Let me start by saying: the cards, the gifts, the cake, they all matter. Being celebrated by your team is genuinely lovely.

But celebration is not the same as inclusion, and for a lot of pregnant women in tech, the party is often where the active support ends.

After the bunting comes down, the real experience begins. You are still at your desk, still shipping code, still showing up to every standup, but something has shifted. Decisions get made without you in the room, you are not looped into the new initiative because “it will launch after your leave anyway.”, your name stops coming up in conversations about future projects. None of it is malicious. It is just… assumed.

This gradual sidelining is one of the most common experiences pregnant women in tech describe, and it happens long before maternity leave begins.

I often describe my move from Marketing to Software Engineering as a “career switch”, but the more I reflect on it, the less accurate that feels. My job title and day-to-day responsibilities may look different, however I firmly believe that the skills and experiences I gained throughout my Marketing career — and even my humanities education — have shaped the engineer I am today.

That’s why I prefer to think of my transition as a “pivot”. In a world where upskilling is constant and career paths are no longer linear, pivots are becoming more commonplace. In fact, Forbes reports that 62% of women are entertaining new career paths. Furthermore, with the prevalence of artificial intelligence, your unique background is exactly what sets you apart. For instance, an ex-teacher might excel at knowledge transfer and communication. While a former healthcare professional might provide valuable insight into patient experience for a medical application.

One of the most crucial lessons I’ve learnt is that skills can be learnt, but behaviours are much more difficult to change. This is the thought that ground me when imposter syndrome creeps in. My commercial awareness, user-centric mindset, collaborative approach, and resilience are all qualities I’ve built up over the entirety of my career that contribute to me being a unique and valuable engineer.

My journey into technology didn’t start with a perfectly planned career path. Like many people looking to get started in tech, I started with questions.

• How do digital systems actually work?
• How do companies use data to make decisions?
• How does technology power the platforms and tools we use every day?

At first, most of my learning was theoretical. I studied concepts like programming, data analysis, and machine learning. I enjoyed learning them, but sometimes it felt like I was collecting pieces of knowledge without fully seeing how they fit together. I understood the ideas. But I still wondered what it would look like to actually use them. And that question stayed with me for a long time.

I felt stuck in my biomedical lab position, so I took advantage of the free time I had during Covid to expand my horizons. That is when I discovered that I love coding! It allowed me to create, try, fail, and solve problems in a safe environment.

I was given the advice that I needed visibility and projects to show if I wanted to switch careers. During my research for courses and project ideas, I found Code First Girls. I enrolled in the Kickstarter courses and a Hackathon with them. It was a really good experience, great community and a lot of fun!  So I decided to apply for their CFGdegree.

In the 12th century, Trota of Salerno was an innovative physician, one of the first medical practitioners to document women’s health and the incorporation of exercise, good diet, low stress and cleanliness into daily living. Initially her work was credited to her husband and son and later misattributed to a male scholar. Even today, many of her discoveries remain under-credited, reflecting the long-standing challenges faced by women in STEM fields.

I moved into teaching, where I spent seven years working with young people in the classroom. Teaching gave me purpose and helped me develop strong communication skills, resilience, and adaptability. It was rewarding work, and for a long time, it felt like the right place for me. After Covid, however, teaching became increasingly challenging. Behavioural issues increased, workloads grew heavier, and the emotional demands of the role became harder to manage. I found myself questioning whether this was a sustainable long term career for me. I knew I needed a change, but I did not yet know what that change would be. My journey from teaching to tech was about to begin.

📌 Data bias: When some groups are missing or underrepresented in the data. For example, medical datasets underrepresenting ethnic minority women, meaning tools may work less accurately for them.

📌 Sampling bias: When the training sample doesn’t reflect reality. A well-known example is CV screening tools trained mostly on male candidates, which ended up downgrading women’s applications. 

📌 Measurement bias: This is when the accuracy of data varies across groups. For example, facial recognition systems being less likely to recognise people from ethnic minority backgrounds or women.

All of these biased systems reinforce inequalities, and over time, it chips away at our human trust in technology.

Lovelace’s brilliance wasn’t fully recognised in her lifetime. Like so many women in history, her contributions were overlooked for decades. It wasn’t until the 20th century, when computer science began to flourish, that her work was rediscovered and celebrated.

Today, Lovelace stands as a foundational figure in computing. The U.S. Department of Defense even named its high-level programming language “Ada” in her honour in the 1980s. More importantly, her name has become shorthand for women’s potential in technology: a reminder that women have always been part of computing, even if their stories weren’t always told.

Carrying out small, regular habits can help you to keep yourself in the loop and grow your knowledge base at your own pace.

A few tips:

1) Curate 3–5 trusted sources

Follow a few trusted sources online that deliver infographics/bitesized updates on technology. My go-tos that I love:

• I am subscribed to the Code First Girls newsletter and I keep up to date more casually on instagram, LinkedIn or Tiktok @CodeFirstGirls.
• I love to listen to podcasts such as CodeNewbie and The Women in Tech Show (on Spotify/Apple Podcasts) on my commute to work, or whilst doing some housework
• Watching Youtube videos in your spare time or tune in to a CFG Tech Taster (a short learning course) that can be picked up in your own time and at no cost! I have completed two Tech Taster courses and have been able to keep up by just putting aside half an hour per week and building on my knowledge each time.

Tip: aim for 10–15 minutes, 3 times a week.

2) Engage with voices that matter to you

Engage with voices that matter to you! I love to follow inspiring women who are making big steps in the tech world, and I try to actively engage in online communities to help curate my algorithm to find people with similar interests.

3) Block tiny learning slots

Actively set aside learning time. If learning is something that you want to do, then set time aside to invest in yourself and your interests. Even just reading a 15-minute article at the end of the day or on your commute can make a huge difference.

As a consultant I had the opportunity to explore a wide range of tech domains. From Business Analyst roles at a global investment bank, modelling complex financial data to Agile Delivery Lead roles and facilitating agile methodologies for global IT modernisation programmes.

I then moved into leading technology strategy and risk at a major investment bank, where I oversaw cloud and application security strategy. My focus was on integrating security into cloud infrastructure, embedding risk management into software development processes, and leveraging AI-driven analytics to proactively address enterprise threats. Recently, I’ve taken the next step in my journey by joining SWIFT as a Technology Platform Risk Partner, where I continue to work at the intersection of cloud, engineering, and risk.

This journey hasn’t always been straightforward, but exploring various roles helped me discover my passion at the intersection of cybersecurity, cloud engineering, and risk.