Empowering women in IT is still a thing, a very important one. Organizations in the technology sector have many gender gaps to fill when it comes to gender equality. Women make up only 26% of IT employees and still experience ageism, the “my idea syndrome,” and struggle with their own misconceptions.
There are many initiatives like Geeky Girls Carrots or Women in Tech Summit to change the landscape. However, each organization should take a stand on this. Ginni Rometty, Susan Wojcicki, Gwynne Shotwell, to name a few famous women in the tech sector. You may have talented and ambitious female role models in your own company as well. Support them and give other female employees a chance to advance their careers.
41% of all Bluestone PIM employees are women. We strive to create the best work environment for every team member since our people are the direct source of our success.
Women in IT does not just mean female software developers and computer programming or tech education for young women. The tech industry is also about sales and marketing, project management, and customer support.
That’s why, in this special article, we have interviewed a few female employees from different departments across our company to share their stories and career development tips. Are you thinking about becoming a product owner in a SaaS company? Would you like to work in the technology industry but do not have a degree in computer science? Or maybe you are thinking about changing your career towards sales and business development in IT?
Learn more about advancing to leadership positions, changing careers to become a software engineer, and more. We want to give a solid dose of inspiration, knowledge sharing, and encouragement to any woman thinking about making her own way in the tech industry and planning professional development.
Never let fear control you
Claudia Martins, Business Development Advisor
What do you do at Bluestone PIM?
I am a Business Development Advisor, I manage the full sales cycles from lead generation to closing the deal, and handing over the project to the onboarding team.
What do you like about your job?
My favorite part is talking to different companies and learning more about different industries. In a way, we do become an expert on eCommerce for diverse industries. You need to be able to understand problems and figure out how to help them solve them.
What are your favorite sources to expand your knowledge?
I follow Cognism and Leadsfeeder webinars for sales knowledge, and I also read Hubspot blogs and take LinkedIn online courses. Furthermore, I check MACH Alliance members’ webinars for technology innovation purposes.
Do you have some tips for women who want to start a career as a business development advisor?
First, never let fear control you. We are all afraid of our first cold call, or our first cold email. But we need to start somewhere. Personally, I am an introvert, so I get the anxiety, but after getting over the fear of rejection, you will grow and learn more than you thought.
And my second tip is to get used to “No”. We all hear it. Even if you spend months on a prospect and do your very best, you will still hear it. It can get demotivating as if you are not doing your job right. Just remember it’s not a reflection of your work. It’s just part of the job, you can’t win them all. Study the case, learn everything that you can, and use those learnings to improve.
I thought, “Why don’t I even try? I have nothing to lose”
Zaneta Czapiewska, Software Developer
What do you do at Bluestone PIM?
I work on the front-end side of Bluestone PIM.
What do you like about your job?
I like that I have a constant opportunity to develop myself. My job is to solve different problems. They are more or less complicated, but finding a solution always makes me very satisfied. It’s also nice to work with people and build something useful together.
What are your favorite sources to expand your knowledge?
There are many sources on the internet: a huge amount of articles, blogs, documentation, educational platforms, etc. Many people share their knowledge on YouTube. For beginners, I recommend trying the CodeCademy or Udemy platforms. For me, other programmers are certainly an invaluable source of knowledge. They are usually very helpful and willing to share their knowledge.
Do you have some tips for women who want to start a career as a software developer?
Just try 🙂 I used to be a teacher. Even before I became a teacher, I was interested in programming, but I didn’t believe that it could be my profession. And then, after working in a school for 8 years, I thought, “Why don’t I even try? I have nothing to lose”. And so I tried, and I managed, and today I’m very glad I made that decision.
I learned the basics of programming in my studies, but when I made the decision to change my profession, I learned on my own, using the resources of the Internet. I learned a lot, including on the Udemy and CodeCademy platforms. It was also very developing to create my own small projects, for example, an application that was a collection of my recipes.
Support others around you and help when you can
Cathrine Wille Herløvær, Project Architect
What do you do at Bluestone PIM?
