Why talking about careers beyond coding can attract more women to tech

Ritu Dubey is the Head of Market Development at Digitate and a member of the company’s executive leadership team, responsible for shaping strategic direction and go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

With over two decades of experience, Ritu has played a key role in building TCS’s technology business across Europe and the Americas, spanning industries such as banking, manufacturing, logistics, retail, and telecom.

During her tenure leading Digitate’s market development in Europe, she drove 70% year-over-year growth, significantly scaling the business. Prior to joining Digitate in 2017, she headed TCS North-Europe’s strategic deal organisation and served as Country Sales Head for TCS Sweden, securing multiple Fortune 500 partnerships worth over $500 million.

A passionate advocate for Women in Technology and AI, Ritu has been featured in Analytics Insight magazine as one of the 10 Most Impactful Women in Technology.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘accelerate action’ was timely.

It reflects the public sentiment of moving away from words and turning them into concrete steps. In line with this, I’ve been thinking about more ways to accelerate action in the industry – specifically, attracting more women to tech. If we want to attract more women to explore roles within the technology industry, it is time to reframe the perception of tech as solely about engineering and coding.

Expanding entry points for women in tech

It’s been great to see a surge in mentorship and job opportunities for women. There are even more women in leadership roles now than ever before, which I believe is a direct result of the support and encouragement from leaders who understand the importance of representation. This change has created a ripple effect, inspiring more women to pursue leadership positions and make their mark in the industry. The drive for women to succeed in tech has led to more support systems, which has been crucial for career growth. Think about movements and popular hashtags like ‘Women in STEM’, ‘Women in Tech’, or ‘Women who code’ – all fantastic achievements and a much-needed improvement.

However, the flip side of this progress is the need for more progress. The current narratives around tech roles point to being a math genius or being born with lines of code written on your palm. While these technical skills are so valuable, the broader tech ecosystem involves various other roles. Helping women fully appreciate the diverse opportunities within the tech industry—like sales, product management, marketing, and customer relations—means opening up more entry pathways. This will, in turn, drive more positive change than only one or two aspects of a broader industry.

The future of technology needs more women, whatever the role

Technology has always been an expression of human life. The biases being exposed in chatbots and GenAI are a cautionary tale – a technology built without adequate information would give inadequate or inaccurate results. Women need to be involved in shaping these technologies if we want our accurate experiences reflected. We need women AI ethics advisors or program managers as much as we need engineers.

Thankfully, with technologies like GenAI, more businesses are becoming tech-driven, which expands the scope of roles women can pursue. By showcasing the breadth and depth of tech, we can attract more women into the field and pave the way for them to lead the next wave of technological advancements.

Normalising a tech industry beyond ‘coding’ and ‘engineering’

One of the factors that influence our decisions in life is perception – whether or not it is reflective of reality. In fact, perception is (often) reality, as the saying goes. So, by reframing the conversation, showing the diverse opportunities within tech and making these roles more visible, tech companies can attract a broader talent pool, including women who may not have previously considered tech careers.

When I lived in Europe, I was the co-chair of the TCS Nordics Women’s group, working to create opportunities for women looking to step into new challenges and advance in their careers in tech. I always encouraged them to push beyond their comfort zones, take risks, and seize opportunities to help them grow. Sometimes this led them to move into core engineering roles but other times, it did not. And this was – and always will be – perfectly fine.