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Penny Gawera, Embedded Software Engineer, shares her talk, “From Pharma Consulting to Software Engineering: Breaking Barriers as a Brown Girl in Tech.” She discusses her journey to tech and the challenges she faced. She talks about highlighting your transferable skills from your previous experiences when transitioning to tech and how important community support is once you have made the change.

In school, I had never heard of computer science or coding. These weren’t options at school, and I’d never studied it. I loved math and science, so I picked those subjects for A Levels, which is like 16 to 18 years old here in the UK. Once I wanted to study at university, I went with those subjects again, and I chose biochemistry. Once I graduated, I thought, okay, I should probably get a job. I was job hunting, looking for anything that required a STEM or science degree. I landed a role as an account executive at a medical communications agency. I basically helped big pharma companies develop and execute their sales and marketing strategy. That involved a lot of talking to clients, building relationships, and creating content. It was a very fun role, a perfect blend of science and creativity. But for me, I always felt that there was something more I could do. I felt that it was a very linear career path, working my way up from an account executive to an account manager and then all the way up to account director by the time I was 30.

I’m someone who always needs to do something new. I like a lot of variety. I started thinking about what else I could do. My dad gave me the idea to go into tech. He told me, “I think that you should learn to code because if you learn to code, you could play a pivotal role as an engineer who understands the science behind the products. If you go into biotech, you could bridge the gap between the engineers and the scientists. That’s a role that doesn’t exist as of yet.” After that day I started looking at how I could make this career path that didn’t exist possible. Around this time in the UK, a couple of universities were releasing this new master’s course. It’s a master’s in computer science, but a flexible one and with a twist. It was also one that didn’t require you to have a bachelor’s in computer science already. I applied and I got in. I studied on that course for two years or so. I was working in pharma daily, helping my clients, and then by night, I was coding, doing this course. I graduated and was ready to make the switch to the tech industry. I was definitely targeting biotech. I gained some interest from a biotech company that was making medical instruments for cell therapy and diagnostic purposes. They had a software engineer vacancy, and they wanted someone who could design the user interface of their software that is primarily aimed at scientists. The users would be scientists. The idea was that I could come in because I’m a developer, I could rapidly code up these solutions and new software features for their users. Because I’m also a scientist, the idea was that I could design these features with that in mind for something that scientists would really appreciate. 

I don’t think I could have asked for a better match to my experience and I really enjoyed that. I started to see the value I could bring in that, I didn’t feel that my previous time was wasted in any way. All that experience was transferable and because it was a startup, I got to explore other areas of software. I did a lot of work on software quality. Medical devices are heavily regulated. There’s a lot that goes into that, if it’s getting approved by the FDA. I learned a lot about that, which was super interesting. I also did quite a bit of work on embedded software. That means that it is very low-level engineering, writing code for physical components, like a motor or a sensor. I really loved that. I started asking for more and more tasks on the embedded software. I did a few courses on embedded software. Then I wanted to make the switch and do embedded software full-time. I started looking around and landed a role at another startup doing Bluetooth for audio and IoT applications. I write Embedded C code that goes on these small modules and these modules can go in any sort of device to help with Bluetooth connectivity. 

That has been my journey into the tech industry. It’s been a little bit all over the place, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve absolutely loved it, from studying science at university to then going into marketing and sales. Then programming and going back to university, to doing front-end development for a startup, a biotech one, and then sort of making that shift into embedded software. It’s also not without its challenges. I didn’t expect making the switch to tech to be as hard as it was. There’s definitely a lot of stigma around career switches. It is easing up a bit now, but it was definitely seen as a negative at the time. I didn’t really expect it. If you are looking to switch careers, I would look into why you are switching. Have that answer at the forefront of your mind, it’s definitely a question you’ll be asked. It’s a massive sticking point in terms of CV filtering as well. There is definitely a tick box exercise where you require a bachelor’s in computer science. It’s not fair, but your CV does get sort of filtered out sometimes. I would say apply, apply, apply. You only need one acceptance. Once you have your foot in the door to get into the tech industry, you’re absolutely fine. Having worked in a whole other industry, in sales and marketing, I really leaned on the skills that I had brought from this and my science knowledge. I understood the product they were making and the impact it would have. So for me that was definitely a positive. You can really highlight transferable skills from your previous career or industry that you’re in. 

The second challenge that I faced was also the landscape of the tech industry. I didn’t realize how male dominated it was. I think if you come from a traditional background having a bachelor’s in computer science, you can sort of look around your lecture hall and see, okay, I’m one woman of five on a course of say 200 people. Because I had that unconventional route and that I was working and doing my masters, I never really had that moment where I realized. In my previous industry, it was pretty 50/50 so it wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind. When you don’t fit that mold, you can feel lonely. One thing that has helped me is attending women in tech events, hackathons, things like that where you get to really meet other women in tech. Because I’ve worked in two startups, I still have yet to work with another female developer. Going to these events, you meet so many different people. They can relate to your experiences and give you advice if they’re more senior. It makes you feel a little less lonely. There is also a whole community of career switchers out there as well. Your community and your people are out there, you just have to look. 

There are some amazing communities out there. Obviously there’s Women Who Code, who does amazing with elevating the stories of women in tech. Hearing about their experiences really does inspire you to keep going if a career in tech is what you’re wanting to do. There are some other amazing communities. GirlCode is an international community of women in tech. I work with them as an ambassador and they do events, hackathons and networking. SheCanCode does women in tech news. Specifically in the UK, there is Next Tech Girls. This is more aimed at starting at the bottom. They are changing the way we teach girls at school and giving them an idea that tech is something that they can do. Next Tech Girls organizes work experience for young girls at school to give them an idea of the tech industry. I work with them as a role model. I speak to girls at school about my career and how I got into tech in the hopes of inspiring them. 

One last challenge I want to mention is unconscious bias. When you don’t fit that mold of what a software engineer or someone in tech should look like, it makes things harder. For me, I’m quite chatty and bubbly. I love to wear colorful clothes and things like that. It does make people sometimes doubt your intelligence and you can get questioned probably more than someone that does fit the mold. There’s this sort of old boys network, especially in terms of recruitment. Sometimes it can be as well where companies hire for culture fit rather than culture add. However, for every company that does have their hiring processes like that, there are so many other amazing companies that actually make an active effort in the DEI initiatives and are looking at creating a more diverse place in tech. You just have to know where to look. If there’s a company that may be excluding you for this sort of unconscious bias or something like that, I’d say that’s probably somewhere that you don’t want to work. 

I got here all the way from doing a biochemistry degree and being a pharma consultant. There’s no right or wrong way into the tech industry, whether it’s a boot camp, a master’s, a degree, an apprenticeship, or anything like that. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You can do it. Humans are so multifaceted. I’ve always wondered why people ask what you want to do for the rest of your life. I don’t think you need an answer to that. It’s never too late to pivot into tech.

Guest: Penny Gawera, Embedded Software Engineer
Producer: JL Lewitin, Senior Producer, Women Who Code

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