Mums in Tech - feat. Vanessa Rolim
As part of our ‘Mums in Tech’ series, we caught up with Vanessa Rolim, Data Analytics Manager at Pipefy.
The purpose of our 'MotherBoard’ content series is to highlight incredible working mums within tech & data, as well as individuals and businesses that are supportive and progressive within their approach to creating more inclusive tech & data teams for women.
Firstly, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role?
I’m 34 years old, Brazilian from very much south Brazil (Porto Alegre). Mother of a 2-year-old called Raul, and owned by 3 cats and 2 dogs, married for 16 years. I have a Bachelor’s in Information Systems and a Master’s in Applied Computation.
Just about 15 years of experience in tech, from DBA to full stack developer, having the title “webmaster” by developing ugly sites from a time when the dinosaurs walked Earth. At some point, I worked for a very misogynistic company and decided tech was not a place I could be happy. So I dropped everything and became a butcher. Yes, the kind that works with meat.
After a while, I went back to college to get a degree and found a much more inclusive environment, where I could blossom. At that point, I decided I wanted to become a teacher, like those that had embraced me, and I did. Taught for 1 year in technical and college courses, while I did my masters. It changed my life, honestly. I found on the Data world somewhere I could be adequately paid, while applying technology and teaching stuff to people. Usually about their own work and how that affects users and other business outcomes.
In Data leadership I found a place where I could discuss data from a strategic standpoint, making sure whatever the team developed was not ignored… at least not completely ignored (lol). In that role, I worked to ensure that data is an investment for the company, and not an expense on the accounting sheet.
I also found that I could be a change in leadership, being a woman who went through some really bad moments in my career, simply by being a woman. I could, and I do, hire diverse people and give them the actual tools to succeed. Like I always wanted for myself, but never really got.
If you could sum up what it’s like being a working mum in tech in one sentence, what would it be?
Very challenging. In this very manly field, all of these very successful men pretend they are self-made, but there is always a woman there, taking care of the children, of the house, of the food. For some reason, they expect me to be the one for them in the professional environment, especially since I’m a mum. I must understand and support everyone and everything. When I need support, however, they can be ruthless.
“I also found that I could be a change in leadership, being a woman who went through some really bad moments in my career, simply by being a woman. I could, and I do, hire diverse people and give them the actual tools to succeed. Like I always wanted for myself, but never really got.”
How do you find the balance between your career and motherhood?
I am very fortunate in this sense. My husband quit his job to be a full-time parent since my paycheck covers all our needs and more. Still, the guilt of not being with my child when he is calling for me because I have an important meeting, eats me inside.
My husband is my rock, making sure I don’t fall into these traps set by my own internalised misogyny, that since I’m the mum I’m falling.
What has been your greatest challenge as a working mother in tech?
Right out of maternity leave I would work and take care of the baby at the same time, while my husband was working on leaving his job. I had many many meetings rocking the baby, and soothing his belly. Several times I had to reschedule meetings because he wouldn’t stop crying, and my peers would get a bit exasperated. I was also passed down for a promotion because of my leave. Never had a performance review for that period, even though I worked for most of my leave. If there is ever a next time, I’m not making the same mistake.
“Being a mum has helped me develop patience and empathy … a business can be just like a toddler sometimes, so techniques are surprisingly similar in those contexts. It's funny because it's true.”
What skills have you developed as a mother that have helped your work life?
Patient and empathy. Before a child who says “mum” 8 billion times a day, patience had a very different meaning!
Now it is about looking at life through his eyes and his perspective, to adjust my response. Getting into the business’ shoes was something I struggled with my whole career, and when Raul was born, it was much easier for me.
Also, business can be just like a toddler sometimes, so techniques are surprisingly similar in those contexts. It's funny because it's true.
When you were returning to work, what one thing helped you / would have helped you the most?
My support system: My own mum and my husband. There is simply so much chaos around having a new life in the household, that my brain froze most of the time. With their help, I could think of myself a little bit, and go through the worst parts of postpartum and going back to the jungle.
“The village won’t come together out of thin air. Maybe in personal life, it can, but in professional life, it doesn’t.
Treasure and nurture the relationship with other women, with the community of women in your field. When a layoff comes, we are the first out. We need each other to survive in this environment. We don't have to love each other, but we do have to support each other. ”
What do you feel should be the top priority for employers who want to support working mothers better?
Respect. It’s very basic, yet very forgotten.
Respect for the schedule. Respect to not bother people outside of working hours. Respect for the fact that sometimes a response to a message cannot be immediate. Respect that if a meeting ends at 6 pm, then 6:01 is no longer meeting time.
Respect for the professional that is in front of them, and usually has delivered so much value, yet their peers (usually males) are favoured, because “they can be more flexible”, “don’t want to give you more responsibilities than you already have”, both sentences I heard when I came back from leave.
Any final words of advice for other mothers in the Tech Industry?
The village won’t come together out of thin air. Maybe in personal life, it can, but in professional life, it doesn’t.
Treasure and nurture the relationship with other women, with the community of women in your field. When a layoff comes, we are the first out. We need each other to survive in this environment. We don't have to love each other, but we do have to support each other.
Support the community by sharing insights, by mentoring junior professionals, by giving a couple of talks a year. The community always comes through when the professional needs.
The companies? Not so much.
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