“Woman can’t handle technology”, “STEM is for men” – these statements are already outdated and should be left in the 20th century. These days women are entitled to the same rights as men do, especially when it comes to taking career decisions. Nowadays, many extraordinary women, including Sheryl Sandberg being the COO of Facebook, Susan Wojcicki CEO of YouTube, HP CEO Meg Whitman, hold C-level positions in technology sector and this certainly questions many stereotypes regarding the masculine side of the industry. While men are still the majority in the tech related jobs, women show eager to to change this more than ever before.
Women in Central-Easter Europe are not an exception. Abundant in tech talent and high-value development, CEE region proves its quality of IT outsharing. As it’s mentioned in our blog and according to World Economic Forum, outsharing – as opposed to outsourcing – refers to having an equal high quality remote partner and building the product together. Outsharing tech partners usually focus on understanding complex (business) logics and reading between the lines. Apparently, there are quite a lot of woman working in IT programming, sales, project management and other spheres in CEE.
Let’s have a moment to salute several inspirational woman in tech/outsharing industry and hear their story! All of them are amazing, unique and original. We present them in the alphabetical order.
Alexandra Rostovtseva – Co-founder / Business manager of GBKSOFT
Alexandra has worked as a community manager in a web company before, but later decided to open a company with two programmers and develop high quality IT service based on trusting relationship with clients. The woman says she always tries to use the qualities that often are considered as disadvantages working among men and make them into advantages.
Alexandra employs her charm, positivity and problem solving capabilities to establish quality relationships with clients, as opposed to cold and not trusting communication. Thus, thanks to her and other women in the company, GBKSOFT now has high client retention rates and international referrals. Besides, Alexandra believes that the cooperation of men and women in the company produces much more effectiveness and improves every day life of the co-workers.
Alexandra has always admired Steve Jobs, his ability to bring things to perfection and an uncompromising approach to project development, which the woman is implementing in her work. She says outsharing is highly important in tech industry. Clients, as well as companies seek to provide the best solutions and focus on value, rather than budget.
The woman enjoys being a part of the tech/outsharing industry worldwide and claims that you can never get bored in this type of work, as it is interesting and challenging. Surely, ladies must be passionate about the industry, read more than a regular person does, enjoy changes and take the downfalls as experiences. Other than that, take on a brave mindset and let’s go to tech!
Anastasiya Zavgorodnyaya – Sales / Business Relationship Manager at QArea
A desire to become a part of innovative technology has driven Anastasiya to involve into the industry of tech. Joining the team of QArea where the majority of people are men, the woman had a lot of support from collegues. Thus, it was not that scary as it may have seemed before.
Anastasiya believes that it is important to understand the peculiarities that differentiate men and women. Then, it is easier to work in different environments, use your strengths and improve your weaknesses. Therefore, being emotional or having overcharged attention to details could become advantages in the work environment. Apparently, there is not such a big difference after all, as once the client of Anastasyia could not believe that she is a lady, making such short and effective negotiations during the chat!
The role-model of Anastasyia is Chris Gardner, a famous US businessman, who got to the top from deep bottom. He is an aspiring example for the woman, as the beginning of the career was challenging for her as well.
However, Anastasyia claims that the best way to get the experience for working in the tech industry is actually becoming the part of it and discovering it by yourself! The woman assures that there is a lot of space for that. So, let the quenchless women curiosity help you!
Laura K. Inamedinova – Owner of Inamedinova Media / Director of Marketing at Xylo
Laura’s first step to tech industry was a decision to study BA of Physics in Vilnius university. During the 4 years of studies she went through different internships and jobs as she wanted to engage into more communicative professional environment. Thus, working with business development and marketing in one tech startup formed the direction of her career. Laura now works as a PR/marketing branding consultant for various tech companies. Technical knowledge and experience with tech people helps her to present technically advanced problem solutions in a simple manner so that the general public could understand.
Laura never had a problem working with men. She enjoys their straightforward and effective communication. Besides, the flexibility of women then helps to make the communication more diplomatic. Young woman enjoys the idea that you can actually make a differrence of how people perceive and use technology, as well as improve their lives. That is what makes tech industry so appealing and interesting to work in.
Laura believes that a crucial part in every comapny or team is having highly talented people and sharing different knowledge among themselves. She points out that technology is not only about programming and engineering jobs. There is more to it – positions like product development, marketing, sales and more. Tech industry needs various talents to work together!
Mariia Tintul – Business Development Manager at Grossum
A desire to work in an international company after finishing the BA in International Relations has led Mariia to IT outsourcing company Grossum. The first intention was to get professional experience in Sales, but quickly she realized that tech industry is interesting to work in indeed. Although, the young age sometimes is making it harder to prove the professionality, Mariia expresses it through results, persistence and trust.
