Page 18 - SPiCE Magazine 2019_draft

18 The SPiCE Magazine • September 2019
Women of Disruption
By Anna Junette Bax
It is true: Women have been making waves in tech-
nology since Charles Babbage came up with the
Analytical Engine, thereby “fathering” the computer;
and his female associate mathematician Ada Lovelace
became the first programmer in the history of com-
puting. Through the ages, however, the role that Lady
Lovelace – the only legitimate child to the infamous
romantic poet Lord Byron - played in shaping today’s
technology has often been overlooked, like those of
other great women whose contributions to the tech
industry are as exemplary as their male counterparts.
Many had claimed (some of them, men) that women
have been marginalized due to societal biases and
stereotypes in the workplace. Success barriers, like
the confidence gap and the meta-challenge, have
given rise to global feminist movements that tackle
women’s plight on equality.
At SPi Global, there’s only a handful of women in the
technology teams, which is perfectly natural given
that the larger social construct affects our micro-
cosm. From experience, though, our “women in tech”
are neither unsung nor marginalized.Their work can
be felt across the organization and had earned them
respect from peers and praise from managers and
colleagues.
I asked Grace Nono, Manager for IT-Corporate
Solutions Development Group (CSDG), what it takes
for a woman to succeed in the technology field and
she shared that proving one’s mettle in the arena
has very little to do with gender. According to her,
“It’s about the ability of a person, man or woman, to
adapt to any given situation.”
As the go-to person for enterprise technology
projects, Grace handles a team of two female
and six male developers. “It’s all about converting
your strengths in each area of your life to lessen
the challenges in others. Being in the tech field
has made me more equipped for success in my
personal life, too.” A doting wife and moth-
er, she also takes on volunteer duties as one of
Parañaque’s CSR Champions.
Certainly, in tech, towering skills on paper can easily
be scratched off when one is unable to keep up with
developers and professionals who have the advan-
tage of experience. “I’ve heard people say, ‘fake it
‘til you make it’; but with work at SPi Global, either
I learn to process information fast, or I get left be-
hind,” inferred Jalyn Llamena, Business Analyst for
the TechSol team.
Because some processes are more complex than
others, the 27-year old tech professional believes
that technical caliber and the ability to think criti-
cally and analytically are qualities advantageous in
her line of work. “In our role, we should be able to
understand linear and non-linear problems,” she
said. “The team develops solutions depending on
our understanding of issues in production, from the
glaring to the most minor ones.”
Highly organized and quick on the uptake, her pro-
cess documentations and illustrations mirror her
The SPiCE Magazine • September 2019 19
competence, that since being hired in (insert month and refine into our tech practice as the core prin-
and year), her immersion in Paranaque’s production ciple of continuous development. “When even the
shop-floor has deepened exponentially. smallest aspect of our work impacts the main-
stream, our contribution becomes immeasurable.
Studies suggest that gender dynamics contribute Those who are brave enough to explore outside
to an organization’s innovation practice. Leveraging
inclusivity, therefore, creates a positive synergy their comfort zone will find that the rewards are
worth the long haul.”
that inevitably results to a company’s increase in
bottom line. Besides enjoying a healthy career since joining
SCOPE as (insert position) ten years ago, at 47
Since the integration of SPi Global’s Technology
years old she is the mother of three children and
teams with SCOPE’s in 2018, more powerful tools
wife to (insert husband’s line of work.)
have been developed at a faster pace. Likewise, the
potentials of existing platforms and solutions in Open access to the internet (which was also es-
serving bigger and more exacting markets have poused by a woman in the Obama administration)
come to our purview. has seen the debate on equality to become more
gritty and granular. But popularized issues such as
Viswapriya (need full name), AVP for Technology
equal representation, diversity, and discrimination
Solutions at SCOPE is the expert on AcQuire, a robust
become moot when true equality, which leads to
web-scraping and crawling technology considered to
better opportunities and outcome for the greater
be one of the hottest tools in SPi Global’s roster of
good, is at the top of an organization’s hierarchy
logos today. “The response to Acquire has been very
of values. Indeed, SPi Global at 40 years puts this
favorable and I’m really happy that usage has picked-
occasional feminist at liberty to babble on about
up by (insert percentage) during the past year,”
our women in technology. Ergo, history may be
she remarked. evidence; its interpretation, however, is according to
the our collective’s conscious - and unconscious -
Despite global statistics indicating that India produces
the highest number of female representation in the evolvement.
tech field year-on-year, among Priya’s 45-member
team of developers and technologists, only three are
women. “SPi Global’s focus areas are highly special-
ized,” she noted. “Micro-niches continue to emerge,
and the prospect of more women breaking into the
tech industry steadily increases as well.”
Now is a really good time to be creative and innova-
tive. We can channel our natural instinct to nurture
TM