International Women's Day: Break the Bias - with Eleanor Cox

International Women's Day: Break the Bias - with Eleanor Cox

Tuesday 8th March is International Women’s Day. The theme this year is #BreakTheBias. We had a chat with our Frontend Developer Eleanor Cox to talk about her experience working in software development as a woman.

What made you want to become a software developer?

I've been very blessed during my life in that I've always been encouraged to pursue what I'm interested in. I was always interested in technology - video games, smart phones & the new features that came with each new generation!  I also really enjoyed math, ICT and STEM subjects, so going into tech seemed like the natural progression. Computers are incredibly powerful and I wanted to be at the forefront of technological innovation, so software development just made sense! 

Tech is also super broad, so I found during my computer science degree that there were bits that I was really interested in (for example web development, animation, graphics - the more visual side of computing) and bits that I definitely wasn't interested in. Computer science and software development is a good path to go down as there's absolutely scope for finding out and pursuing the aspects that interest you personally - I've found my niche in the more creative, visual side of computing, which is maybe a side that people don't even realise is out there.

What was your experience with choosing your career pathway?

Math was always my favourite subject, so I was looking for math related degrees. I saw computer science but was a bit scared off as I'd never programmed before and honestly it just wasn't a degree that many people from my school (a girl's grammar) had gone on to do, so I didn't have much of an insight into what it actually involved or would be like. But I knew I loved tech and after going to a few open days where I was assured that I didn't need any prior experience before coming to uni, I decided to take the plunge and apply for computer science (MEng, 4 year integrated masters).

I completed my 4 year degree and I won't pretend it was easy. There was a huge learning curve at the beginning in particular - I had limited coding experience, whereas some people had already spent 10 years doing it! The rest of the degree was definitely challenging, but to me that was a positive thing - I learned a lot of theory but equally did a lot of practical coding projects, which is really the best way to improve your skills. I definitely suffered (and still to this day suffer from!) imposter syndrome, but as time has gone on I've realised this is something everyone worries about, so I've learned to be more confident in my own skills and abilities.

Can you tell us about what brought you to LettUs Grow?

After my degree I took a year out to figure out where I wanted to go with my career and build up my web development portfolio - my biggest project being a companion app for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When I saw the job opening at LettUs Grow the opportunity seemed too good to pass up! What really appealed to me was working on a really interesting piece of software with a lot of functionality in an industry that's making a positive impact - so I'd actually feel good about the work I was doing and the mission we were striving towards. It was a kind of unicorn job, so I went for it, and I was thrilled when I was offered the position! 

It's been everything I've hoped it would have been, even better in some senses. I wasn't really thinking too deeply about what my career progression would be after this job, but LettUs Grow has really invested in me and my training - I'm absolutely becoming a better dev day-by-day. Because we're a small company I've also been able to develop skills in UI/UX design which I wouldn't necessarily have had the opportunity to do elsewhere.

Did you face any bias or challenges when you were pursuing your career? What’s it like working in a male dominated field?

Absolutely, it was painfully obvious from my first lecture at uni that I was in the minority - I'd say there were 10, maybe 15 women out of ~140 students. That being said, I knew what I was getting into, so it didn't particularly bother me that I was often the only woman in the room. For me, the challenges were more about being heard. Historically women have had to fight for their voices to be heard, and I found that I had to develop a level of confidence in myself before my input was taken into account and not disregarded.

I also found that at times my feelings and frustrations were not taken as seriously as they should have been and were dismissed. On one particular occasion when I did end up getting emotional because I was being ignored by my team members in a project I was leading, I was actually told “you know when you're in the industry you can't just go around crying at people” by the lecturer I approached for advice on the matter. But at the end of the day we're all human and getting frustrated and having an emotional outburst is completely fine, and if I'm ever in a workplace where this is seen as a weakness then I'm in the wrong place.

Since entering the actual workplace, I've thankfully not faced any bias or challenges - the team at LettUs Grow is really great at making each member feel heard despite their level of experience, and I've gained a lot of confidence in the last year and a half in my own opinions.

Why do you think it’s important to #breakthebias and support inclusivity?

Inclusivity is so, so important for diversity of thoughts, ideas and solutions! If you're in a team where everyone is the same sort of person who's lived the same sort of life, they'll often come up with the same solutions to problems. But in a team of mixed personalities and experiences, each person will have their own ideas based on their own lived experiences, and this is where you get the really interesting blue-sky-thinking, innovations and combinations of ideas that make a team that much more powerful, and able to find an innovative solution to a problem.

Having people from different walks of life also allows you to see problems in a way you haven't before - for example, a team of males designing a female space, let's say a women's bathroom, may not realise the need for sanitary disposal bins, or a baby changing station (although these should arguably be in men's bathrooms as well!). As such, a lack of inclusivity has serious, real-world affects on the non "cis-white-males" of the world. And I haven't even touched on inclusivity in terms of race or sexual orientation, which each have their own set of challenges and potential to bring a different viewpoint to the table.

Any advice you can give to women wanting to embark on a career in software development?

My best advice is be your own biggest supporter, and believe in yourself, your skills, opinions and abilities. The other side of this is don't be afraid to make mistakes and to ask questions - this is the best way to learn, and keeping an open mind to new techniques and skill sets will develop you as a person.

In terms of gaining the requisite skills, I found my degree was really valuable as it covered a lot of both theory and practical work, but this definitely isn't the only route into the field - there are loads of online resources dedicated to learning to code, so your best bet is to just give it a go! There's a community for everything, and although these can be a bit intimidating at first (I know all too well the stress of posting a question on Stack Overflow and having someone respond with "this question is stupid"), there are lots of helpful people out there to guide you in the right direction.

There's a saying in software that I really like, "fail fast and learn fast" - the crux of which is that from every failure you can learn something valuable, and each mistake will allow you to become a better, more knowledgeable version of yourself! Remember that no-one is keeping track of your mistakes, so you should feel empowered to fail again and again. Life's about learning!