominated by male employees only. According to the popular IT source dou.ua, 14,3% of Ukrainian women are IT employees, 34% work in\u00a0manager\u00a0positions and just 3% of them work as developers.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Here are three authentic stories of women working in this industry. They all have experience in different areas, but\u00a0definitely\u00a0know how to reach their goals against all odds.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Liliya Stupnytska<\/b>\u00a0(<\/b>Senior Project Manager, SoftServe<\/span><\/i>)<\/b><\/p>\n

\"l1\"
\nLiliya Stupnytska works as a Senior Project Manager at SoftServe. She has more than 10 years experience working in IT in different positions \u2013 QA Engineer, QA Lead, QC Lead, Software Development Manager, and Delivery Manager. She graduated from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics at LNU as Java Developer.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I remember my friends\u2019 reaction when I was about to enroll at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics. They asked me \u201cAre you really going to choose Applied Math?\u201d 20 years ago people didn\u2019t believe that a girl wanted to become an engineer. But I always wanted to do something unusual, like creating robots. My dream came true. I got accepted\u00a0at\u00a0the Faculty and dedicated my thesis to image recognition using Hopfield neural networks, which was a very unusual topic back then.<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduation, I was sure that I would start working as a Java Developer. But it turned out companies didn\u2019t want to hire women for developer\u00a0positions,\u00a0because most women take maternity leave one day. I got offered the position of QA Engineer instead. Now, as a manager, I understand why I was refused the developer position. Back then, I was\u00a0disappointed,\u00a0but decided to start as a QA Engineer and get my dream job later. A few years later, my career changed direction from a technical to a manager function.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2007, I got offered my first team lead position. I couldn\u2019t sleep at night, imagining all worst case scenarios. Luckily, my team was great and I got a valuable experience\u00a0from\u00a0it. The following years, I turned down offers for higher positions because we were thinking about having a baby. But I gave in to the position of SDM (Software Development Manager) eventually. Funnily enough, after one month on the job, we got the news that I was pregnant. When I look back now, I\u2019m happy that I didn\u2019t quit my career because of family reasons. I won\u2019t say it isn\u2019t challenging. Often, I have to\u00a0explain\u00a0my kids why I can\u2019t attend their school\u00a0theater,\u00a0or miss spending time with my husband because of business trips, but I understand that you need to live life to the fullest. Don\u2019t torture yourself imagining things that will probably never happen. Women are always looking for thousands of reasons not to start ambitious projects or hold higher positions. We create a lot of limitations for ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few months ago I returned back to SoftServe, the company where my career in IT really took off. I\u2019m responsible for the optimization of presale processes for business units. My task is to get these processes done in no more than 9 business days. I need to speak\u00a0business language\u00a0with top management and technical language with employees working on the project. I\u2019m the intermediary between expectations and the final result. This experience is new to me and I don\u2019t always know what to prepare for, but taking on new challenges and being persistent is my superpower.<\/span><\/p>\n

Career choices don\u2019t happen unexpectedly. It\u2019s a bumpy road and taking the first step can be hard. You need to figure out what you really want. Both men and women have to keep learning and work day and night to achieve their goals. However, in Ukraine, women often have to overcome barriers, built by society and themselves. \u00a0Family values are still a priority for a lot of women and many of them are too insecure to sacrifice family life for a career. But I have to say that I meet more and more talented women who aren\u2019t afraid of anything. For example, a friend of mine is a Java Developer and her husband a QA Engineer. He even admits that she codes better. Our society is transforming, more young girls are applying for technical degrees and more women take on jobs with more responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there is still work to do. Women like me have to think about how we can help other girls to fulfill their dreams. Me and my friend, a charismatic mom of four boys and Financial Director, Zoryana Bogdan, have been working on Lady in Business, an organization that wants to teach women not to miss opportunities and\u00a0believe\u00a0in themselves. We want to help women get back to work after maternity leave and to create a platform for support and developing new skills. Women need to understand that they are not alone \u2013 there are others who experience the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IT industry in Ukraine offers an easy work environment. It\u2019s very democratic and anyone can build a career in a few years. Most importantly, the industry is tolerant\u00a0to\u00a0women\u2019s ambitions. Man or woman, hard work, respect\u00a0and\u00a0perseverance will get you anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u041elga Tataryntseva<\/b>\u00a0(Data Scientist, Eleks)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"o1\"
For the last year and 6 months, Olga Tataryntseva has been workings as a Data Scientist at Eleks. She studied Mathematics, has a\u00a0PhD\u00a0in\u00a0Ontology,\u00a0and participated in the SemData project, founded by the Marie Curie Foundation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Applied sciences were always my strong suit, so enrolling in Math and Programming was an easy choice for me. After graduating from the National University in Zaporizhzhya, I did my\u00a0PhD\u00a0on the development of formal presentations of knowledge models, developing a methodology for building and refining ontologies. During this\u00a0PhD, I got the chance to visit the UK as a researcher and work in a product company, first as a Technical Support Engineer, later as the Head of the Technical Support Department. When the company expanded to Lviv three years ago, I decided to relocate here.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, LITS launched the first course in Machine Learning in Lviv. The teacher was\u00a0<\/span>Sergiy Shelpuk, now Head of Data Science at Eleks. I took this course and did a project on smart monitoring for servers, which got me excited\u00a0for\u00a0Data Science. The amount of information we can get from data fascinated me, and after a while, I decided to apply my math background to more technical positions.<\/span><\/p>\n

