63 | Women as Highly Empowered Technical Leaders

Today's episode is a Simply Tech LIVE interview recorded July 27th, 2020, featuring my co-host, Ali Mazaheri, and our special guest, CAT Susch.

CAT is a Principal Technical Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center in New York, and is sharing her experiences as a highly technical leader in the tech industry, why there are so few women in technical roles, and the challenges and opportunities presented for the culture change that businesses need to make to build a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

There are very few highly technical women leaders in industry, whether it be business broadly, or specifically in the tech world - this conversation will really surface both some data for why this could be, as well as solutions for women specifically, as CAT walks through her experience both working at Microsoft and at other organizations, as well as what we can all do to contribute to causes that impact the overall inclusion and leadership participation of women in our workforce and society.

This was such a special episode, and we're so happy we can surface it this month as a special feature to Woman's History Month.

Key Take-aways

[06:59] CAT’s background, and her career journey as a highly technical practitioner

[09:32] Opportunities for diversity and inclusion in technology, and her latest work in virtual hackathons

[12:47] The challenges facing women in highly technical leadership roles

[16:22] How to get a wider base of women to apply to technology opportunities

[20:52] On cultivating and mentoring women towards attracting them to technical roles

[23:36] The impact of community events for young women and early in career women

[26:06] On the influence of culture and customer expectation – how to be good examples of partner organizations and customers

[28:06] On cross-collaboration or partnerships to build confidence for women to apply

[29:26] What the Digi Girls project is and doing things for the younger women in Microsoft

[31:57] CAT fostering international mentor relationships and engagements: a story about Beatrice and Ana

[34:55] Innovative and ideas for structuring experience heavy activities for women through the pandemic

[37:41] CAT’s endeavors and ambitions to continue creating an impact on the current and future state of the women’s technical community

Memorable Quotes:

[13:13] “I was seeing that women are going towards program/project management more often than I am seeing them go toward technical roles. And there were several times in my career where “you are good at planning, why don’t you become a project manager”, then I would be like, “is that my only choice?” So I would typically make my decisions with my feet and move on to other positions that continue to give me technical accountability...” - Cat Susch

[16:56] “It’s harder for women to take on stretch goals or stretch roles… It is not necessarily because they lack the confidence, it is also the visibility to where those other opportunities are and how they get enrolled or get involved in those things.” - Cat Susch

[17:47] (getting a wider base of women to apply) “I think we need to do more to attract the kind of roles that women would want to take both from the technical position or non-technical position and understand that some women may have come up through different tracks to get there.” - Cat Susch

[18:44] “When I came up through the technology era, the PCs were just being invented, and at that time it wasn’t that atypical that the boy in the family would get the PC and the girl wouldn’t and that has had a lot of impacts I think on how things have recurred in technology through decades, and we can’t disregard that. I think it's time for the fathers to get the girls techy toys and take a role there as well.” - Cat Susch

Resources:

Cat Susch on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/catsusch/

Women in Technical Roles Statistics: https://leftronic.com/women-in-technology-statistics/#:~:text=17%2B%20Women%20in%20Technology%20Statistics%20to%20Know%20in,than%20code%20written%20by%20men.%20More%20items...%20

Women in Business and Technology Podcast: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/women-in-business-technology

DigiGirlz at Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/programs/digigirlz/default.aspx

What can a Technical Architect at Microsoft learn from a Girl born to be a Child Bride? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-can-technical-architect-microsoft-learn-from-girl-linda-lockhart/?trackingId=TwAOtXfunD5d4tnBc5r5DQ%3D%3D

*The views and opinions expressed in this discussion are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official position of their employer, Microsoft" 

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Thank you for listening!

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