Women have many advantages in tech. They tend to be better at communication, have greater sympathy and listen more. As more and more consuming decisions are made at home by women, it is important to produce products that resonate with women, and that's a great opportunity.
Summary
Why do women make tech a better place?
Avery from Batch #194Avery began her career in the real estate consulting industry and then ventured into private equity investments. After becoming the mother of two children, she learned web development because of her curiosity about the technology industry and her desire to create products.
1. Could you please introduce yourself?
Hello, I am Avery, now 28 years old. Before joining Le Wagon, I was a full-time mom and currently working as an operation manager at Le Wagon Shanghai and an independent developer.
2. What motivated you to join Le Wagon?
There are two main reasons, one is my curiosity about the technology industry, and the second is because I have some ideas and want to realize these ideas by learning programming development.
3. What was your biggest take-way from Le Wagon?
The mindset of problem-solving. I think a lot of programming is actually logical thinking. In the nine weeks of Le Wagon, the best way to solve the problem is to sort out the ideas and keep trying.
4. What’s the biggest challenge you faced when you started your new job/position?
The hardest part is the change in my identity. From the technology freshmen 9 weeks ago to the junior programmer after graduation.
5. How has freelancing empowered you (as a mother and as an individual)? What’s one of the advantages of being a woman in the tech industry?
Freelancing makes it more flexible in arranging my own affairs.
Compared with men, women have an advantage in communication.
6. How is programming like baking a cake?
I worked in the real estate consulting industry, and sometimes I felt frustrated at work because our advice was not always accepted by customers. As a programmer, I enjoy the process of writing code and creating products. It seems like making flour into bread in the process.
7. What’s your advice to women who want to start their entrepreneurial journey into tech?
Before joining Le Wagon in 2016, Claire has worked in event management and marketing in London and Shenzhen. In 2017, she participated in the company's full-stack development programming training camp project and became a junior front-end developer. She is now working as a strategic partner of Le Wagon China, where she is responsible for the localization of products and markets.
1. Could you please introduce yourself?
I am Claire! I am a digital marketer, a junior front end developer and as a tech enthusiast! Currently, I work at Le Wagon as China Partnership Manager.
2. What motivated you to join Le Wagon?
I think it was meant to be! I joined Le Wagon as Community Manager back in 2017. I witnessed the power of tech and how it changed the careers and lives of many students (later on some of them became very good friends of mine )
3. How was the transition out of Le Wagon like?
I had a brief one and half a month building a WeChat mini-program which was designed for Le Wagon public events signup and feedback submission from scratch with the support from the alumni network and mentors. Later on, I started to focus more on the business side of things and used what I learned from the camp to plan for the first front-end oriented coding bootcamp in Chinese and part-time.
I think it’s the opportunity to work with people who are much smarter than you when it comes to the speed of learning a new technology. I came to understand better the engineering mindset and surprisingly, everything else seems much easier to learn after learned how to code.
5. What do you think was the scariest part for you when you started to think about transiting into tech? What was the most challenging part? Did the lack of female classmates discourage you in any way?
I did not feel scared, to be honest. I had doubts about whether or not I will be good at it. My goal was to learn technical skills to help solve business problems and go further in the business world. Although I had doubts in my ability to be skilled at it, I believed that learning to code is missing dots and it will lead me to be a more fulfilling career!
No, I don’t think it discouraged me in any way. We had like 8 or 9 female classmates and around 20 guys in my batch. I enjoyed the experience.
6. What are some stereotypes you’ve heard about women in tech?
I think probably people tend to think you are less capable than the man before they know truly what you are capable of. I like being a woman and I see this as an advantage: the flip side of these stereotypes is that it becomes easier to exceeds people’s expectations for females.
7. What’s the biggest challenge you faced when you started your new job/position?
After the camp, I started my first independent project building a WeChat MP. It was quite challenging. there was a learning curve. Firstly, I learned and applied Backend as a Service. Secondly. Compared to the team projects at the camp, you contributed to the specific part of a project now you need to know every detail of the app.
Later on, when I started to plan for a new part-time coding camp for Chinese students (http://info.lewagon.com/learn-code-in-china-0-0
), my biggest challenge became how to quickly gauge the market needs, identify the gap and lead a team to success.
8. How has working in the tech industry empowered you? What’s one of the advantages of being a woman in the tech industry?
I am fortunate to work for a tech education company where I have a pool of tech talents that I can learn and take advice from! I think after learning to code and had experience making products from scratch, I came to appreciate technology that we use daily more and gradually come to cultivate the problem-solving mindset like I am building a product when comes to business.
Women have many advantages in tech. When I attend tech events where there are only a few females, we got all the attention and people are quite willing to offer help.
Women tend to be better at communication, have a greater sympathy and listen more. As more and more consuming decisions are made at home by women, it is important to produce products that resonate with women, and that's a great opportunity.
9. What’s your advice to women who want to start their entrepreneurial journey into tech？
I would say start to think as an entrepreneur, act like so and practice whenever you can!
2 months into planning for the first Chinese camp, it is a great opportunity for me to practice my entrepreneurial skills. I ‘ve done so many outreaches as I have never done before and strategically think about ways to drive the business with limited manpower and resources.
My advice for myself as well as for you will be don’t wait until you quit your day job to feel, think and act like a boss! Give credit to your team members when you guys have success and ready to take full responsibility for the team’s failure!
10. Do you think coding/Le Wagon is for everyone?
No, I don’t think so! It depends on where you are at, where you want to go and how coding will/will not fit the scene to help you reach the desired outcome. But I do believe it is a very valuable skill to have to be able to understand and communicate with a brand new world ! It is like learning a new language and you know when if you put enough time and effort, it becomes a lifestyle and opens up a new world in the front you!
