Welcome to Insiders’ Viewpoints: Advice to Women in Software Engineering. In this video, we will hear from software engineers discussing their advice to women in the field or who are considering getting into the field. I think recently, there have been a lot of good positive momentum, and diversification of the industry and making, making software engineering a more welcoming place for women in general. So, I come from work environments that are you know, primarily women. And now I'm in a work environment that is primarily men. I think I've had a pretty good experience with my coworkers personally. But in the beginning, it did very much feel like a little bit kind of like you're alone because you know, you're either the only or one of two or three women on your team. I would say just remind yourself that you actually do deserve to be there that you actually do belong. You do belong there, and everybody started exactly where you are. Everybody who started as an engineer and even at your company started and was like I do not know what's going on. But you're capable and you'll figure it out. If you're a software developer at a company, your main job should be software development. And if your bosses or management or other people in the company want you to do other types of work, you should be getting compensated for it, you should have a title that reflects what it is that you do. And I have seen this happen a lot where the woman on the team will be the one who cares about diversity, for instance. And so as part of diversity workshops and clubs at the at the company and is participating in diverse hiring events and doing all sorts of like extra training around that side, that side of things, then review time happens. And as a software developer, if you're getting reviewed on code, you need to make sure that you're getting enough of that code in your life. Everyone needs to contribute. Everyone needs to pull their weight; it can't all go on one person. Join a team that does make you feel like they do support women and want to elevate women and advocate for women. So I think it's very fair to ask directly to say, a hiring manager, you know, what, what is your plan for diversity on your team? What types of programs do you or the organization or company have in place to, to ensure that woman are successful, and you know, be willing and open to speak up if there's something that you think is uncomfortable. It's not all on you to fix if something is broken, there are other people involved. And they also are adults who should be reasonable human beings, and able to take advice and constructive feedback. So let them take that advice and constructive feedback. You don't have to do all the changing. never be compelled to join a team where you're not feeling good about it, or you think that there's a risk that it's not a welcoming, so ask other people to I think it's very fair to just ask those questions. Don't stay, don't stay, if you don't like it, the company needs you more than you need them almost certainly. So, leave when you can, if something isn't working out for you leave, you have that ability. And there are companies that have less of that in their culture and less of that in their engineering teams. It can feel rough trying to find it sometimes. But if you do find yourself at a place that is not a healthy, positive, growing environment for you leave, it doesn't reflect on you, again, it reflects on the company. And I know, any company, or organization that's even remotely taking diversity and inclusion seriously, simply with regards to women, will have programs in place to support women, elevate women. And, you know, basically, there's an eye on that, and there as there should be, there's a lot of effort being put into hiring women and getting women into senior leadership roles, which I think is very important. Figure out what role you want and find free resources to get into those roles. One thing to bear in mind is as a woman, you know, we are a minority, and we are underrepresented in the tech industry. So, there are a lot of free or low-cost programs tailored specifically to women who want to get into computing or who women who are in computing looking to advance their careers.