WomenInTech. Female startup founders from Central Asia on work and discrimination in IT

Sanira Madjikova, 28 years old, city — Bishkek, IT expert, founder of Neobis and Neobis, @sanira.neobis

About Me

I am a mother; I have a child who is three years old.
Currently, I identify as an entrepreneur and startup founder, working on my product called Neobis. We are in the process of applying to accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, to secure funding. Additionally, I am an IT expert; I was previously a programmer and the head of an IT company, so I have extensive experience and expertise in the IT field.

Furthermore, I wrote the book "An Excursion into IT". In this book, I share a lot about choosing a direction in IT, how to prepare for a career in this field, and how to build your career plan. I describe what IT is, what it consists of, what professions exist, and much more. I decided to write this book because more than 1,000 people have gone through me and my educational center. A huge percentage of them, after starting their studies, ultimately realized that IT was not their path. Some realized this immediately after starting their studies, while others only did so after six months or a year, by which time they had already invested significant effort and money.

How I Entered the IT Profession

I studied to become a programmer at university and began working in the profession. When I was in school, I knew I was not a humanities student because languages and literature were always uninteresting to me. However, I enjoyed subjects where I could see clear results from my work, such as mathematics, physics, and geometry. I found them easy to learn. When I entered university, I had to decide where to apply. I wanted to develop in the field of hardware engineering, robotics, and hardware development. But in Kyrgyzstan, there was no opportunity to receive a quality education in this area. The only option available was training in electrical installation, but this did not match my interests. Therefore, I chose software engineering at university. I started programming directly at university, and from the very first days, I understood that this was my calling. Programming comes easily to me, and I enjoy it.

On Stereotypes

When I started developing my programmers' club in a more leadership and entrepreneurial direction, I remember one phrase that was said to me: "Well, you will get married, get pregnant, and quit all this." This moment was discriminatory and racist, especially considering that these words were spoken by a person with significant authority. Such moments did occur. But overall, I did not encounter such situations very often.

Barriers for Women in IT

In the IT field, skills are often evaluated regardless of gender. However, when it comes to women, bias sometimes arises. For example, if a male programmer performs his tasks well, he is praised, but if he fails, he is criticized. With women, it is sometimes different: if she works well, she is lauded, but if she fails, it may be explained away by the fact that she is a woman. This is discrimination.

I often notice that women leave the IT field. This is because they may have many household chores and less time for practice. In IT, practice is crucial; you need to spend a lot of time at the computer, coding, and solving problems. Men can often afford this more easily than women, especially those who live with their parents or have large families. I had this opportunity when I started living on my own and could afford to sit and code for as long as I wanted. But when I lived with my parents, it was more difficult.

Recommendations for Those Just Starting Their Journey

First, do not hesitate to spend money on consultations with experienced specialists or on buying books like mine or others. This can help you avoid mistakes and make a more informed choice.

Second, seek advice from experienced people or career coaches who can help you understand your strengths and weaknesses, suggest suitable professions, and provide recommendations for education and career development. In Europe and the US, this is a normal practice, and people are willing to pay for such consultations.

In the book, I describe in detail how important it is to create a "safety cushion" for yourself. The first "safety cushion" is time. If you decide to engage in something in IT, you need to determine in advance how much time you can dedicate to it each day, for example, three to four hours.

The second "safety cushion" is finances. Many beginner programmers quit because they simply run out of money to continue studying, developing, and investing in themselves. That is, they complete the first stage of courses, but then there is no money left.

Additionally, the safety cushion can be psychological, meaning it is important to have the support of family, friends, loved ones, and acquaintances who are in this field.

Dara Tumenbaeva, city — Almaty, founder of Doro AI, @okdara

About Me

I am the founder of my startup Doro. It is a beauty outlet in your pocket. We solve a huge problem — up to three trillion dollars are lost due to leftovers that are not recycled and ultimately turn into waste. The beauty industry makes a huge contribution to this issue, where we solve the problem by taking leftovers directly from sellers and selling them on our platform, in the app, where people can buy this product at large discounts, thereby saving the planet.

This idea was born when I worked at Amazon: I saw all these leftovers and wondered where they all went. Also, I had a neighbor who worked at Estée Lauder, and they also sold their leftover products at large discounts.

My career path in IT began in my third year of university when I started freelancing. After the second year, an internship was planned, but I realized that the university would not give me the necessary experience for work. I actively tried myself in various projects — mobile, web development, and other areas — to figure out what I liked and found more interesting. After graduating from university, I already had several job offers in Malaysia. I chose a job search platform, and after a year, I retrained as a developer. After that, I worked in several companies in Malaysia, and then moved to Amazon in Spain. Alongside working, I also engaged in entrepreneurial activities, conducted educational workshops, and worked on my app.

I wanted to start my own startup since my third year of university. But there was uncertainty and fear that I would not get a visa, and so on. Eventually, after a year of work, it became so unbearable that not starting my own startup was no longer realistic.

How I Entered the IT Field

As a child, I wanted to be an inventor. But my parents did not understand what an inventor was in modern times, so they could not guide me in the right direction. As a result, I passively entered the RFMSH, and then later the MUIT. After studying for a year, I liked the guys in the field of computational software. After a year of study in the "Mathematical Computer Modeling" program, I applied to study in Malaysia in software engineering. And thus, I began my path in this field.

Barriers for Women in IT

If we speak in facts, barriers exist. Previously, the understanding of IT was wild, especially regarding women. Now, the perception of women in this field has become more understandable and normalized.

I always didn't care. I just moved toward my goal. Then, when I joined Amazon, everyone fell silent, and in principle, no one noticed my gender there.

It does not matter whether you are a woman or a man; when you strive for something, Newton's law applies: you make a movement against resistance, and this gives you strength. Therefore, now, at least, it has become easier.

On Stereotypes

I have encountered such stereotypes many times: that a woman cannot work on her own, that a Kazakh woman should not even be here. Such people will always exist, and paying attention to them is just extra noise. So I somehow don't care about them. Before, it hurt, and I even cried. Once, there was a situation where I stated my goals because I really wanted to build a great career, and they told me to my face: "You won't build that in this company."

People leave not from the company, but from managers. However, not all managers are like that.

Recommendations for Those Just Starting Their Journey

Overall, starting in IT is difficult for anyone due to automation and layoffs at entry-level positions. However, given the external market, you can try starting with pet projects, getting into a startup, working for free, finding internships where you can gain experience, because IT is about hands-on; it is all about experience.

It is important to find an experienced mentor who can help you develop further, but it is important to ensure that it is a win-win situation. There are many directions in IT, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and hardware development, gaming, which are currently developing actively. Today, all fields that were not very popular before are, on the contrary, becoming more popular. Therefore, it is better to go there; even if you have limited experience, you will still be in demand due to the shortage of personnel in this area.