I have no complaints about my job
A recent New York times opinion piece sparked a discussion in a group of my friends. The discussion got me thinking and prompted me to publish my story. I have been in the tech industry for over 10 years. I am currently a senior software engineer in a publicly traded tech company. I work from home full time and this was true pre-pandemic too. The job is challenging enough that I learn something new everyday, yet affords me great work-life balance. I work with awesome colleagues who create a very inclusive work environment. Being remote does not affect my visibility in the organization or my career trajectory. So this is my story. I have no complaints about my job.
I can assure you that no major news outlet is going to pick up my story because it is not sensational. It is the story of a regular software engineer in a publicly traded tech company that's not Google. Often the stories that are published and gain attention are those of the outliers - the cases where things went horribly wrong or rags to riches kind of success stories. Average stories are never published because they simply don't sell. My intent is not to belittle the outlier stories. Articles around sexual harassment or other such stories should be highlighted and appropriately acted upon. However, stories of the average software engineer should also be highlighted because I am fairly sure that for every one story of sexual harassment in tech there are about tens of stories of success and no harassment in tech*.
What I really do not want is for young women to read opinion pieces and be disheartened and make the decision that tech is not for them. My fear is that reading such articles completely turns young women off from following tech careers. That's why I want that folks read stories like mine too and hopefully decide that the tech industry can be friendly and they belong there. That's why I am writing my story: I love my job and I love that it affords me time for my health and family and a great work life balance, along with opportunities to challenge myself and grow. And for anyone who is ready to write off tech after reading this article, hopefully you read my opinion too: that we should not disregard all tech organizations merely by experience in one organization. This is like writing off entire mankind merely because of one sour relationship. Find a job that you love and that lets you have work life balance and time for things that are important to you outside of work. Find a job that you love... that lets you love life.
* This is my perception and not a published statistic.
Cross posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-have-complaints-my-job-saloni-shah/