90: Aspiring women in tech: A conversation with Aarushi Nair, Ambassador & Community Volunteer AnitaB.org | #GHC22 #NextIsNow | #GirlsWhoCode

The Elephant in the Room

Shownotes

36 %: No of women employees In the Indian tech sector (the biggest employer by far)

51%: Women entry level recruits 🤩🤩🤩

25%: Women in managerial positions 😕☹️ (how bad or unsupportive does the culture need to be to get educated women to leave)

1% : Women in the C-Suite 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️ (This cannot happen without entrenched and systemic biases)

The statistics are so predictable it is almost boring. We have seen similar statistics in other markets, markets that are supposed to have been advancing the cause of women for decades. The numbers are depressing and disappointing.

Considering that 50% of India’s population is below the age of 25, I invited @Aarushi Nair, an engineer and aspiring academic to hear her perspective. The perspective from a generation who have faced and are facing great uncertainty and isolation due to the pandemic. A generation who lost years of socialising, classroom learning, and opportunities. The inheritors of a world that is literally going up in flames or down the drain or seems bleaker - take your pick.

In the course of the freewheeling chat we spoke about her role as an Ambassador/Community Volunteer at AnitaB.org, her thoughts on the challenges facing women in tech; her aspirations; changing priorities; equity & inclusion; what climate change means to her, friends, peer groups etc.

We also spoke about optimism, about changing your mind, mental health and the one super power she would like to have to change the world (Twilight 🤔🤔)

Want to hear more, head to the podcast 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

Shownotes

👉🏾 Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be on and yeah, let's have an amazing conversation.

👉🏾 So hello, my name is Aarushi Nair. I am 21 years old, I'm gonna turn 22 soon. I've only recently completed my bachelor's in technology and I majored in computer science engineering. I completed it in June, 2022. I feel like most of my character development has only happened in the last four years, honestly, only since college. My personal journey as such, I moved a lot as a child, we moved a lot. We moved from a city called Mumbai to Gurgaon. And we moved back and then moved back again.

👉🏾 So I think that helped me become more adaptable to different situations and people and cultures. But it wasn't anything crazy or something that I would say was significant to my journey. I think in the last four years, and I'm talking about when my college started and when the pandemic hit, I think these are the situations that really helped me grow.

👉🏾 One of them being that when I joined college. Before that I was in a very protected golden bubble sort of environment. I like to think that I come from a very privileged background where I've never had to struggle for anything as such. I mean, financially or emotionally. I've been blessed with a great family and only in college did I meet people from different backgrounds in different situations where they grew up and listening to their stories made me realise that what I had was truly a privilege. And I realised that I was a lot more grateful and a lot more aware about the things that I was seeing and making sure that I was a lot sensitive to people around me. So that's what college taught me.

👉🏾 And during the second wave of Covid, September, 2020 my father and my sister got dengue in the middle of the second wave of Covid, and that really hit me. It was a very scary time for our family. And I really grew, I think, as a sister and a daughter at the time. I realised the importance of my family, and I realised that it was harder to be strong for someone else than to just be strong for yourself and how much effort that takes. And again I was just a lot more grateful. Career-wise I feel like I've had a change last year when I did my first internship, Feb 2022.

👉🏾 All my life I've thought that in computer science I could always follow the path of coding and I was doing very well in class in coding, Java made sense to me. But it was only after I did an internship in web development where I realised that I can't be coding my entire life. And it was not something that gave me purpose. And so it was after my internship that I realised that I wanted to do something else in computer science and not a programming desk job anymore. So I'd say these three things are what kind of defined my journey.

👉🏾 So like I said, since I was brought up in a very privileged household, things like equality and opportunity for everyone and people being treated the same were always something that was a given. It wasn't something that was new or unconventional. But it was only when I met people in my field and in my university, I realised that it was not the same for everyone and that people had to really work for where they were and really had to fight for basic rights and basic opportunities.

👉🏾 So that was when I realised that I want to advocate for this because to me it makes sense. It is what the norm should be and that's when I found anitab.org. It's the largest community for women in STEM, and their message is that they want to build a space where the people who work in technology mirror the society for which they work for. And that makes sense that if you're going to be providing solutions and technology, devices, this and that for a society where you have women, or you have people from different backgrounds, even the people that work in those fields should also have the same kind of numbers, that's what they're trying to say.

👉🏾 And so when I found the community anitab.org, I decided to, sort of become really active in that community. I met a lot of students there, I started to hear their story.

