Being a female engineering leader means dealing with a host of interesting challenges, some good, some bad, and some ugly. I share experiences of female engineering leaders and provide a picture about what our daily life looks like. One of my goals is to give the “inside story” to men so they can better understand and provide the right kind of mentorship. Another goal is to give women with leadership ambitions a better understanding of the job. I cover some of the bad news—how small the percentage of women leaders is, how difficult it is to hire women leaders, and how many women shy away from leadership positions in tech. I also touch on the ugly—the “war stories” of being a female leader, from thinly veiled innuendo to incredulity about our job titles (thankfully neither from colleagues)—before focusing on the good—why I and others have aspired to become engineering leaders and what we love about a job that allows us to build great technology, work with great people, and help people develop their careers. I emphasize the importance of both female and male mentors as well as the importance of working against conscious and unconscious bias, and I conclude by looking ahead to the future, offering some concrete lessons to take away.

1. Women and leadership
positions in tech
Katharina Probst
Engineering Manager, Netflix

2. “So essentially you're offering
to just [sexual innuendo]?”

3. State of the world

4. The percentage of women in tech
is low
Women make up 26% of
the computing workforce
in 2014 [1]
<< 10% African American,
Asian, and Hispanic women
26%
[1] http://bit.ly/1hNYxcE

5. ...and it’s gotten lower
2014: 26%
http://bit.ly/1hNYxcE
1991: 36%

6. ... unsurprisingly the number of
women in senior leadership roles
is small
[1] http://bit.ly/1IShvJz (NCIWT study)
Silicon-Valley
technology startups:
4 percent of senior
management positions;
Fortune 500 tech: 11% of
corporate officers.
4%

7. ... and the pipeline isn’t great
[1] http://tek.io/1nbpMxI
In the mid-1980s, 37% of
computer science majors
were women; in 2012,
18% [1]
18%

8. Why does it matter?
Research suggests that diverse teams
perform better.[1]
Diverse teams have more constructive
debates.[2]
If nothing else, let’s not restrict our talent
pool.
[1] http://bit.ly/1UvLs8S, http://tek.io/1nbpMxI
[2] http://stanford.io/1WcXWSn

9. [1] http://bit.ly/1IShvJz (NCWIT study)
“56 percent of technical
women leave at the
“mid-level” point” [1] 56%
Majority of women in technology
leave mid-career

10. [1] http://bit.ly/1IShvJz (NCIWT study)
Mid-career & leadership
10-20 years experience.
The time many take on leadership roles.
Leadership: tech lead, architect, manager,
director, etc.

11. An insider’s view

12. There are those who
stand in the way...

13. “I was supposed to interview somebody for a [technical]
position, but he refused to be interviewed by a
woman.”
“I went to pick up my speaker badge at [major tech
conference] and the guy handing out the badges said:
‘You’re a speaker?? Noooooo.’”

14. “I can’t tell you how many times somebody assumed I
was a recruiter and couldn’t believe that I was a hiring
manager.”
“One hint of their attitude towards women is that they
call all of the men by name and all of the women are
“hon” or “honey” or “sweetie”.”
“I would say I am my worst enemy.”

15. Unconscious bias: everybody has it.

16. The “queen bee” effect: some female
leaders hold back other women.

17. There are also those
who help.

18. “One of my VPs [...] (male) was particularly supportive and
[...] expose[d] me to higher-level business and
management challenges.”
“I want people to treat me the same they treat men, and
for the most part, they do.”

19. “Throughout my career, I have sought out strong technical
female leaders as mentors and have had some great
experiences with that.”
“My husband takes the kids to the doctor, plays single
dad when I travel for work, and is home as much as I am
when school is out.”

20. What’s it like?

21. “I love to help others succeed, to watch people grow.”
“just as I get great satisfaction from solving a technical
problem, I get great satisfaction from helping others do
the same.”

22. “As a professional I get to see how the most brilliant
people in the world change it for the better”
“It’s incredible what a well-aligned, motivated team can
accomplish.”
“Most of the time I just don’t think of myself as a female
leader. I just think of myself as a leader, and exactly
where I want to be.”

23. My experience: concentric circles
Inner circle(s):
Supportive/gender-indifferent.
Larger environment:
Not.

24. Daily focus: the job itself
Positive environment.
Mentors.

25. Leaders are exposed to larger
environment more often
More cross-team
interactions.
More recruiting (rich
ground for “interesting”
experiences!).
More public presence.

26. What to do
(for women)?

27. Find the right environment for you
“find[...] a work place with a culture where
you don't have to change completely to
fit pre-defined notions of the definition of
a leader.”
“if you're having trouble breaking through
or being successful as a leader, don't
assume it's all you.”

28. Be open minded.
Some people treat everybody poorly.

29. What to do
(for leaders)?

30. You set the tone.
Don’t accept bias.

31. What to do
(for everybody)?

32. Be aware
Explicit bias exists and happens every
day.
Implicit bias is real!
Environment is created by everybody.
Don’t treat people badly even if you
don’t know them.

33. Concentric circles: fix both.
Inner circle: must be positive.
Larger environment: easier to live with if not
positive, but difficult long-term.

34. Katharina Probst
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharinaprobst
@probst_kathrin

35. BACKUP

36. Why move into leadership?

37. Why move into leadership?
“I love technology, but I am even more fascinated by
people.” [1]
“strategic planning”
“I realized that I got great satisfaction (and believe I
provided strong value) in mentoring/growing
engineers [and] achieving goals through others.”
[1] All quotes in this presentation are from women I know personally.

38. Other motivations
Sometimes it’s the only way to advance
your career.
More power (is this really true?)
Why did the chicken cross the road?
-- To show the opossum that it could
be done.

39. Why do women leave?
Many leave because they are not in the
right environment.[1]
✘ Bad experiences
✘ Little/no support
[1] http://bit.ly/1IShvJz (NCIWT study)

40. Find a mentor (or two)
➔ Can be somebody more experienced
➔ Can be a peer
➔ Can be male or female
Become a mentor yourself!