In 2023, the World Economic Forum reported that women accounted for 29 percent of STEM workers. The number of women working in AI sits just a percentage higher, according to the Global Gender Gap Report of 2023.
Ensuring women are in the position to make an impact in the future of tech is an uphill battle. However, it’s not impossible.
Many tech companies actively create equitable workplaces through steps like formal and informal mentorship programs, assessing promotion rates across genders and developing documented equal pay policies. Below are just a handful of employers making actual steps to uplift women in tech.
Calm is a global health and wellness brand that creates apps for sleep, meditation and relaxation.
Describe your experience as a woman in engineering. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced and how have you overcome them?
It’s deeply empowering to work in engineering. We take ambiguous problems, break them down and build solutions piece by piece until they come to life. It gives me a strong sense of agency.
I have my share of impostor syndrome. I’ve come to realize that it’s less about being a woman in engineering and more because I care about doing a good job and I’m pushing my comfort zone. I’m grateful for having leaders who trusted me, seeing what’s in me before myself. The opportunities to stretch built real confidence. I started to associate the initial discomfort with growth.
What are your professional goals and how has your current company enabled you to pursue them? What career growth resources or opportunities are available?
Working with a team of people on something impactful is truly energizing to me. My goals are to keep sharpening my problem-solving craft and to consistently bring out the best in a team.
At Calm, I’ve been trusted to lead teams through growth, resets and evolutions. A strong data culture and direct access to our customers keeps me grounded in real problems. Just as important, our culture emphasizes empowerment and psychological safety. It allowed me to learn tremendously from those around me while also paying it forward through mentoring other aspiring leaders.
“Our culture emphasizes empowerment and psychological safety. It allowed me to learn tremendously from those around me while also paying it forward through mentoring other aspiring leaders.”
What advice do you have for women in engineering or other technical roles regarding how to identify a company and team that will support their growth and development?
Surround yourself with people who hold a growth mindset. Find the team where you can feel safe asking questions, staying curious and learning openly. An empowering environment will do more for your development than any single opportunity ever could.
Assembled’s mission is to elevate customer support through AI-powered software that makes life easier for customers and employees.
Describe your experience as a woman in engineering. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced and how have you overcome them?
Throughout my time in STEM, a consistent theme has been the community I’ve found with women and non-binary people. In high school, I took my first CS class through a women in engineering program. In college, I led a Girls Who Code club and after graduation I secured my first role through Grace Hopper conference. Since then, so many of my most trusted mentors and peers have been women.
However, I’m now often one of the few women in the room. Although there are many ways to be a successful software engineer, a lingering stereotype defines how the expected software engineer looks and acts. Breaking that mold comes with its own set of internal and external challenges.
Externally, I’m often assumed to be younger than I am and less experienced than I am. I’ve had to repeat ideas multiple times before they are taken seriously or repeated by others. Internally, I have always struggled with impostor syndrome.
My greatest remedies are experience and community. Pushing beyond my comfort zone has consistently built my confidence and skills to prove to myself and others that I am capable. Additionally, finding women I admire and relate to has given me role models who inspire my growth.
What are your professional goals and how has your current company enabled you to pursue them? What career growth resources or opportunities are available?
I joined Assembled because I wanted to deepen my technical expertise and also collaborate with teams beyond engineering.
I’m grateful to be part of a stellar team where I am constantly learning from my talented teammates. Working closely with colleagues in design, support, product and customer success has been invaluable, and building features with this broader perspective has significantly sharpened my product thinking.
What I appreciate most about Assembled is the openness to explore new areas of interest. With so many challenging problems to solve, there’s always room to get involved and contribute creatively.
“What I appreciate most about Assembled is the openness to explore new areas of interest.”
Additionally, Assembled offers excellent learning and networking opportunities, especially around AI. For example, to celebrate National Women in Tech Day, we recently hosted a Women in AI/ML panel, which was inspiring and helped foster a strong sense of community.
What advice do you have for women in engineering or other technical roles regarding how to identify a company and team that will support their growth and development?
When interviewing companies, remember that you are evaluating them just as much as they are evaluating you. It’s especially valuable to connect with someone who shares your identity to hear about their personal experiences. Ask about their career development and the growth opportunities they’ve encountered as well as their personal experiences, both the good and the bad.
Career growth often means taking risks and stepping outside your comfort zone, so it’s important to find a company and team where you feel supported in doing that. For me, the most important factors are having a manager I trust and teammates who can teach and challenge me, people I can genuinely learn from.
SoFi is a fintech company that helps people borrow, save, spend, invest and protect their money better.
Describe your experience as a woman in engineering. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced and how have you overcome them?
Being a woman in engineering has been both empowering and, at times, challenging. Early on, I was often the only woman in the room and had to build trust, confidence and a brand for myself. I’ve been fortunate to find not only inspiring female mentors but also male supporters who helped me navigate the tech landscape with clarity and confidence.
One challenge was learning to take constructive feedback in stride. I leaned into growth by addressing habits that hindered progress — even those that didn’t come naturally. As an introvert, speaking up was tough, but a former manager equipped me with tools like sitting next to the loudest person so I’d be heard, or putting me on the spot (with fair warning) so I could build critical thinking and presence.
Over time, I learned to trust my voice and found a strong community in tech. Each challenge became an opportunity to grow into the engineer, teammate and authentic leader I aspired to be.
What are your professional goals and how has your current company enabled you to pursue them? What career growth resources or opportunities are available?
My professional goals revolve around becoming a better leader, teammate and partner — someone who makes a positive difference every day. I strive to grow not just in technical ability, but in how I support, elevate and collaborate with others.
I deeply value working with smart, curious and driven people I can learn from. At SoFi, I’ve been fortunate to find not only inspiring mentors but true leaders who have also acted as sponsors — advocating for me and pushing me to grow. I’d work with them again in a heartbeat.
“At SoFi, I’ve been fortunate to find not only inspiring mentors but true leaders who have also acted as sponsors — advocating for me and pushing me to grow. I’d work with them again in a heartbeat.”
Despite our growth as a company, we continue to foster a strong founder-mentality mindset. We’re encouraged to wear different hats, work across functions and contribute to features that make a real difference in our members’ lives.
The culture promotes ownership, initiative and continuous learning. With access to supportive leaders and high-impact opportunities, SoFi has created an environment where I feel challenged, empowered and always evolving.
What advice do you have for women in engineering or other technical roles regarding how to identify a company and team that will support their growth and development?
When evaluating a company, focus on how people treat each other and how growth is supported in everyday work — not just what’s written in values statements. Supportive environments encourage collaboration, welcome diverse perspectives and create space for everyone to thrive. At SoFi, the presence of several female VPs reflects how we support and elevate diverse thought and leadership — not as a checkbox but as a core strength of how we operate.
Strong teams are built on curiosity, empathy and generosity. These are the places where you’ll be stretched, mentored and given the confidence to lead. It’s also important to notice how a company handles feedback, failure and change. Transparency and trust are key signs that your growth will be nurtured.