👉🏾 And then people at anitab.org reached out to me and they said, we'd love for you to be an ambassador, and I also wanted to be a volunteer because I wanted to help organise events, be it online or virtual. And just last year, in October, I organised my very first event in college where we had a female speaker, come from anitab.org and speak to a few students and she shared her journey and what she does in the field, she works as a data scientist in the field. And I think it was one of the first times that I saw a female speaker at one of my technical events on the panel in my college. So it was a definitely quite memorable and very different from my juniors.

👉🏾 So yeah that's what we do at anitab.org. We help people, we connect them to different people in the technology field. And where it comes to advocating for people, for women in tech, it honestly seems like it should be the norm, you know it shouldn't be something that's unconventional. And as long as we encourage women to choose STEM careers at a young age, opportunity will always be made once we have more people there.

👉🏾 So I think maybe because I'm looking at it a very basic level, at a very introductory level, I think going ahead it depends person to person. Of course, some people don't see a career for them in this field. And some people I'd say that they might not want to grow sometimes because of their social constructs and they're not as ambitious as they need to be, as I'd like them to be at least. Because sometimes I don't know, I think maybe they hold themselves back because this is such a male-dominated field. So maybe because of certain biases, they don't want to go ahead or they're not given the opportunity to do so.

👉🏾 So maybe because it's so hard to go and rise up that some people don't pursue it. Again, it depends person to person, but maybe that could be one of the many reasons why we don't have a lot of women at least rising above in these fields in terms of position. And when it comes to people staying long in this field I wouldn't know.

👉🏾 I don't know how to actually answer that or why they don't stay as long because the people I've met from this field have been there for like years and they're doing well. But why they wouldn't stay long, I think the same reason, I think because they think that this is not a place for them, they won't really grow because you know the numbers are against them, there's such a big gender gap that's already existing. It's too much work, it's too much commitment. So, maybe they wouldn't want to continue working in a space like that. That could really, discourage them.

👉🏾 About myths. Yeah, it was definitely not an easy decision, because till last year before I finished my last semester, I wanted to continue programming and maybe create a new software and work at different companies. But it was after that I started programming and coding at a health tech startup called My Healthcare, they were wonderful people and lovely projects. But it was after I actually coded for about four to five months that I realised that was not something that I wanted to do in terms of a career. I didn't want to sit and just code for a career. And so I realised maybe I want to do something else with my degree. And growing up I've always realised that I have, I don't want to say this myself, but I'd say people have told me I have a knack for teaching and that if I understand the concept I can teach it well. And so I thought I should go ahead and pursue that.

👉🏾 So I wanted to go ahead and get a master's, hopefully from the the US or Canada or something like that, but I'm not sure yet because we have a lot of complications in my application process so far, but I'd like to get a master's and then hopefully a PhD.

👉🏾 So I want to be a professor in a college because I know how important my teachers were for me in choosing this career and choosing this field. And I know if we have good teachers, we'll have fantastic students then. Because the teachers do truly decide the student's future and how successful they will be and I know that my teacher taught the subject of programming to me so well that now it's my career. And so, I hope to also make a difference to anyone's life, any student's life. So that's what I'd like to be doing, I'd like to teach for now. That's the plan.

👉🏾 Again, I think maybe I can change since I'm going to go to be doing academics in this industry, maybe it'll go from, computer science to philosophy about why tech should be used. There's something called techno ethics, I could be doing something like that where it's ethics and technology. But I think I'll still always be doing something within the digital space because it's so popular and it's something that's fundamental to our lives now. And luckily it's something that I understand and that makes sense to me and I'm good at it. So I don't see a future where I would not somewhere be related to this field. But maybe my role would change, maybe I wouldn't just be a professor, maybe I would be an activist or something like that, but I'm not sure yet. For now I think I will still continue pursuing this field.

👉🏾And honestly, these myths and gender gaps, I don't think they scare me or they take me away from these opportunities. I think they just make me more excited to bring in change and I do want to see the numbers change and things change. More determined than before. Yes.

👉🏾 I think for, again, I'm speaking from the experiences that I've had and the peers that I've seen, I don't think postgrad is mandatory today, at least nowadays it's definitely an upper hand to have, but I know people that are getting fantastic offers post their bachelor's and postgrad is almost an optional thing that you can do if the company sends them or something like that.

