Today is International Women’s Day and here at Gearset we’re celebrating not only everything to do with women in Salesforce, but specifically women at Gearset!
Although the current trends are encouraging, women in the tech space are still the minority - currently about a third of the workforce. There’s always more we can do to encourage gender diversity within the tech sector, so at Gearset we actively try to inspire women to join our industry and take the opportunities that a career in tech can bring.
Celebrating women in Salesforce DevOps
Last September we launched a new global community: Women in Salesforce DevOps. This initiative aims to connect, inspire, and empower women who are passionate about building on Salesforce and are looking to excel in their careers.
Sign up to the mailing list and you’ll be the first to hear about local meetups in the US and UK, along with virtual events, through which women can support and encourage each other as they take the next step in their Salesforce careers.
Celebrating women at Gearset: Q&A with Alice Easey, Development Manager
Today we wanted to shine the spotlight on our Development Manager, Alice Easey. Alice has been at the company for nearly a year now and her career hasn’t been a straightforward path into DevOps. After studying for a degree in AI, Alice entered into the worlds of programming games, nursing and teaching English in Japan! However, her path has always led back to tech.
How did you come to work for Gearset?
“I had worked with a fair number of the engineers at a previous company and was very happy and honoured to join when they needed someone with my skills and experience.”
What do you love most about your role?
“I love the quest to make something new and the problem-solving aspects. I’m grateful to my managers who encouraged me to get into management, which I’m really enjoying, especially helping people grow and develop in their careers.”
Why do you think there’s a gender imbalance in the industry?
“There’s definitely a pipeline problem: fewer women apply for STEM courses compared with men. I think it’s still the case that girls will look at what other women are doing and that probably won’t involve female coders. I also think the wider industry has a retainment issue, especially around coming back after maternity leave or offering the flexibility around caring for family members. When I worked for the NHS, most nurses were part-time and the culture was much more geared towards people with families, but it’s harder to achieve in tech companies where the norm is to work full-time.”
Do you feel the gender imbalance is closing?
“Somewhat. I was one of 3 women on my degree course and I’ve been the only female coder or only female full stop in various companies - I haven’t seen that in the last 10 years or so, although we’re still very far away from a 50/50 split. I’m still concerned about the lack of female leadership in senior positions despite studies showing that companies that embrace this outperform companies with all-male boards or C-level roles. It’s great to see that Gearset has female representation at senior leadership level.”
What would you say to a woman who was on the fence about applying to a software engineer role at Gearset?
“I’d say go for it! It’s a great team - not only the engineers but across all the functions - and we have a really good culture to help people learn and develop their skills. Even though we’re growing pretty fast it still feels like a startup and there are lots of opportunities to be involved in things outside of your immediate project like mentoring interns, hack week, monitoring and fixing security issues, talking to customers, and representing Gearset at conferences like Dreamforce.”
Have we inspired you? We’re hiring!
Recently voted the #3 best tech company to work for in the UK, Gearset offers a brilliant place for women to grow in their career. If you’re passionate about solving problems creatively and working in an incredibly collaborative environment then Gearset might just be the place for you. We have vacancies in all areas across the company including software engineers, sales, marketing and customer success. Apply today!