"Women have no place in technical professions." Have you ever heard something like that? My name is Ekaterina Selezneva. I am a mentor and an IT recruiter at a robotics company. I’ll share some recommendations for women who want to work in IT.

Kathrin — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 08:17:42 +0000

Jul 16

Not a woman’s job? What holds women back from building careers in IT

#womenintech #career

8 min read

Not a woman’s job? What holds women back from building careers in IT

Kathrin — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 08:14:18 +0000

On average, women hold only about 20% of technical positions in IT across Europe. In other words, for every woman in a technical role, there are roughly four men. Is it because IT is simply less appealing to women, or are there invisible barriers that make it harder to start and develop a career in this field?

My name is Ekaterina Selezneva. I am a mentor and an IT recruiter with more than 12 years of experience. Every day, I interview a lot of women for a variety of IT positions. Over the years, I have identified several reasons behind gender inequality in the tech industry. In this article, I will share my perspective on the issue and provide some recommendations for women who want to build a career in IT.

What makes me qualified to talk about this?

I am a woman who has worked in IT recruitment for more than 12 years. During that time, I have closed positions in AI, fintech, robotics, and biotech: all industries that are still often considered “male-dominated.” Today, I work for an international company that develops humanoid robots. When I joined the team, it consisted of just three or four people. I have built the company's AI department from the ground up, hired the first C-level executives, and helped support the company’s growth. Today, our company employs around 200 people. Our robots perform what would otherwise be physically demanding work in manufacturing facilities and logistics centers across Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.

I also am a mentor in the Women in Tech community, where I work with young women who are just beginning their careers in IT. The topics my mentees bring up are incredibly diverse. For example, with one mentee, we explored how to implement automation in recruitment. With another, we built an entire career roadmap for her future as an IT HR professional: from where to start and how to source candidates to identifying the right target audience. In addition, during volunteer mentoring sessions, we discuss topics such as finding a job, presenting experience effectively, and responding to employers’ objections.

All of the above informs my perspective from several angles: as a woman working in the industry, as a recruiter who makes hiring decisions, and as a mentor helping others take their first steps in the IT industry.

I am also the mother of a 17-year-old daughter. She has already faced the challenge of choosing a career path and will soon begin taking her own first steps toward finding self-actualization in the professional sphere.

Reason #1. It All Starts in Our Heads

In my work as a recruiter, I've noticed quite an interesting pattern. A man is often willing to apply for a job if he meets only about 60–65% of the requirements. He often assumes he will figure out the rest somewhere along the way. Generally, women tend to approach job opportunities much more cautiously. Many will not even click “Apply” unless they feel they meet 90–100% of the requirements.

Women also often hesitate to promote themselves and tend to underestimate their value, even when they have impressive career experiences to show off. Recently, someone asked me which achievements I am most proud of. I admit, my first thought was: “What achievements? I’m not doing anything extraordinary!”

In today’s IT job market, employers are not looking for the perfect candidate. Companies are looking for people with potential, healthy self-confidence, and the ability to grow quickly. The offer often ends up going not to the strongest candidate out there, but to the one who is willing to put themselves forward.

Where do these issues around confidence come from? I believe a lot depends on upbringing and the environment in which we grow up. For example, I was born in Russia. In our culture, girls are often taught to be obedient, quiet, modest, and to always meet other people's expectations. Speaking openly about your achievements is frequently seen as bragging. Girls are also often told that working with hardware and technology is “not a woman’s job.” I believe this is one of the reasons why fewer women consider technical professions as a path to self-realization.

Today, I live in Europe. My daughter is growing up in an environment where diversity is the norm and expressing yourself is encouraged. Watching her, I can see that there are far fewer gender-based stereotypes and limitations in her life. At the same time, the growing popularity of IT and artificial intelligence means that many young people are choosing future careers without thinking about gender-related prejudices.

Reason #2. The Glass Ceiling: Does It Exist In a Woman’s Professional Life?

Have you ever heard of this invisible barrier that prevents people from advancing beyond a certain level? Speaking from my own experience, I have not encountered it personally. Perhaps that is because I have never aspired to become a CEO, so I have not had to compete in that area. It might be true that I have experienced questionable or sexist situations in my work life, but they were certainly not severe or obvious enough to leave a lasting impression.

However, the fact that I have not experienced it personally doesn't mean the problem does not exist. I regularly speak with women working in the IT industry at large companies, and many of them confirm that women are often added to leadership teams reluctantly. As a result, they tend to remain in individual contributor roles rather than moving into management positions.

For example, Anna Znamenskaya (former Marketing Director at Viber and Apple, and former VP of Marketing at Quadrant) often speaks about this bias at the executive level. Last summer, I was taking her job search course, and she shared many examples of how the market can be biased against women seeking top leadership positions in technology companies.

When women repeatedly encounter this “glass ceiling,” many conclude that they will not be able to fully realize their potential in IT and eventually move into other industries.

Can Diversity and Inclusion Policies Solve Gender Inequality?

Are companies trying to address the gender gap? Yes, but the approach varies significantly depending on the country and business culture.

