If you’ve been following me for a while then you’ll know that I’m a big advocate for women in tech.
I believe that the IT industry needs to do as much as it can to encourage more women (and especially female school leavers) to consider a career in IT.
We also need to do more to support young women when they choose our industry.
For this year’s International Women’s Day I wanted to share five interviews from across my TubbTalk podcast archive where I chat to four amazing women who are making waves in a traditionally male-dominated sector.
I’d love to know what you think, and please share as much as possible, so we can all celebrate these amazing women in tech!
Effective MSP Marketing – Gemma Telford
I’ve known Gemma for many years, so I was delighted to have her as one of my first women in tech guests when I launched the TubbTalk podcast. Gemma now runs She/Her – Human Marketing for Technology Businesses, having been at the helm of the IT Marketing Agency when she and I spoke on the podcast. Listen to our conversation around Effective MSP Marketing.
- Follow @GemmaITMarketng on Twitter
- Connect with Gemma Telford on LinkedIn
- Read Gemma’s article on The power of connection and community – and how to be happier!
Being a Woman in a Male-Dominated Industry – Melissa Ellis
I’ve been proud to mentor Melissa Saar as she embarked on her career in IT, and at the time of recording this episode, Melissa was working at IT Glue.
Since then, Melissa has now married to become Melissa Ellis, and is rocking the MSP world as a Technical Implementation Manager at Datto!
In the episode Being a Woman Working in a Male-Dominated Industry, we talked about:
- How Melissa got started in the industry
- The challenges Melissa faced, and how she progressed
- Melissa’s experience working as a service desk manager
- The advice Melissa would give her younger self
You can connect with Melissa Ellis on LinkedIn
How to do Awesome MSP Sales – Fiona Challis
Fiona is a well-know and extremely well respected woman in tech. Fiona is THE go-to person for sales advice for Managed Service Providers (MSPs).
Our episode on How to do Awesome MSP Sales was recorded at the CRN Conference in London at the end of 2019. Fiona runs the Next Gen Sales Academy, which helps MSPs accelerate their sales. We talked about:
- How Fiona went from selling beauty products to IT
- Why you should focus on serving, not selling
- The biggest sales challenges for MSPs
- Growing your confidence with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
You can connect with Fiona Challis on LinkedIn, or follow @Gen_Sales on Twitter.
Advancing Women in IT – Tracy Pound
There are a lot of inspiring women in Tech, but few more experienced and inspiring than Tracy.
Tracy Pound is the owner of Birmingham-based MaximITy and sits on the Executive Council of CompTIA.
In our conversation on Advancing Women in IT, Tracy and I discuss:-
- Her company MaximITy and her work with CompTIA
- Why there aren’t more women in tech
- How to attract more women to the industry
- The future of Managed Service Providers (MSPs)
You can connect with Tracy Pound on LinkedIn, or follow @TracyJPound or @maximity_uk on Twitter.
Cybersecurity for MSPs – Jaya Baloo
Given her position as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of one of the world’s leading Cybersecurity companies, Avast, Jaya is a shining example for Women in Tech of a powerful woman in the IT Industry.
In our conversation on How Do Criminals Think? CyberSecurity for MSPs, Java shared a wealth of knowledge.
We discussed:-
- How MSPs can explain the importance of cybersecurity to their clients
- Key metrics for MSPs to focus on
- Top cybersecurity threats for SMBs
- How SMBs can stay compliant
You can connect with Jaya Baloo on LinkedIn, or follow @JayaBaloo on Twitter.
Why Observing International Women’s Day is so Important for the Tech Sector
While these podcasts have shone a spotlight on five amazing women in tech, I think it’s worth noting some eye-opening statistics. Jennifer Gregory wrote a great article called The Empowering Guide for Women in Tech in 2022.
You would be forgiven for thinking that the number of women in tech careers has increased since the eighties. In fact, of all of the STEM careers, Technology has suffered from a decline, according to tech leader Judith Spitz.
If we look at the major tech players, Jennifer reports that “women have only 23% of the tech jobs at Apple and make up only 32% of the company’s workforce. Google has similar stats, with 21% of its tech jobs held by women and 31% of the total workforce. Microsoft is in the same ballpark, with women holding 20% of tech jobs and 27% of the total workforce.”
International Women’s Day has raised awareness of gender disparity, and has prompted companies to begin to take action, but there is still much more to do.
I’d love to hear what your business has done to further the inclusivity of women in your part of the tech industry.
Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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