It’s no secret that women are underrepresented in leadership roles in the Federal government – especially when it comes to Federal IT management roles. Three female IT leaders joined MeriTalk’s Tech Tonic on Thursday evening to celebrate women in tech and inspire women to reach their full potential.
The three women shared advice for female tech professionals looking to advance their careers in the Federal IT field. Here are some of the key takeaways:
Have Faith in Yourself
Sharon Woods, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) J-6 Endpoint and Global Service Center, said the most important thing is “having faith in yourself.”
“A lot of women experience imposter syndrome, this idea that we’re maybe not quite as good enough, or are we sure we’re supposed to be here? Do we have all the experience that’s needed? Do I have as much experience as my counterparts? And the answer is: ‘Hell yeah, you do,’” Woods said.
Similarly, Woods said that having strong mentors helped her to gain confidence throughout her career by “encouraging and challenging me.”
Don’t Opt Out
Along those same lines, Woods encouraged women to not “opt out” when it comes to applying for a job.
“Reach, stretch. Women have a terrible habit of opting out. They don’t apply because they don’t think they’re qualified enough. And yet, their less-qualified male counterparts will apply,” Woods said. “If you don’t apply, the answer is no, right? It’s a guaranteed answer. Don’t opt out, just apply and see what happens.”
“The other thing that I see … you’ll find the zigzagging is very common. Because you’ll get asked, ‘Well, why don’t you try doing this?’ And there’s that doubt of, ‘Well, can I really do that? That’s a completely different area than what I’m doing right now. Do I have the knowledge to do that?’ And you just have to go for it,” she added. “You just have to go for it and have faith in yourself.”
Be a Problem-Solver
Melinda Rogers, the chief information officer (CIO) at the Department of Justice, offered her own advice to women: “Be a problem-solver.”
“Don’t bring the problem to your boss. It’s great to give your boss awareness of the problem, but bring with you solutions. Ideally even like Option A and Option B, right? Just present the facts but be a problem solver,” Rogers said.
Give it 110 Percent
“Be the best that you can be, do good work. Be proud of your work, produce quality products, produce great services – because your name is going to be attached to it. So, you want to not just do it because your boss told you to do it, but give it your 110 percent,” Rogers added.
Don’t be Afraid to do the Hard Thing
Renata Spinks, former deputy CIO for information, command, control, communications, and computers (IC4) at the U.S. Marines Corps, and now chief executive officer of CyberSec International, encouraged women to not be afraid to do hard things.
“Who cares about the glass ceiling? Don’t think about that. Because if you think about what you don’t have, then you kind of get stagnated with fear,” Spinks said. “You’re here. So, you have to take that initiative and perfect your craft. And don’t be afraid to do the hard part or do the thing that you think you don’t qualify for.”
Know the Difference Between Champions and Mentors
Last but not least, Spinks urged female professionals to “understand the differences between champions and mentors.”
“You need some champions,” she said, adding, “Because you want to call your mentor and they’re going to give you some scripts of motivation … but you also got to call your girlfriends or someone to be able to say, ‘Yeah, when I talked to Sharon today, I feel empowered, but I’m still scared.’ So, you need that other layer of people you can call to, if you gotta cry, you cry it out. If you got to say, ‘Well, how did you do this?’ Then do that.”
“[Have] mentors, but also those champions – and that champion may not look like you. They may not go to the same bathroom as you, who freaking cares. Men will champion you if we don’t just get so caught up with the challenges that they’re dealing with every day as well,” Spinks said. “Get those champions and make it okay for constructive criticism to come.”