In companies across the CIS region, topics such as inclusion and diversity are rarely addressed through formal policies. If an executive team or technical department consists entirely of men, it is generally accepted as not a problem. There is also a widespread belief that large businesses should be led by men and that leadership is “not for women.” As a result, women are often given fewer opportunities to move into senior leadership positions. But even if a woman makes it to a board of directors composed entirely of men, it can be difficult for her to communicate effectively and defend her point of view without having a particularly strong personality.

In contrast, many European and American companies actively implement Diversity & Inclusion policies. They are expected to maintain various forms of balance, including gender and nationality.

On paper, this sounds like a positive development. In practice, however, such requirements can create some challenges for hiring teams:

They can slow down recruitment and business processes. Imagine that a critical project is stalled and a role must be filled urgently. You find an excellent candidate who is a perfect match in terms of both hard and soft skills, but he is a man. The company chooses not to hire him because its current target is to recruit more women in order to meet a 30% representation goal.
Things like this can disrupt culture dynamics within the company. A team cannot simply be diversified mechanically for the sake of reporting metrics. If the core of a company consists, for example, of professionals from the CIS region (where, much like in the United States, achievement-oriented values are common) a specialist from Spain may find it difficult to integrate due to differences in communication styles and career expectations. In such cases, the company may need to adapt and reshape its internal culture.

No matter how strongly companies support these policies on paper or enforce them through formal requirements, reality often tells a more complicated story: inequality cannot be eliminated solely through artificially imposed quotas. In the end, hiring managers still tend to choose people based on their hard and soft skills rather than their gender or nationality.

Until women themselves believe in their abilities and actively position themselves in the market, it is unlikely that external regulations alone will help them advance in the field.

What Women Can Achieve in IT: The Example of Mira Murati

Whenever you feel discouraged or believe that the limitations of the industry are stronger than your ambitions, I encourage you to look to women who have broken all possible stereotypes and paved their own way. One of my personal role models is Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI.

Mira was born in Albania into an ordinary family, without influential connections or significant financial resources. At the age of 16, she moved to the United States to study, and built her career through her own efforts. Eventually, she became Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI. In many ways, she was instrumental in the launch of ChatGPT and helped spark the artificial intelligence boom that we are all witnessing today.

In 2024, she left OpenAI and founded her own company, Thinking Machines Lab. She did not leave alone: more than 30 leading specialists followed her to the new venture. I remember reading an article on LinkedIn about how OpenAI’s leadership, and even Mark Zuckerberg, tried to retain some of these people by offering extraordinary compensation packages. Yet many of them still chose to join Mira. They were not staying for contracts or salaries; they were following her as a leader, drawn by the scale of her vision and the mission of the company she was building.

To me, this story is proof that technology absolutely is a sphere for women, and that a woman in a leadership position is no less capable than a man in the same role.

4 Tips for Women Building a Career in IT

As a recruiter who evaluates candidates every day and helps young professionals grow, I would highlight four key principles:

1. Find a mentor. This is one of the most powerful ways to accelerate your growth in the industry. Look for someone in your professional community who has already achieved the goals you are striving toward. People who have built their careers through their own efforts are often happy to share their experience. A mentor can help you identify your blind spots, they might talk openly about the mistakes they've made in their careers, and explain the lessons they learned from them. This can save you from reinventing the wheel all by yourself and making common beginner mistakes.

2. Build your network. Your career path is closely connected to the people around you. Networking is much more than simply exchanging business cards; it is a tool that provides:

-Referrals and access to the hidden job market, including opportunities that never appear on job boards.
-Insight into how the industry really works, which technologies are gaining momentum, and where the market is heading.
-The ability to turn to trusted colleagues for advice, expertise, or support whenever you need it.

3. Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone reaches important milestones at different times and under different circumstances. If someone you grew up with has already become a senior executive or startup founder while you are still working as a developer, it does not mean that you are falling behind. It simply means that you are moving at your own pace, and your breakthrough may come later. The only person worth comparing yourself to is the person you were in the past. If you know more and can do more today than you could a year ago, then you are moving in the right direction.

And the fourth—and perhaps the most difficult—piece of advice: do not downplay your achievements, and do not be afraid to talk about them!

Conclusion

The gender gap and biases in the job market are not going away anytime soon, and they certainly won’t be solved by artificially implemented top-down quotas. But what we can do is stop undervaluing ourselves and waiting for the perfect moment to apply for a job.

That’s why I encourage you to stop waiting for a perfect match with a job posting and take action! And if you’d like support from a mentor in the recruitment field, let me know in the comments!

DEV Community: Kathrin

"Women have no place in technical professions." Have you ever heard something like that? My name is Ekaterina Selezneva. I am a mentor and an IT recruiter at a robotics company. I’ll share some recommendations for women who want to work in IT.

Not a woman’s job? What holds women back from building careers in IT

Not a woman’s job? What holds women back from building careers in IT

What makes me qualified to talk about this?

Reason #1. It All Starts in Our Heads

Reason #2. The Glass Ceiling: Does It Exist In a Woman’s Professional Life?

Can Diversity and Inclusion Policies Solve Gender Inequality?

What Women Can Achieve in IT: The Example of Mira Murati

4 Tips for Women Building a Career in IT

Conclusion