Anindita De @ Price Forbes

How can we proactively make a change to achieve equality and inclusion in tech? It was International Women's Day in March and Orbis dedicated the entire month to celebrating the womxn of Tech and Design. Now, we’re continuing this series. If we want more women in tech, we have to do more than want. Our team felt we needed to share stories from the industry, told by voices with first-hand experience. All of the exposure International Women's Day kicks up is critical, not just for our own education as a business, but also to support the exposure of gender equality and inclusion in tech. These stories are not told by a company or PR, or any other bias perspective. These are the real women of tech shaking up the industry. 

Anindita De
Software Developer
Price Forbes

Can you tell us about your career journey in tech?

After finishing engineering degree 5-6 years back, I started some online research. I came to know that when you are a rookie developer, HTML, CSS and JS are the best technologies to start with.

So, I started to make a simple dice game with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. I know that was not the best of ideas, but at that moment I could only imagine building that!

Since then, I have fallen in love with JavaScript. This created a path for me to pursue my career as a FE developer in a big IT firm.

I worked for a few more companies where I got the chance to work with more technologies like node, .net, C# etc in the BE. But I always had the urge to work with Web technologies.

Slowly, I familiarised myself with TypeScript, React (my favourite!), Redux, hooks, REST, Azure and many more.

Now I work as a FE developer coding mostly with React.

However what I can say from experience, is that no matter which programming/ scripting language we are using, the logic is always the same everywhere and with little patience, trial and error, anyone can really be a pro in technology.

Each day is super exciting for me at my work, because I am doing what I love to do.

What’s next for you, have you got any career goals you’d like to achieve?

My goal is to be better than my previous self.

What does a typical day in your role look like, and what do you enjoy most about it?

My day starts with a daily scrum meeting with my colleagues which is the same for any other software developer working in an organisation. On the call, we quickly discuss what we have accomplished the previous day and what we are planning to do today. It acts as a launchpad for my day.

I grab a cup of coffee and sit in front of my desk. Then I start to analyse my task, which I feel is the most important step of my work.

Once that's done, I write some code to translate the business requirements to technical solutions which I feel is the most exciting and challenging part of my work. Then I write Unit tests to check whether my code is working as expected.

When my solution is ready, I do a code review with my senior. Finally, I deploy my solution to the Test Environment.

What do you think tech leaders could do to help support gender equality within their teams and how can businesses support women with their careers?

It is proven in research that only 19% of women are working in tech, but it can be improved.

I think the ratio of men and women in tech should be equal, for that I think the following would be some useful steps forward:

- The hiring process could be redefined, recruitment agencies could play a big role to create gender equality as well as diversity.

- A weekly session could be arranged by the tech leader/team to talk about inspiring topics such as the struggles faced by the most successful people (e.g. the story of Lady Ada Lovelace, Steve Jobs, etc.), where the women/men can participate actively. It will help everyone to stay motivated and attract more women to be in tech.

- Companies can organise some events like Hackathon with women, where even a small piece of tech work will be appreciated

What are your top 3 tips for women looking to break into tech or progress from their current position into a tech role?

The first and foremost thing is not to be afraid of failure. Failure is the only key to success. If we don't fail, that means we are not trying.

Do a bit of research, find your interest and choose a programming language / Technology/ Framework you like, e.g. Web Technologies, Back End Programming Language, Cloud Technologies etc and start to do more hands-on exercises.

Learn all the basics and build your own portfolio, include your projects (GitHub links) on that. You can build your own website too.

Choose a technical topic and start to write a blog on that. It will help you clear your concepts in detail, then you can add them to your portfolio.

I think these tips will make your profile strong and kickstart a career in tech. Finally, start networking in parallel with other developers and tech leaders.