As a mark of celebration for International Women’s Day we interviewed 6 of Box UK’s outstanding women, who themselves are ‘Breaking The Bias’ towards women in technology. Here we talk to Christelle Rowles our Senior Front End Developer.
Q. Why do you think it’s important for more women to join the tech industry?
Diversity in a team makes the best working environment. It is not just about women but about a variety of skills, interests and personality. It helps create a well balanced team where everyone can learn and grow with each other.
Q. What advice would you give yourself just starting out?
I can only talk about my experience in the UK tech industry but hard work and dedication is always recognised. I came from a generic multimedia course so I didn’t have a very strong technical background. My interest lied more in design but I felt like I didn’t have the creativity for it, so I worked hard to get better technical skills and now I’m a full time Visual Developer. I get to work with loads of talented designers and developers and it’s the best way to learn.
Q. Do you think enough is done to help women get into the tech industry? If not, what would you recommend?
After having worked for over 15 years in tech, I think things have changed a lot. Mentality has really evolved since I started, more and more women are joining this industry and even if it isn’t a 50/50 ratio we are slowly getting there. I do believe gender pay gap is still a thing in some companies but the more that women join the industry, the more we will be equal.
Q. What first sparked your interest in working in the tech industry?
My dad was a developer for a french telecom company and he was often working on side projects at home or repairing/building computers which I often helped out with. One day, he showed me how to write HTML (no CSS in those days) and gave me a CD full of cliparts. The next thing I knew, I was writing a whole static site for all the lyrics of my favourite songs in Frontpage.
