Anna Liu interview continued

More from my conversation with Anna Liu:

Let’s start with an anecdote; a situation that will likely feel very familiar to other women in male dominated workplaces:

Anna mentioned a time early in her career when she was the only woman in a software development team. It was not uncommon for their weekly meeting to descend into a conversation about whatever sporting event was in season: Whether AFL or soccer, boxing or motor sports, these are topics highly likely to exclude a female audience. And while it may not have been intentional, it certainly contributed to a sense of frustration and boredom at the time.

Is this an uncommon experience?

I suspect not. If we accept that women are looking for meaningful human interaction in their workplace (see my earlier “Assumptions” post) then I can see this sort of situation being a major factor in driving women out of male dominated environments and perhaps as a result into less technical roles.

Anna feels that successful IT women have a responsibility to clearly call out to the next generation, to tell them what it is really about.

“This has been a tough career,” she admits. “Whilst I have had some privileged support (for example a Women In Engineering Scholarship throughout), it is a tough profession compared to other areas where you can turn up as a woman and be accepted; even now I attend conferences where they were they didn’t realise I was a woman, and I have had to quickly demonstrate my credibility.”

FITT - Females in Information Technology

Some feedback and discussion points from a conversation with Maggie Alexander at FITT (Females in Information Technology):

Enough research has been done to validate all of those conclusions. The issue is what do about it. We know why these things happen and there are various initiatives (eg Digi-Girls, a TAFE initiative and various university recruitment programs) that help women to get into IT careers and the AIIA (The Australian Information Industry Association) is working at a national level to try to help to retain women in the industry.

Early influences: Typically girls are not encouraged to investigate and to pull things apart in the same way that boys are so that while women do like technology, fewer are interested in how it is made. We find that decisions about what people are going to do with their careers are usually made in year 10 – if you can’t influence girls by year ten they won’t necessarily take up an IT career unless by chance later on.

Financial drivers: There is more money in the ‘business’ side of technology, than in a hands on IT career, so that some women naturally gravitate out of a technical role as their career progresses.

Cultural aspects: While Australia may be struggling to bring women into IT careers, other countries have been very successful indeed. India, Russia, China, to name just three, have been successful at bringing women into technical careers.

FITT conduct regular surveys (results available through their website) on their website and also host numerous networking events.