After participating in the Data Science Summer School at UCU in Lviv, I got an offer from Eleks. I started working in the Data Science department, which now has 20 Data Scientists. As far as I know, it\u2019s the biggest Data Science department in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m mostly involved in the business domain. For example ProjectHealth, which is a part of an initiative to help make the company data-driven. You have to know that Eleks provides software development and we have teams working on many different projects. The amount of projects is constantly increasing. Our goal is to work effectively, identifying risks quickly and preventing them. The company really needed a system to monitor the effectiveness of projects, recognizing and solving potential problems. First, we needed to build the right model. We talked with stakeholders and professionals from different fields. It helped us understand what \u201csuccessful project\u201d means for each of them and build a model that systemized all that information.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we measure\u00a0effectiveness\u00a0of every project. We get the data for this model from various sources: project management and task tracking systems, knowledge base, CRM system,\u00a0<\/span>HRMS,\u00a0<\/span>Eleks\u00a0code repository, and CFMS. This process is fully automated. C-level doesn\u2019t need additional communication with project managers to get updates\u00a0about\u00a0a project. Moreover, ProjectHealth is client-oriented. It\u2019s something we can show the client to demonstrate the development and success of their project. It looks like a dashboard that shows the state of projects and drills it down to raw data. We will present our project in a workshop Women in Machine Learning during a poster session at the NIPS conference in Long Beach, California in December.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, the most exciting thing about Data Science is that it can help facilitate daily life routines and solve problems. For example, you can pick a movie based on your interests, without wasting time looking for one. Recently, I read a story that a smartwatch recommended a guy to see a doctor because it recognized an abnormal heart rhythm. It saved his life. Isn\u2019t that cool? There is a huge amount of useful info around us, we just need to use it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eleks has 1100 employees, nearly half of them are women. In my department, men and women are equally represented. I was never treated with disrespect, just because I\u2019m a woman. The majority of colleagues at my previous company were men, but it\u00a0didn\u2019t influence neither\u00a0me,\u00a0nor my job. I just don\u2019t pay attention to these things. And I think it\u2019s good. We all just do the things we\u00a0like,\u00a0and achieve the goals we want. What\u2019s the point of focusing on gender? Girls shouldn\u2019t be afraid of tech professions. There\u2019s nothing to be afraid of. You need to do what you like.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of gender, being able to argue your point, negotiate, communicate with all kinds of people \u2013 those are valuable skills to have. Those skills help me at work. It\u2019s important to find the right balance between your job and private life. A person won\u2019t feel complete if you remove one of those two things.<\/span><\/p>\n

