Hello and welcome back to our series…
…in honor of International Women's Day,
and really for the whole month,
we wanted to highlight some of the women of Axway.
We wanted to get to know them,
also, talk a little bit about some of the issues facing women,
specifically in our field.
Today we are with Apurva Jain.
And Apurva, could you please introduce yourself a little bit?
Tell us where you are in the world…
…and what you do at Axway,
and maybe a little bit about how you got interested in your field.
Yeah, sure.
Hi, my name is Apurva,
and I am working as a Senior Quality Engineer at Axway in Dublin.
I’ve worked in the IT industry for the last six years,
and I have expertise in software quality assurance.
I moved to Dublin about five years ago to get my master's degree,
and ever since that suited myself.
Being a kid I always was intrigued by science and technology,
and I knew I'll make a career in here.
So, I feel great to be fulfilling my dream.
I feel great to be a part of this community.
That's wonderful.
So, as you probably know,
or you might have heard,
women make up about 50% of the workforce, just about half,
but especially in our field, in the tech field, only about a quarter.
And so, obviously, there's a little bit of a discrepancy.
So we're kind of exploring some of those issues.
What do you think, from your experience,
that can be done to encourage women to want to be part of this industry?
So, what I think at first is,
we can start with a few basic things.
First, by creating a more welcoming environment for women.
We should recognize that gender bias exists in this field,
and then we should work towards it,
by overriding it continuously,
questioning our assumptions, and promoting equal pay and benefits.
We should acknowledge the achievements of women who have been a part of this industry.
This will not only inspire positive change,
but will also drive motivation among...
...the girls who are looking forward to be a part of this industry.
We can also create a supportive culture,
promote a hybrid work environment,
and include people of color,
recruit and advertise more gender-neutral jobs,
and organize training, etcetera, to enhance the skills of women.
A lot of women that I've spoken with, mentioned the importance of having a role model,
of seeing somebody that looks like you doing this…
…and that alone can provide a lot of motivation,
and even for a young girl, plant a seed of...
...“Oh! That's maybe something I could do.”
Yeah, I love that.
What would you say to this young woman or young girl that might be considering…
…or maybe somebody who's reconverting after having children,
that might be considering a career in tech?
Do you have any advice,
maybe what are some of the opportunities?
Also, what are some of the skills needed in the field?
I think what I have seen or experienced is…
…we as kids usually associate technology with science,
long hours of analytical thinking,
and doing difficult ICT lessons.
It's always embedded in their head from the...
...very beginning of their educational career.
So, I think awareness must be raised among young girls to increase their interest in this field.
They should be taught that alongside analytical skills,
the tech industry also needs cognitive thinking, and logical reasoning…
…which women can do so much better with.
We can increase the diversity in this field by including women,
and they will bring their own expertise…
…and create a way of thinking when they would join the STEM fields.
And I think there are vast...
...opportunities in this field.
There are several roles that are available when you look in the job market…
…like marketing, data science, software engineering,
one like myself, software quality assurance,
you can be a product owner, product designer.
You can be anything. So it's just that…
…we need to increase the interest of women in this field.
We need to show them…
…there is a vast...
...ocean of opportunity.
Absolutely. Just being aware of what is available, and what that might look like is huge.
So, maybe let's close with...
...maybe a little bit more of a personal question.
What do you love about your job?
What is one of your favorite things about working in tech or about specifically your job today?
I think I would first say that the benefits are amazing.
Whenever you look at a corporate job like myself in IT,
you will get good pay benefits,
you will have all the maternity benefits as well.
And then apart from that,
I have personally a thing for testing.
I really like attention to detail so I think I am doing what I like to do.
So, that’s it, I suppose.
Well, we're glad you're there with your attention to detail…
…to make sure Axway products are just as the way they should be.
Thank you so much for joining us today, Apurva.
It was really interesting getting to know you...
…and we will be getting to meet a few other women in tech at Axway.
Thanks so much.
Thank you. It was lovely talking to you as well