What is more, Mariia says that often considered feminine skills, such as feeling the situation and bringing comfort to communication, helps to deal with every kind of situations during work. Emotional intelligence and self-development contribute to that as well. It can be scary and painful sometimes, of course, but making mistakes and learning from them afterwards is what keeps you on track.
Having a chance to create and contribute to innovations, networking and traveling are the passionate sides of tech industry for Mariia. The woman believes that outsharing is what makes the tech industry spin these days. Just meeting the deadlines is not the way to go for the best projects. It is about making long-term partners, understanding your client and sharing experience! Thus, Maria recommends talking with people from the industry and getting to know it before joining the adventurous tech/outsharing world!
Nadya Kravets – Client relationship manager at MLSDev
The career of Nadya started as a content manager for a web studio. It was the place where she was introduced to tech industry. She fell in love with it from the first sight! Currently, Nadya is working as a client relationship manager at an IT outsourcing company MLSDev.
The woman finds it fun and interesting to work with men of the industry. She enjoys working with IT specialists and developers shoulder to shoulder, to produce an effective product to clients. In this way, Nadya broadens her horizon, learns important things about technology and tries to master the peculiar developers’ sense of humor. Although, the woman admits that acquiring the relevant expertise in the area is challenging in the beginning. However, the feminine side is always an advantage in the tech industry. “You just have to use it wisely and remain a lady in every situation.”, – claims Nadya.
The woman believes that you have to be a lifetime learner in order to remain active in the always developing and changing IT industry. Nadya stresses the importance of both – personal and professional growth during all the way of your career. That is where the most exciting part comes in – chances to be aware of the latest trends, development of unique business ideas and participation in the whole process of new product launching into the market.
Nadya believes in the effectiveness of outsharing. The woman says that high quality development requires a lot of knowledge and rich experience in the field. Being a client relationship manager Nadya understands the importance of communication between the client and the company in order to produce a valuable product.
Young woman believes that tech industry is a very prosperous and progressive environment for women to realize themselves. She says that you just have to be passionate about IT or tech. “I believe, with clear vision, the sky is the limit.”, – Nadya Kravets.
Oksana Oboishchyk – Head ChatBot Product Manager / Project Manager / Networker at Master of Code Global
Oksana has always had the passion for technology and constant development. Thus, tech industry and she is a perfect match! Although, the beginning of the career was hard, as the experience grew, Oksana’s confidence went along with it.
The woman does not feel inferior at all working among men. In fact, Oksana claims that being a woman gives a lot of advantages in the industry. Females can combine leadership and even maternity skills together to grow a company or product teams in a smooth way.
Treating each member of the company with respect and care, always greeting them with a smile are the secrets that Oksana uses to strenghten the team and bring effective results. Tech/outsharing industry is all about sharing the experience and insights with others, as well as focusing on the quality, Oksana believes.
Currently, she is very interested in chatbots. Thus, the woman has written a lot of articles sharing her personal findings about the topic. Oksana cultivates high-value development, which can make you proud afterwards. The woman’s advice for women willing to pursue career in tech – to always be themselves, never give up and get upset while trying. “The keys to success are self-development, motivation and positive attitude”, – Oksana Oboishchyk.
Rimantė Paulauskaitė-Digaitienė – Business Developer / Key Account Manager at Metasite
Rimante‘s first step into technology was back in Gymnasium of Kaunas University of Technology, where she got a strong education in Math and Informatics. She chose IT related studies in university as well and later started working in tech industry. Metasite is the company where Rimante has been working for 10 years already. It was the place where the woman realized she was doing very well in IT-management related positions. Thus, she has been expanding her knowledge ever since and changing different positions in the company. Rimante started as a project manager assistant and since then gained experience in project management, department management, key account management, product development, product portfolio management, marketing, sales, partner network development and management. At the moment the young woman is working with international business development. What a nice career journey! Rimante believes that in the working place it is all about revealing and cultivating the best qualities we have. The gender is not an issue. The woman says it is always a pleasure to work with interesting and smart people, no matter men or women. Rimante also stresses the importance of mentorship, the people in the industry who can inspire and guide you through the way of your career. The successful business developer claims that there are too many positions and areas to express yourself in tech/outsharing industry not to be able to find the most suitable for you! It is such a wide environment, which needs full set of different qualities.
Getting to know the story of each of these women, it is obvious that tech industry is open for everyone who is willing to learn, create and participate in developing our future. They are the perfect examples of talented and intelligent young women! Therefore, there is nothing to be scared of if you are willing to pursue a career in IT industry. Let’s go tech, ladies!
