Women in Tech: Remain Open to Unexpected Opportunities

Summary: In this “Women in Tech” blog series post, Kate Prouty, Chief Information Officer at Akamai, emphasizes the pivotal role that IT plays in driving organizational growth. Kate also highlights how women in tech create a supportive sisterhood by helping one another recognize and navigate the challenges within the male-dominant tech industry.

Although Chief Information Officer Kate Prouty has been with Akamai for 25 years, she wasn’t initially planning to work in tech.

“I graduated from college with a degree in business, and I wanted to get a job in marketing,” said Kate. However, at the suggestion of her brother-in-law, Kate interviewed for a position on the IT helpdesk at the financial investment firm where he worked. Without any specific knowledge of the role’s requirements, Kate interviewed and got the job.

Like many driven newcomers, Kate immersed herself in the position, which included eventually handling 90% of incoming calls to the IT help desk: “The job market was tough so I was just thrilled to have a job.”

Her eagerness sparked a passion for the field, prompting her to pursue additional courses independently in addition to learning a ton on the job. After reflecting on her journey, she acknowledged, “It wasn’t the job I initially thought I wanted but I jumped in anyway and gave it 100%, going above and beyond pushing myself to learn not only my job but the jobs around me.” Kate’s willingness to explore new avenues led her to an unexpected career path.

Today, Kate emphasizes the importance of remaining open to unforeseen opportunities: “I never in a million years thought I would start my career at a help desk, but I did, and it’s really what led me to where I am today.”

After being promoted, Kate found herself thriving in her role,and enjoyed the work. She was content with where she was in her career. But when a former colleague contacted her about an open position at a new company that he believed would revolutionize the internet, Kate agreed to interview for the role at Akamai.

Although she took the interview primarily to honor her friend’s recommendation, Kate was in for another career revelation. She immediately sensed the palpable excitement at Akamai. It was evident to Kate that something extraordinary was underway. “This place was different. [Akamai] was going to do something that would be impactful to the world.”

In her current capacity, Kate is responsible for Akamai’s global strategy and IT infrastructure, and for engineering optimized user experiences for customers, employees, and partners. From troubleshooting routine challenges to meeting with stakeholders, leadership teams, and other executives to discuss strategic initiatives, no two days are the same in the life of a CIO.

Kate’s team’s overall objective is to enable Akamai to scale, grow, and succeed as a global tech company in security and cloud computing, while modernizing employee productivity, enabling the customer and partner experience, and optimizing Akamai’s operations.

“The role of IT is absolutely crucial to the success of any company. I work with my teams on large-scale programs, many of my meetings are program updates about designs, solutions — and challenges. Mostly, I manage how I can move obstacles out of the way for people so that they can get their jobs done,” says Kate.

In today’s interconnected world, where remote work and virtual collaboration are essential, the importance of technology is obvious in every organization. The ability to effectively communicate and collaborate relies heavily on the quality of the IT infrastructure.

Kate notes, “If you have a strong IT organization that's really operating as a strategic business partner, helping to better enable business stakeholders to achieve their results, you will have a much stronger company.”

Akamai has always been a global company that embraces the virtual workspace, but the COVID-19 pandemic really pushed the envelope and forced all organizations to leverage a virtual workforce. This put IT in the spotlight and allowed us to shine. Kate continues, “What the pandemic has done has revolutionized our approach to flexible work. By embracing this virtual world, it has leveled the playing field for everybody. 

Now, everybody has the same level of opportunity to get involved and to be part of the more interesting, urgent, and important work. It used to be that the people outside your physical office door got all the opportunities now it is everyone outside your virtual office door.  And it's been game changing.”

As a leader, Kate believes that a comprehensive understanding of technology is essential. “When I think about my experience, it's very important to have a strong grounding in the business of what we do, and [know] how the organizations within a company operate and what's important to them, which can help to guide them to a more transformational approach,” said Kate.

Kate believes that effective leadership “requires a lot of different, diverse perspectives and experiences to be a strategic business partner, to be able to sit at the table and speak the language of your business stakeholders and help to devise technology solutions to their business problems.”

Akamai promotes an inclusive culture in the workplace and their leaders demonstrate inclusion through their actions by showing a commitment to diversity. To Kate, an inclusive culture starts with a diverse workforce that represents various backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives and communication.

