Women in Tech Share Valuable Career Tips, Challenges and Lessons Learned

Lead, Service Coordination at Kyndryl Poland

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced?

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018. I was only 27 years old and had just started my professional journey working in IT. Surgery knocked me out for a few weeks, and I still suffer from acute pains every now and then. Although I knew I was going to be weak, lose hair and weight, nobody told me the “chemo brain” would make my brain so clouded, that it would struggle to tell my limbs what they need to do to fasten a button or walk up the stairs. The long sick-leave wasn’t easy but coming back to work was even harder. How was I supposed to pick up to where I left off? I still take pills daily and have injections every four weeks to prevent a recurrence. The side effects can be rough. My team has been supportive — they understood I’ll need some time to adjust to work at full speed.

What did you learn from that experience?

That not everything lasts forever, and we should appreciate how lucky we are to be here, around our loved ones, every single day. Staring death in the eye changed me into a daredevil with an irrepressible lust for life — I stopped existing in the “what ifs” dimension and started living “la vida loca.”

How did that experience influence the work you do today?

Experiences like that can really change who you are and how you perceive everything around you. I would say I am restless, as I am not afraid to face challenges or learn new things — I’ve been through chemo, can anything be more of a challenge, really? Also, the empathetic behavior embodied by my manager and my team makes me feel that I belong here — my health struggles are not considered a liability, and just sheer knowledge of that makes me go above and beyond.

What’s some career advice for other women?

Never compare your challenges or struggles to those of others around you. Remember that it’s never as bad as may seem at first glance. And most importantly, take good care of yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Lead, Infrastructure/Cloud Architecture at Kyndryl France

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced? 

Working in the technical field means constantly updating your knowledge; this is easy or natural when you change clients or projects, but when you stay assigned to a client account, it's more complicated because the production imperative “forces” you to stay in what you do. At one point, I found myself "locked in" to a specific software for one client. Although I had gained a lot of expertise on that software, outside of that client/product context I felt like it was worthless and that influenced my assessment of my own value — I had to find a new path.

What did you learn from that experience?

We all have a great capacity to adapt — what we don't know one day, we can acquire the next. In work — as in life — we are not alone; we can ask for help from the people around us, who support us. Each transformation is an exciting journey — they enrich us and allow us to carry out the next one.

What’s some career advice for other women?

Talk to those around you, to your colleagues, to your managers. Through their role or their presence, the people who are close to you professionally will help you to achieve your challenges, either by sharing their own experiences or by their knowledge. Believe in yourself, in your abilities. Trust yourself and go for it.

Director, Skills Transformation at Kyndryl

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced? 

I’m from a tiny village in Tamil Nadu in India. Back then, there were no toilets in our houses or telephones in our village. So it is ironic that I eventually earned a Master's Degree in Computer Applications, climbed the corporate ladder at a few tech companies and am now pursuing a Ph.D. in Data Science. People used to tease me for going from a village with no telephone to being a leader in a large IT company. But it didn't bother me — in fact, I'm proud of it.

What did you learn from that experience?

Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. I decided not to listen to the opinion of others. I never let go of my dream — which was to win the MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award from Microsoft for .NET. Though it took a couple of years, I was so happy I didn’t quit. I learned that if you believe in yourself, believe in your dream and are willing to do everything it takes to achieve the goal, you will be successful and emerge as a winner in the end.

What’s some career advice for other women?

Always ask yourself three questions: Do you want something badly? Do you have a fire in your belly? Do you have the hunger to succeed in your career? I strongly believe that if we are restless to continuously learn and innovate, be empathetic and be devoted to shared success, we will surely be noticed and recognized.