I handle all technical issues that our customers might need assistance with. I am their technical go-to person. I analyze data, do research, and write technical specifications. And in cooperation with the Project Manager, we set up a plan for the customer to prepare their data. Some clients need a lot of help, others less. We have a powerful PIM, which allows customers to do much of the work themselves, using our APIs. I also assist with support when needed. We work in teams and benefit from each other’s knowledge.
What do you like about your job?
I like lots of things:
- working with our colleagues across teams and countries.
- the variety of tasks and the challenges.
- working with our customers.
- that our software is modern and that it is a MACH Alliance certified PIM solution.
- that we have offices both in Thailand, Sweden and Poland.
- that we have the possibility to travel to the other offices and meet with our colleagues in Thailand, Sweden, and Poland.
What are your favorite sources to expand your knowledge?
A lot of the research is done using Google search. Other than that I enjoy the AWS Academy and I also study courses through Google’s Analytics Academy. Currently, I am taking exams in IT at the University of Oslo.
Do you have some tips for women who want to start a career as a project architect?
My position is something you grow into, gain more experience, not by doing a special course or training. Go to university or college and get your degree. Work hard and don’t give up! Support others around you and help when you can. We are all in this together.
If you want to know more about the project architect role you can contact Cathrine on Linkedin.
Find your niche that will empower you
Anna Zloczewska, Marketing Automation Specialist
What do you do at Bluestone PIM?
I’m part of the Digital Marketing Team. As Marketing Automation Specialist, my projects are concentrated on creating and improving an excellent customer experience in terms of automation workflows, web pages, email marketing, segmentation, personalization, and marketing data analytics. I also eagerly take part in Employer Branding activities. So when you’re at the first touch with Bluestone PIM, I’m right there to make things smooth and easy for you!
What do you like about your job?
Contrary to popular belief, in marketing automation, “set it and leave it” is never an option, and email marketing is not a one-way tube, it’s a regular conversation with your contacts. Therefore you should regularly test, and analyze the data you’re given. I really enjoy this part, because it helps me to draw my own conclusions, look for creative and most efficient ways to respond to customers’ needs, and it gives me the feeling of having a measurable impact on the brand’s success. Plus, I can make use of my analytical and technical skills! When it comes to email marketing, I like this impression of talking with our visitors and getting to know not only them but also their needs and preferences better.
What are your favorite sources to expand your knowledge?
I’m really into Data-Driven Marketing, so most of my favorite content is mostly about it, like Ariyh newsletter, presenting marketing research based on scientific data. However, recently I also read This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See and The Practice both by Seth Godin (everyone in marketing knows his name!), which really broadened my business perspective. And for those who are more into content marketing, I also highly recommend Ann Handley’s blog
Do you have some tips for women who want to start a career as a marketing automation specialist?
Digital Marketing is a very broad field: from social media, through content marketing, SEO/SEM, ads, automation, data analysis. It’s quite a lot, isn’t it? Therefore, at first, you should find your favorite topic and try by yourself what suits you best. Keep in mind that you can’t be an expert in all those fields – and that’s really ok, find your niche that will empower you. Try various courses to see how the specific field responds to your competencies. Many good courses for beginners are for free, ex. Google Digital Skills.
Also, follow Linkedin marketing experts. Many prominent specialists share their expertise on social media – well, it’s a part of marketing 😉 Some of them send regular newsletters, so you can always be up-to-date with marketing news.
Go for it, give it a try, and don’t listen to your inner and outer saboteurs
Dagmara Wieczorek, Software Developer
What do you do at Bluestone PIM?
Some time ago, I might have said that I’m a frontend developer, but that’s not 100% true right now, as we are also doing backend services. My team is focused on our core functionalities.
What do you like about your job?
The most important thing for me that I really love about this job is the people. When you are around people who are kind, supportive, and eager to share their knowledge, it’s a perfect environment to grow, and that’s why I have been here at Bluestone since 2019.
It’s also important thing is, that we truly care and believe in our product. With each month, we see it getting better because of the changes we have made. It’s very satisfying to know that you are doing something that matters and helps customers manage their data information every day.