“It’s important for an inclusive culture to take equity seriously,” Kate said, “to ensure that everybody's treated fairly, and that everybody has the same opportunities, regardless of their background, or perspective, and that everybody has mutual respect for each other. It really starts with being very clear about the expectations for people's behavior, and how you expect people to treat each other.” 

Inclusion in leadership positions… and in life outside the workplace

Kate believes that the tech industry has done a good job of bringing more people to the field and creating a bigger pool of diverse candidates for entry-level positions. Teaching girls to code and getting more women involved in STEM, has allowed tech to become more inclusive. However, strides are still being made for women in leadership roles.

She explained, “I think where tech — and not just tech, but many industries — needs to do a better job is in continuing to foster an inclusive environment for women in tech as they grow in their careers. Continue to provide them with opportunities as they go up the career ladder. It’s not only about bringing people in, but also in keeping them and letting them grow and get promoted to higher levels of leadership roles.”

Kate also noted that companies need to accommodate women’s lives outside the workplace:  “Find ways to give women the room to have children. Give women the room to have something that's important to them outside of their career. Give them an opportunity to slow down while still guiding them and keeping them in the workforce.”

Stepping into the shoes of a CIO unleashed unexpected dimensions of leadership for Kate. One aspect that caught her off guard was the external facet of being CIO. She is often asked for guidance and insights on issues within the tech domain.

“We are an industry leader in security, so people want my opinion on security and our security services. I speak at conferences. I talk to customers. I do a lot of one-on-one meetings with people who don't report to me,” Kate explained. “It's really important that I am aware of the reality of what's working well, and what's not working. So, I do a lot of talking to people.”

Despite a predominantly male landscape in the tech industry, navigating as a woman in tech doesn't necessarily equate to hardship. While instances of gender discrimination and hardships exist in the tech industry, they don’t define every woman’s journey. Kate has never allowed her gender to hinder her voice or presence: “I never let the fact that I am a woman hold me back. I didn't let that be my mindset. That was just not how I approached anything, ever.” 

Why not you?

Imposter syndrome, a common infliction among women, can lead to self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy, but gender shouldn’t dictate your approach to work, interactions, or contributions in meetings.  Kate implores women in tech to defy their inner critics and approach these situations with the mindset that you are where you're supposed to be. Your opinion matters because you are already in the room.

Kate is not intimidated to speak up when she finds herself in a room full of men: “As the only woman, I have a different perspective, a unique perspective, so everybody in this room is going to value my opinion — because all of the other opinions in the room are coming from the same set of experiences.”

Being a woman in tech can be challenging, but very rewarding. For Kate, witnessing other women enter and excel in the tech space, and contributing to their success through mentoring, is gratifying.

“For me to be able to play a part in lifting other women up and helping to guide their career, give them advice, or provide them with opportunities — there's nothing more rewarding,” Kate said.

Drawing from her own experiences, Kate emphasized the significance that both men and women have played in support of her career trajectory. She advocates for women in tech to seek mentorship and guidance early in their career “because there's so many people out there that want to help.”

For the new generation of aspiring women in tech, Kate offered sage advice: Embrace uncertainty and take risks: “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” she recommends. Kate acknowledged that women are more likely to feel the need to have full command of something before taking ownership of it and moving onto the next level than men do.

She suggested that women “Try something that you aren't 100% sure that you're actually capable of doing. Things may not always work out, but you'll never know if you don't try.”

Be authentically you

Kate also believes that women who pursue a career in tech do not need to try to emulate what they see others doing: “There's more confidence in a person who is comfortable in their own skin and able to be themselves rather than trying to emulate someone else.”

There’s no easy button

Kate acknowledged that success takes hard work: “There really is no easy button. There's no magic formula. There's no algorithm that will make you successful. You have to work hard, be able to solve difficult problems, willing to jump into the tough stuff, be committed, dedicated, and reliable.”

A huge advantage that women in technology have that men do not have is other women. Fostering a supportive community is integral to empowering women in tech. By sharing experiences, offering guidance, and embracing challenges, women can chart their paths to success with confidence.

“In my personal experience, other women have been — and continue to be — my biggest supporters,” said Kate. We really hold each other up and support each other in a way that [creates] a nice community. It’s like a safety net. In my experience, other women are not competing. We're always supporting. We all understand the challenges that we're going through, it's just an amazing community.”