Helen Tabunshchyk Respect Your Colleagues, Know Yourself, Play to Your Strengths

Anna Shur-Wilson, Career Navigation Program Specialist at Women Who Code, interviews Helen Tabunshchyk, an Engineering Manager of Site Reliability Engineering at Apple, and a Women Who Code London Director. They talk about Helen’s career journey, how it took her to London, and what the work culture is like there.

What motivated you to start looking for opportunities in tech? How did that affect your life trajectory and your journey to move to London? 

I don't really remember when I got interested in these computers, the back story is that my mom used to be a programmer. I grew up in the 1990s in Ukraine. The environment was very poor. You could have an amazing career, but there was no money. We didn't have computers, but my mom used to take me to her job and there were lots of computers. 

I had wanted to study Computer Engineering since I was 14. It's a cross-section of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering. It is a lot of algorithms, distributed systems programming, but also networking, computer architecture, some of the hardware issues, and some more in-depth engineering. I'm grateful for my choice because it enabled me to travel the world and to start earning a decent salary again. Eventually, I was able to relocate to London because it's the city of my dreams. 

London attracts me culturally, I like British culture. I like a lot of British music, British Art, and overall how people treat each other, and respect personal boundaries. The tech scene here is not as diverse as it is in the US, but it is diverse enough, you have plenty of options. 

Tell us about your current position. What's your team's make-up in terms of nationalities?

I do not have a single native British person on my team. I have a person from South Africa, from France, from Greece, from Russia, I'm Ukrainian. Then I also work a lot with India and the US. There is such a diversity of different cultures.

You have been involved with Women Who Code in a couple of different cities. Can you share with us a little bit about how this community has helped you with your transitions and what it means to you as you've moved to different places? 

I'm a big fan of the Women Who Code community. Not just because of its overarching purpose, but also because of the benefit it brings to me personally. I first got involved with Women Who Code in Kyiv, Ukraine. Kyiv wasn't my hometown. I moved there and I didn't know anyone. I didn't have any friends. Women Who Code has helped me to meet so many brilliant women, many of whom are still my friends. I moved to London and I immediately knew where to go to find those new networking connections. I went to Women Who Code London, and I eventually became director of Women Who Code London. Not surprisingly, I found friends through Women Who Code London.

You're working on a very diverse team in terms of national background, but I'm sure also your personality and working style. Are there any things that you do as a team to make sure that communication is clear? 

One is being aware of the differences in cultures. If you grow up in a homogenous environment, which many of us do, unless you live in London. London is diverse by default. But in the majority of other places, unfortunately, it's a homogenous environment and you do not pay attention to a lot of differences. The first thing I did for my team was provide some background about my culture and some of the Ukrainian intricacies. For instance, if I ask, how are you? It's not a greeting for me. I really want to hear your response, I really care for your answer. 

I think it is important to have a psychologically safe environment and people feel comfortable asking questions. Asking, for instance, you sounded somewhat grumpy today. Are you okay? What did you mean? It sometimes turns out that everything is fine, the person hadn't had their coffee. This is something that's normal in their culture, but you expect them to smile at you no matter what. A psychologically safe environment and education are a recipe for successful interactions.

Do you have any stories about moving to a new place and something that shocked you?

 

I think the biggest unforeseen misunderstanding is that my facial expression is really serious, this is just the way I look. People wonder if I am angry. No, that's my usual face. Also, there are so many cross-sections in different cultures. I think the main differences and the main source of misunderstanding are the languages themselves.

Is there a final tip that you have for the Women Who Code community?

Have respect for your colleagues, know yourself, and play to your strengths. It is important to understand yourself very well in order to achieve your goals.

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Women Who Code Stands with the People of Ukraine, read our Feb 25 statement here.