Women in Tech: Enabling Strong Female Voices
Themba Wahlstrom
Nov 2, 20203 min readEdited on Jun 15, 2022
The tech industry is notorious for a lack of gender diversity. This can be especially apparent when looking at engineering roles. As Truecaller is strongly engineering driven, this makes the goal of improving gender diversity that much more important – women often struggle for visibility within an industry that has mostly male voices.
We are strongly committed to working towards a better representation of women within the organisation. Also, we think a vital part of that is showcasing women and providing a voice for women within our organisation. So, we had a chat with Milu Raju, a Backend Engineer working in Bangalore within the Fintech department at Truecaller.
Read on to find out more about working as an engineer from her perspective.
What is Truecaller’s culture like?
I onboarded remotely the day India went into full lockdown. There was a lot of stress and uncertainty in my mind about the job, about onboarding remotely and about the pandemic. Since day one, I have been experiencing the warm, supportive and inclusive environment that Truecaller has. The effort that Truecaller leadership takes to promote a fun culture is commendable.
Do you have any advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
In my observation, there are male-dominated fields that are not ready for a change yet and there are some which are ready to accept women. Fortunately, tech is one of such areas where women are receiving support to cut through gender roles. Women should see this opportunity and leverage these support mechanisms to build a career in tech. My advice to all women would be “never stop asking questions”.
Is there anything you think is not discussed enough within the tech industry?
Tech jobs by nature, as well as by conscious choice, have become an area that is welcoming women to the workplace. However, women especially young girls, lack the awareness about the opportunity, confidence in themselves and support of family to come into tech. I think there is a need for outreach to bridge this gap.
What is your opinion on the tech industry within India? What would you like to see changed?
India has successfully adopted innovations like QR code payments and is now leading innovations like the UPI payment network. However, I think there is a lot more potential. India has a lot of smart people constrained by a lack of resources for experiential learning. With the internet under /bin/sh.1/GB, online learning platforms, remote work solutions, IT career is more accessible than ever before and India needs to embrace this.
What is Truecaller’s culture like?
I onboarded remotely the day India went into full lockdown. There was a lot of stress and uncertainty in my mind about the job, about onboarding remotely and about the pandemic. Since day one, I have been experiencing the warm, supportive and inclusive environment that Truecaller has. The effort that Truecaller leadership takes to promote a fun culture is commendable.
Do you have any advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
In my observation, there are male dominated fields that are not ready for a change yet and there are some which are ready to accept women. Fortunately tech is one of such areas where women are receiving support to cut through gender roles. Women should see this opportunity and leverage these support mechanisms to build a career in tech. My advice to all women would be “never stop asking questions”.
Is there anything you think is not discussed enough within the tech industry?
Tech jobs by nature, as well as by conscious choice, have become an area that is welcoming women to the workplace. However, women especially young girls, lack the awareness about the opportunity, confidence in themselves and support of family to come into tech. I think there is a need for outreach to bridge this gap.
What is your opinion on the tech industry within India? What would you like to see changed?
India has successfully adopted innovations like QR code payments and is now leading innovations like the UPI payment network. However, I think there is a lot more potential. India has a lot of smart people constrained by lack of resources for experiential learning. With the internet under /bin/sh.1/GB, online learning platforms, remote work solutions, IT career is more accessible than ever before and India needs to embrace this.
Themba Wahlstrom
Nov 2, 20203 min read
