Secrets to Career Success by Leading Women in Tech

On October 12th we hosted a Women in Tech business panel at our stylish event space at our furnished office at Mindspace Shoreditch in London. The panelists were invited to share about what they wished they had known at the start of their tech careers. The event was a great success, the audience was highly engaged in the discussion and there were delicious refreshments, like pineapple cider by Brewdog-owned cider brand Hawkes.

Topics of discussion included the underlying blocks to success that women frequently experience, such as imposter syndrome, being afraid to express themselves, and mindset issues around money and success. In addition the panel received questions such as: the best way to give feedback to men and the real needle movers in a woman’s career versus what women might unconsciously believe contributes to their success. 

Dayo Akinrinade, Founder & CEO of Wisdom, gave her tips for success during the panel – “Don’t think that hard work and results alone are good to progress you fast. Pay attention to self promotion and networking, then making sure that you speak a lot about what you are doing.” Similar advice came from another panelist, Deborah Hayes, Head of Marketing at Samsung UK:  “I’m the only female at most of the meetings and sessions… My advice is to identify your allies and be brave!” 

The panel also discussed how deeply imposter syndrome shows up for women in tech. One panelist shared that she didn’t think that she had imposter syndrome but then noticed that she did not consider herself or her company as contenders to win industry awards, and then when the winners were announced she realized it could easily have been her or her company. After discovering this mindset issue, the panelist created a habit of listing her achievements to remind herself she was worth a seat at the table. 

Panelist Bronny Wilson, Regional Head of UK&IRE at Equiem said: “As a tech leader, in an industry that struggles with gender imbalance I am committed to doing everything I can to have a positive impact for women in tech.”

The event also covered themes, such as how much progress the tech industry is making towards redressing the gender imbalance issue, and how the sector can be made more accessible to people of different backgrounds.

Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, CEO at Tapoly said: “The main thing… is to increase female recruitment and retention rates… We can achieve this through encouraging, promoting and recruiting more women to take up careers in technology.” 

The discussion provided a lot of food for thought and we hope it will inspire positive change. Read more about our satellite offices here, or how you can book our meeting rooms at one of our flexible office spaces. If you want to rent flex offices in London specifically, you can read more about that here.