Karina Celis @ Expedia

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. 

Karina Celis
Senior Manager, Software Engineering
Expedia Group

What has your personal career journey in tech been like?

Everything started when I was a teenager and we got a computer at home for the first time. I was so fascinated by it that I remember thinking “when I’m old I want to do whatever it takes to make that work”. I also knew at a very young age I wanted to go to the local university and luckily it offered a really great program in Computer Engineering. There were less than 10 girls in our first class (out of sixty overall) but after being in an only girl school, I found this change refreshing and never saw it as a problem. I felt so passionate after graduating and I wanted to learn more and more so I tried every type of industry role, front, back, mobile, even tech support. As the people person I am, a few years ago I got a great opportunity to grow as a team leader and I didn’t even hesitate to take it.

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

I used to say I wanted to become the female Bill Gates. That was in 2000 and there were not many women role models in the industry and he was able to build this huge corporation that started in his garage, it was inspiring. I still want to be the person behind a great success story for a company. I want to keep growing in my current career path and someday become a CTO. I want to keep managing teams and people and keep on top of what we are delivering. I also think that tech can be a great agent for positive change and so I want to make sure that as a company, we continue working on things that really matter.   

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

I just came back to work from maternity leave and I am getting back into my old routine which more or less looks like this: At the beginning of the day, I have standups with the teams to make sure we are keeping focus on our projects and to address any challenges we might be facing. After that, I catch up with my emails, and from that either work on what is next for the team, have meetings with stakeholders, plan on career progression for my team or help with recruitment. Some days I also connect with any mentee I am working with. I enjoy seeing how each individual I work with grow in their career and make the team stronger each day and how every success or failure helps them mature and evolve as professionals.

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? 

I think mentorship programs are a great way to support each other, especially if the mentor is not in a ‘people manager’ role. I would not only encourage women to mentor women but also men to mentor women. People in tech are good at judging people on their merits rather than gender, but we can do better and these sorts of activities can help break down the remaining barriers for women in the industry.

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

• Be bold. Don’t be afraid to say what you want to say or take that risk you always wanted to.

• It is a man’s world, but it only takes one more girl to tip the balance. Don’t let your gender be the reason you are holding back. You are stronger than you think.

• If you have the mind to solve problems, if you bring logic into any conversation, you are already one step ahead of the game! Be technology agnostic, anyone can learn a language but not anyone can think logically.

Karina will be sitting on our panel for our next women in tech event - Challenging Implicit Bias