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With DEI initiatives being left by the wayside across the industry, there are many young women wondering if they belong in tech, facing increasing insecurities, and being unsure what working in tech would really look like.
To show them they are not alone, and that there is a place for them here, we asked the incredible women on the Infinite Lambda team an important question:
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF ABOUT THE JOB YOU DO NOW?
This was our way of bringing women’s experiences into light, an initiative that is close to heart.
Hopefully, the responses you will see here will inspire someone just starting out.
Ha (Hanna) Le, Senior Analytics Engineer
I had been working as a financial analyst for 5 years before pivoting to data analytics and starting from scratch. I found learning SQL was more interesting and intuitive for me than becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst (Could any finance folks relate?), counting debits credits, and dealing with dozens of crashing Excel files.
In 2016, I enrolled in introductory data science courses on Udemy and I gradually became familiar with SQL and finally left by finance job two years later. After months of applying for data analyst jobs with no success, I was starting to lose heart. All the openings asked for previous experience and/or degree in data science / data analysis, while I was self-taught, starting from scratch, and had a business background.
But, hey, it is possible! I was lucky to land a job with the right team and mentor. It turned out my business background was actually an advantage, helping me bridge the tech-biz divide.
In retrospect, I had not been working in financial analysis because I loved it, but because I was motivated to spend hours standardising and automating Excel files, so I would not have to repeatedly deal with budget consolidation and revision, which does translate to a similar mindset in analytics engineering.
If you are keen to explore the unknown and you enjoy doing things programmatically, you will love being in data. Do not be afraid to make that change.
Angela Alves Ferreira, Senior Analytics Engineer
Before starting in tech, I was in university — one of 4 women in a class of 50 — and feeling quite lost about which career path to pursue. My confidence was very low, and it was a truly difficult time.
If I could tell something to my younger self, it would be:
You will be proud of what you are going to achieve. You will meet more women and build a connection with them. You don’t need to know everything before trying — no one ever does. You will learn to be kinder and more supportive to yourself, and that will make all the difference.
Each person carries their own baggage and unique experiences — and that is the beauty of being human.
Jing Yu Lim, Senior Analytics Engineer
After years of experience in both analytics and data engineering, this is the single most-important piece of advice I would give to my younger self:
Do not to try to avoid technical problems, even if you find them intimidating. There are growing online communities and AI you can turn to for help.
At the same time, don’t mistake analytics for the easier track in data. It involves broad and ambiguous problems, often further complicated by human dynamics, that will test your abilities. Learning to navigate these complex problems will set you apart from the rest.
Adriana Katrandzhieva, Chief Operations Officer
I strongly resonate with what my colleagues have said or would have said to their younger selves, although I didn't initially get into the tech space per se.
I sort of fell into a tech company on my journey to making it in a foreign country. At first, I was working on the recruitment, capability development, onboarding and Ops side. It was only later that I moved to business analyst, which grew into an Agile coach, a product manager, project manager, account manager, and eventually to my role as a Chief Operations Officer today.
If I could tell something to my younger self, it would be:
No need to feel insecure about your limited tech knowledge — you can learn anything. In fact, ask all the questions and there will always be someone who can answer and explain, so you understand. It will not be seen as the weakness as you think it looks like.
It is WAY more important to match your weaknesses with other people's strengths and vice versa. That way, you can compliment each other and learn from each other. This makes for the best collaboration.
You don’t need to know it all or be the best in everything. This is not a realistic goal.
Celebrate every win! Make space to do that instead of constantly looking for the gaps that need improvement.
Celebrate every win! Make space to do that instead of constantly looking for the gaps that need improvement.
One day, people will claim you appear very confident. They will say your words have weight and even create the space for others to speak up. One day, you truly will feel confident. There was a time I would have never believed that.
Charlene, Account Manager
From a teacher to a departmental supervisor in one of the top 5 largest banks in South Africa, to an accomplished project and programme manager with a passion for data, people, and customer centricity, I have finally found my niche in customer success. Now I have the best of both worlds at the place where business meets tech and where the magic happens.
But as a young mum, having just returned to work after maternity leave, I felt lost, bored, and disjointed in the core banking space.
Every day was a repetition of the previous one, and I kept wondering where the excitement had gone, and where my next challenge was going to come from.
To my younger self, I would say:
Don’t quit. You know what you want — go out there and get it;
Don’t wait; make it happen. If you can dream it, you can do it.
If you think you can’t, that is exactly why you should.
Yen Bui, Senior Analytics Engineer
It all started back in my senior year at university, when I did a small project using MS Access as a data management tool.
Improving my English was also a significant part in my journey. As we had only been doing grammar at university, I committed to studying on my own and I would commute to practise speaking with foreigners every weekend.
I got my first opportunity in data, a DBA job for a mining company, which only came natural as I had been doing Mining and Geology at university. I was lucky to receive all the necessary training on the go.
I believe what keeps me going is a combination of a curious mind, a willingness to learn on my own, and a can-do attitude. I am always eager to get my hands dirty and learn the hard way: just do it, break it, and fix it.
I am also as curious as they come. On the theoretical front, this means I devour technical books, and in practice, I always want to peek under the hood, and challenge myself to find a better approach.
Troubleshooting is just my second nature — from chasing bugs in a database to fixing the printer in the office, I am always up for the challenge.
Viktoria Horvath, Senior Analytics Engineer
As a self-taught data professional, I've always had doubts and insecurities about my capabilities.
In the beginning of my career, which started as a data analyst, I was constantly on edge — anxious, alert, and eager to prove myself. I was surrounded by smart people with university degrees, and I felt I had to keep up or even outpace them to be seen as equal. So I was always the first to jump on requests, delivering results as quickly as possible — often outside working hours.
This constant vigilance and availability did help me fast-track my career and skill development, and I quickly advanced to a senior position. But the drive didn't come from the right place — it was rooted in fear and overcompensation, and it led to multiple burnouts.
With time in the profession — and to be honest, with age — I've finally reached a point where I can recognise my achievements and reputation and feel confident enough to set boundaries around how much I work and when. I also cannot understate the importance of having a supportive work environment and colleagues who reassure me, encourage me to take breaks, and do not take advantage of my anxious, over-delivering nature.
Now, I'm an analytics engineer. I feel safe and encouraged to just be myself — not some overachieving ‘me-plus’ version.
If I could go back, I would not change a thing; I believe the path I took was necessary for me. But I would tell my younger self to actively seek out those people who can become your cornerstones — mentally and professionally.
Find a mentor, join a support group, surround yourself with people who lift those heavy stones off your shoulders and remind you to pause, rest, and celebrate the wins.
Read more stories from the Infinite Lambda team.
