Inclusion in Tech

Building a Gender-Balanced Engineering Organization in the Middle East

Jordan's tech scene has a gender distribution of 50:50 in colleges, but this does not translate to the workforce due to women not being expected to stay late at the office. To challenge this, the core team responsible for establishing the Expedia Jordan office focused on making sure to build a sustainable gender-equal presence from the get-go. This included top-of-funnel sourcing, resume screening, tech tasks, and onsite interviews. The outcome was a 50:50 gender balance, showing that women engineers were succeeding in the recruiting process at a higher rate than men. This highlights the untapped talent pool of female engineers in Jordan.

Enabling a Pro-Diversity Culture

In order to create a pro-diversity culture, it is important for the executive team to be vocal and open about their stance. This requires individuals to bring their whole selves to work and be open about their unique backgrounds. Additionally, trainings should be embraced as a way to educate employees about unconscious bias and microaggressions. By practicing empathy and taking these issues seriously, organizations can create a diverse and safe environment for all employees.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

Developing Culture Through Gratitude

To create a highly collaborative environment, a chat bot was modified to allow people to thank each other and track 'karma' points. This humorous interaction encourages collaboration and appreciation for people's work, and is more popular among engineers than business people. It should not replace in-person connection or public praise, but it allows introverted people to receive and give recognition.

Retaining Women In Tech

After leaving her engineering manager position at Apple due to burnout and lack of supportive leadership, the author started her own small business helping other small business owners with their technological needs. Through this experience, she realized the importance of resilience, an inclusive environment, and strong leadership for women in the tech industry. She encourages women to network outside of their own organization, and to stay in and influence the industry in order to shape the future.

How to Close the Confidence Gap

This article discusses the confidence gap between women and men, which starts in childhood and is reinforced through academic and professional years. It provides actions to address the confidence gap, such as understanding the problem, educating others, creating a forum for people to share, being conscious while recruiting, coaching perfectionism, creating a safe environment to take risks, and encouraging a collaborative workplace. It also emphasizes that the confidence gap affects not only women, but also other cultures, and that addressing it can lead to more innovation, risk-taking, and less burnout and attrition.