By Shannon Connelly
What are the challenges facing women working in the largely male dominated technology industry? And, more importantly, how can women overcome these challenges? These were some of the questions addressed at the Women in Technology: Shaping the Workforce of Tomorrow discussion panel hosted by local technology company iCIMS on Tuesday night.
The event featured six professional women, all working in the technology field, who were there to share some of their professional experience with the more than 60 men and women in attendance.
Tuesday’s panel, moderated by iCIMS’ Chief Marketing Officer Susan Vitale, included Jennifer Scandariato, who is iCIMS’ own Director of Test Engineering; Katherine Carter, Director of Special Projects for the Global Finance Organization at Dow Jones; Suzanne Zitzman, Manager of Asset Management Services at Maser Consulting; Vanessa Brand, IT Product Owner at Johnson & Johnson; Nicole Wodzinski, Director of Research Programs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) at Rutgers University’s Douglass Project for Rutgers Women; and Kelli Perry, Vice President of Infrastructure IT at BNY Mellon.
Brand, who has been working in the technology industry for 16 years, said she has seen a positive improvement in gender diversity in the field over the past 10 to 15 years. She was excited to be able to share some of her experiences with other women and help them grow in the industry.
“In my early days, it was all older men. Sometimes I felt like I had to prove myself, but overall it’s all about developing relationships,” she said. “To hinder yourself by allowing yourself to think you’re just a woman in a man’s world is detrimental to the girl.”
Carter, of Dow Jones, was also excited to share some of the lessons she has learned while working in the technology industry for the past 12 years. Though she acknowledged there can be challenges that come along with being a woman in the industry, she wanted the women in attendance to know that these challenges can be overcome.
“I think there’s a lot of women that might shy away from technology, possibly, and they don’t know that it’s just like everything else, and if it’s what they enjoy and they’re good at it, go do it,” she said.
Before the panel discussion got started, Vitale shared with the audience some proof of the lack of gender diversity that still exists today in technology. In 2015, only 25 percent of the computing workforce was women, she said. For example, only 17 percent of the technology jobs at Google were filled by women, and only 15 percent of the technology jobs at Facebook and 10 percent of the technology jobs at Twitter belonged to women. This event was one of many steps iCIMS is taking to improve the gender diversity and incorporate more talented women into its technology environment, she said.
During the panel, the women discussed some of the challenges they have faced during their careers. Scandariato, who has 21 years in the tech industry, laughed as she recalled going on an interview for a technology job and being mistaken as someone who was interviewing for a receptionist position.
“I think it’s important to voice your opinions, talk about things, ask questions, and I think when you start opening up and having the dialogue with people, people start to begin to understand, wow there’s a lot of substance, and I think that’s the first step,” she said.
The women also discussed any pay disparity they have experienced while working in the field. The one thing they all stressed is to make sure pay is adequate and to ask for a raise or go elsewhere if it is not.
“Whether male or female, I think when you want something, you go for it. If you see you deserve a raise, you go for it. You find another job if you feel you’re not getting adequate pay, if you don’t feel you’re growing. You’ll find another job that will pay you,” Brand said.
Lisa Basualdo, of Middletown, who currently works in the tech industry as an Enterprise Application Engineer for a law firm in New York City, said that was something that really stuck out to her during the discussion, as she had always just accepted the pay she was given in the past.
“The one thing I found interesting was standing up for yourself and asking for that raise,” she said.
“It’s interesting to see that that’s something we should be doing more of,” she added.
Vitale said iCIMS, currently at 600 employees, is growing 30 percent each year and they plan to hire about 200 people this year alone – from interns to senior leadership and everything in between. More information about careers at iCIMS can be found at Careers.iCIMS.com.