People in Lviv seem to have found that balance. The city is developing and so are the locals. Lviv offers a very interesting environment with an active IT community. It makes me happy to see that many motivated people here and having people to look up to. The IT industry here is growing very fast. There is always something going on \u2013 interesting events, conferences, lectures, meetups, courses, and programs. For me, it\u2019s the perfect combination of innovation, progress\u00a0and\u00a0amazing people.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nOlha Chayka<\/b>,<\/b>\u00a0(Senior\u00a0<\/span>Software Engineer in Test,\u00a0<\/span>PLVision)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"o1\"
After graduating from the Lviv Physics and Mathematics Lyceum and Applied Linguistics at Polytechnic University, for the last 15\u00a0years\u00a0Olha Chayka has been working as a designer, Java Developer in Test, and as a Senior Software Engineer in Test.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Being a Software Engineer in Test means creating architectural and programming solutions for automated testing. In my case, I created a Python testing framework at PLVision, and now I\u2019m providing technical support for the project. In this job, it\u2019s important to master the main programming language, be able to design and understand the architecture of the module, and know how to explain it to your colleagues. Product development, time management and the calculation of potential risks are equally important. Soft skills are important as well: you need to understand a client\u2019s needs and cultural\u00a0differences,\u00a0and understand the main principles of constructive mentorship and teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because I lacked some developer skills, I started working at PLVision as a QC Engineer. It\u2019s a Ukrainian company with niche technology specialization in network software and IoT development, but it also has strong expertise in software testing automation. In one year, I improved my Python skills, started to develop a new product and got a new position. Now, being a developer, I\u2019m satisfied when my code is working bug-free.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the middle of my IT career, I started my own business \u2013 a design studio. Many graduates think owning a business is easy and means certain profits. A lot of them try it, make mistakes \u2013 some succeed, some don\u2019t. Many run back to the safety of big offices. But it\u2019s a learning experience and it helps you develop your soft skills. The only downside: wasting time and downgrading. Launching a startup means a lot of stress, organizational issues\u00a0and\u00a0long task lists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only fixed item in an IT agenda is the release. Before the release, you can adapt your working schedule as you want. In other industries, you have to work with tighter deadlines. A surgeon follows a very strict daily operating schedule, an accountant needs to keep an eye on deadlines to file documents, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lviv Physics and Mathematics Lyceum is a very famous Applied Sciences high school. Its students often win Olympiads and get the best scores in the Ukrainian External Independent Evaluation. I\u2019ve always loved Physics and Math, but it was still challenging to enroll there. The majority of the students were boys.\u00a0<\/span>Not many girls dream of becoming a scientist. In general, girls get better results and study more patiently than boys, but have other plans for the future, often focused on Humanities.<\/span><\/p>\n

This type of stereotypical thinking starts early on at school. Students don\u2019t know much about possible professions or what to study to get there. People enroll in universities to get any kind of diploma or because a particular faculty is popular or famous. A lot of them realize\u00a0afterwards\u00a0that they don\u2019t want to work in this sphere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parents or teachers, do not expect girls to get into Applied Sciences. The idea that girls are not interested or don\u2019t understand it is formed by society. I personally experienced a situation where the teacher didn\u2019t believe that I completed a certain technical task myself. This kind of reaction\u00a0push\u00a0most girls away from science.<\/span><\/p>\n

I try to find the balance between family and work. I obviously love my job, but I think I have arrived at the point where\u00a0family\u00a0is more important. I\u2019m lucky to combine both.\u00a0Me\u00a0and my husband are working at the same company, on the same project, and we like it a lot. We can have fun together after work with colleagues, we can complain about projects to each other. We have common goals, problems\u00a0and\u00a0even schedule. Some may say that it\u2019s too much, but our similar interests only bring us closer together, I believe.<\/span><\/p>\n

For women, it\u2019s not always easy to exert authority in a man-dominated environment. If you want to succeed as a leader, you have to be professional and earn respect, regardless of gender. Attitude towards women often depends on the workplace. Here at PLVision, I feel good \u2013 many of my colleagues are women. We never feel as a minority. However, this is not always the case. At one of my previous companies, the atmosphere was quite different: only a few women worked there and nobody stayed long.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self-esteem and understanding that women and men are equal, is very important. Nobody has the right to criticize your mistakes based on your gender. Just like nobody has the right to put the blame on you for somebody else\u2019s faults. This is how business works. Of course, female charm has never hurt anyone<\/span>\u00a0(Smiles)<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22533,"template":"","itid":[],"class_list":["post-22532","itid","type-itid","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/itid\/22532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/itid"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/itid"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"itid","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itcluster.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/itid?post=22532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}