Moms in Technology

Moms in Technology

27% women join the workforce, 48% drop out within four months of returning from maternity leave. Additionally, 50% drop out mid-career before the age of 30 because of childcare2 while only 16% of senior leadership roles are held by women in India, a recent report titled “Predicament of Returning Mothers”, released by Ashoka University, revealed.

I have seen that most of the organizations doesn’t allows mothers having maternity gap (or more than a year) in their career. They think mothers have lost the touch of working and it will take more time to adjust with work style, work culture and environment. Rather than that I think, mothers will be more precise and more enthusiastic for work after gap. As we all know being a mother is not easy thing. It’s a very big responsibility and needs quick learning through small steps or small decisions while handling & caring baby. After being a mother, woman become more confident and more professional as she has experienced lot many things in small span of time. She easily accepts the new responsibilities and easily explores her knowledge.

Mother always comes to know about needs of her child though her child is unable to talk. Same is the case when we are developing software or application at its basic stage. As baby grows his needs get increases and he/she is able to point out or talk some of the things. We make them talk more and more for specific needs or requirements. Similarly, we provide basic model of software to our clients. During requirements gathering, our client conveys some modifications or requirements as we make them talk to get more clarity in order to meet their expectations. Mother always tries to keep her baby happy and satisfied. Likewise, we always try to keep our clients happy by providing expected services.

When the baby grows, mother teach step by step about how to hold the toy blocks in hands, how to put all the blocks in box then how to arrange them in box, how to arrange them one above the other. When baby arranges basic toy block for the first time and we appreciate him by clapping, he just feels like an achiever and he starts to put next layer above it with confidence. Same is the case with Software developer. Firstly, he learns basics about code, then implements basic programs then writes procedures and functions then gives calls in different layers of executions. At each stage, his mentor or leader should appreciate him to boost his confidence and performance.

Mother always cares for her child. She takes care that nothing wrong should happen to her child. She keeps testing everything whether it can be temperature of water, taste of food prepared by her, her children’s suitable napkins, soap, toys etc. For instance, while buying shoes she tests it in many ways. Starting from quality (Black Box Testing), size (Integration Testing), comfort (UAT), weight (Performance Testing). Similarly, QA performs various test before actual delivery of project.

As a mother, she has to be very patient. She has to let her baby learn through his/her mistakes simultaneously providing training to do small things. Likewise, team lead must be patient and calm while letting the team improves through mistakes and trainings.

Moreover, she starts taking all those responsibilities within very short span of time. There are many things (cannot be explained) which makes her strong mentally, physically and emotionally. Don’t you think, this is what a professional need to be successful?

Contact: You can email me on info@multigonal.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.