👉🏾 It's not a mandatory thing to get nowadays, some people can go from a B Tech directly to a PhD, but that's a whole other conversation. Post-grad is now just a plus one, it's a plus one to have, it's not compulsory. And when it comes to marriage, I feel like women, at least in my circle nowadays, are not taking marriage so seriously, it's not something that they need to be looking forward to. Marriage is, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I think women are more inclined to being more independent and working towards their own careers, at least right now. And I think it's really sad and fortunate that maybe women in your days do not have the opportunity or the construct to do so, but I'm glad that's changing. And marriage is honestly again, optional, it's not compulsory anymore that's how I'll say this.

👉🏾 I think maybe back then there weren't many opportunities for women to be earning and supporting themselves and their families. Since now things have changed and there are so many other opportunities for women to stand on their own two feet. Then marriage is not always the first thing that they look at. Marriage is something you do if you want to do. It's not that you have to go ahead and get married, so I'd say that's changed.

👉🏾 I think climate change and net zero and diversity and inclusion, they're obviously very important and fundamental to our lives. And when it comes to climate change, I think something that's inevitable, something that we definitely need to be addressing. Diversity and inclusion, I think given my field and given the role that I do play, professionally, is always part of conversation amongst my peers. And as we're constantly talking about what needs to be done, not just in my field, but in different fields in terms of access to education. I think we're also still working on how more women can be more aware about are the different opportunities presented to them.

👉🏾 But when it comes to climate change and net zero I'm a little embarrassed to say, but I don't think I've had too many conversations about it at least. I do things on more of a personal level, like I'll use more green methods and things like that. Whatever we were taught in school at a very young age, like, recycling and, green waste handling this and that.

👉🏾 But I don't think I've been having any conversations, but I know a lot of young people who are very passionate about it. And it is definitely a very important conversation and is a matter of urgency. So I think that's what I'll change this year, maybe I'll be having a lot more conversations about climate change, net zero that's what I'll be doing.

👉🏾 It's definitely impacted me a lot. I think during the pandemic there was definitely a period of uncertainty and I was very loud. I think I've definitely grown a sense of apathy, which I did not have before, but I definitely, I felt like I grew a bit of apathy towards my future and my plans during Covid, it's because everything just seems so unsure and that I wasn't even sure if I wanted to pursue the things that I wanted to pursue. And I think my enthusiasm was cut down a little bit for sure. The pandemic was not a good phase for my life and a lot of people's lives, even career wise speaking, I was supposed to be pursuing a lot of different things that could not happen due to the pandemic, so that definitely affected me mentally.

👉🏾 What the pandemic also did for me is that I became a lot more aware of my mental health and the mental health of people around me. So I think that was one good thing that I think the pandemic did for me. I understood the importance of my family, my friends and how I realised that it was really just your health that matters the most in these lives, you know because you get so caught up that you don't realise that I should probably be more aware of the people around me, just be thankful for them. So the pandemic definitely, it was a period of uncertainty and I definitely think that I am a little less optimistic about the future than I was before, but it's inculcated a sense of gratefulness in my mind for sure. So bit of both, I'd say. I'm not too optimistic about the future, but I think I'll get there soon.

👉🏾 Yeah, definitely. I think it gave us a new perspective altogether. Like you're constantly caught up in what my dad likes to call a rat race, and so that gave us a pause and gave us the time for reflection. I mean, I'd say ironically I'm also like thankful for the pandemic as well, that, it gave me that, it gave me that chance to just pause and look around.

👉🏾 But at the same time, again, there were lot of uncertainties and I was very unsure and constantly anxious about different things, be it my college, be it my career, this and that. So a bit of both. I'd say.

👉🏾 Hmm. Recently? So, I think growing up I valued the number of friends I had, a lot. I wanted to always have a big circle of friends because I was of the opinion that the number of people that liked me and that I could talk to that would kind of give a sense of validation. And that would mean that I'm a good person and that's a good thing to do. And so growing up I always had a big circle. Every time I shifted to a different city, I used to have a huge number of friends. Even when I started college, I started with a group of like 10, 12 people. And I always thought that that meant that I was validated, that I was liked.

👉🏾 But it was only, I think after college ended, and I think after the pandemic, was when I realised that my validation shouldn't be based on the number of friends I have. And that quality does matter over the quantity. And so now I have two good friends and I'm a lot more happier. I feel like at peace with certain things, I don't have to constantly be pleasing other people.

👉🏾 So that's what I've changed, that's what I've learned about this year, is that as long as you have people that care for you and that you care for, it doesn't matter if there are five, six people, as long as you have one or two friends, that's more than enough. And so even though this might not sound like such a great realisation, it was actually a very big moment for me. I learned a lot about myself and gave up a lot of my insecurities during this time.