What are your favorite sources to expand your knowledge?
I think the best source to expand knowledge despite documentation is collaboration and discussion with other developers. I don’t think there is a better way to learn than to work with people that are supportive, open-minded, and care about the best quality code and product.
If you are at the beginning of your journey with the front end, I highly recommend Traversy Media on YouTube and his full courses on Udemy, he is a great teacher.
I also really love watching Coding Train on YouTube – he shows how much fun programming can be, for example, by creating snake or flappy bird games.
Do you have some tips for women who want to start a career as a software developer?
Before I became Software Developer, I studied materials science and engineering, but after a few years, I realized, I had no passion for it. When I was a teenager, I was doing some HTML+CSS blog templates just for fun. I updated my knowledge and tried programming in JS and really enjoyed it.
There are many women that have changed their path in a similar way, even in my team. If you have predispositions and passion for it, it does not matter if you are a man, woman, or non-binary, so ignore people that try to bring you down and claim otherwise.
Try to find people who will support you, help you be better, and learn. Remember, this is a process, and no one knows everything, and knowledge comes with time and experience. Not knowing something is not a reason to feel ashamed.
I really don’t want to sound cheesy, but if you want it – go for it, give it a try, and don’t listen to your inner and outer saboteurs. If we could do it, I think you can too.
Be curious, brave, and dedicated – and don’t forget to be a team player
Evy Anita Buvarp, Product Owner
What do you do at Bluestone?
I started at Bluestone in May 2021 as project manager of Telenor Consumer projects, and recently entered the role of product owner of Bluestone PIM. My main responsibility is to make sure that the product portfolio is developed according to customer/market needs and Bluestone’s strategic decisions in a prioritized order.
What do you like about your job?
I am excited about contributing to the development of our product portfolio from a more overall perspective, taking both customers’ and Bluestone’s goals into consideration.
I do believe I have a good understanding of the software development process – from a need is presented until functionality to cover that need is delivered. I like being part of the software development team, as the link between the business side/stakeholders and the development department.
The most fun part is helping stakeholders dig out their true needs and turning them into user stories and acceptance criteria to be used as a basis for development tasks.
What are your favorite sources to expand your knowledge?
The most valuable source of knowledge expansion is a knowledge sharing between colleagues and the experience gained from participating in projects. By being hands-on and involved in all parts of the development process, I learn something new every day. From time to time, I attend webinars on topics like agile software development and quality assurance.
Do you have some tips for women who want to start a career as a product owner?
I would recommend getting an IT education that covers the necessary topics to know what is going on in the software development process. Studying different methodologies is also valuable.
By gaining experience in different roles within a software development organization, you will have a good starting point for stepping into the role of Product Owner. The product owner has a central role where you will need to cooperate with many different people and parts of the company, so you should get to know how the machinery works before you find your own place in it. Make sure you take enough time in this role to figure out and understand the real needs that need to be met.
Be curious, brave, and dedicated – and don’t forget to be a team player!
If you want to know more about the product owner role, you can write to Evy on Linkedin.
In this article, we weren’t able to share the stories of all our colleagues, but we can give them digital flowers (and, of course, the real ones, too).
Helena, Mariann, Ilona, Amp, Evy, Zaneta, Cathrine, Dagmara, Claudia, Anna, Marta, Neluta, Tu, Beem, Noona, Zuzanna, Natalia, Marlena, Milena, Mam, Pleng, Anne, Ammy, Stine, Saa, Tai, Yui, Proud, Kat, Reef, Pan, Pear, Leny, Praew, Zuza – thank you for being with us and for your outstanding work.
Check what it is like to work at Bluestone PIM
The development of innovative technologies is fostered by a friendly atmosphere of mutual respect and openness. At Bluestone PIM, people from all around the world work and have fun together.
Dedication to the team, work-life balance, and the best effort of each team member is the core of what matters to us. Watch the video below to meet some of our employees and learn what they think about working in Bluestone PIM and what skills they developed.
If you want to know more about our office life, learn more about Bluestone's culture code and follow our social media.
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