Women In Tech Profile Series
Tech has historically been a male-driven industry. While statistics show women are still underrepresented in tech, emerging trends are paving the path for women to, not only be successful, but even dominate the future of technology. SIIA is proud to have many successful women leaders in our community. In our all new series, “Featured Women in Technology,” we will introduce you to these industry leaders and the lessons they have learned throughout their successful careers.
This week’s SIIA’s Featured Woman in Technology is Liz Pearce, CEO of Liquid Planner. Liquid Planner provides online project management software combining social collaboration with distributed planning. Read my interview with Liz Pearce below.
Name: Liz Pearce
Title: CEO
Company: LiquidPlanner
Home town: Indianapolis, Indiana
First job: Graphic designer
Bio:
Since 2007, Liz has helped more than 1500 project teams overcome scheduling and collaboration challenges through the use of best practices and better tools. Before joining LiquidPlanner, Liz ran her own successful marketing consultancy where she worked with a diverse set of clients. She also held management positions at Amazon.com, Google, and Sony Computer Entertainment America. Liz holds a B.A. in Political Communications and an M.A. in Telecommunications from The George Washington University, where she was awarded the Presidential Administrative Fellowship. Liz is an active member of the startup and technology community and is always looking for opportunities to learn, participate, and give back.
What are you currently reading?
Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise. Silver is the now famous statistician who accurately predicted the last two Presidential (and most of the Congressional) races by analyzing the meta trends aggregated across numerous national surveys. Ostensibly it’s about applied statistics but really it’s more about how many of the decisions we make on a daily basis are often based on faulty information and cognitive bias. It’s given me good food for thought when thinking about the decisions we make in our business and how we rationalize them – does it simply sound like a good idea or do we have the right data to support one investment over another? Highly recommended!
What is your next (dream) career?
I honestly can’t think of anything I would rather be doing than what I am right now. However, if I had to choose, I could envision starting a technology school specifically for young women. Women are sorely under-represented in the software industry, which is a shame on a number of fronts. I’m particularly inspired by the work being done by Hadi Partovi who co-founded Code.org with the goal of providing every student with the opportunity to learn computer science. Despite the great work that Hadi and others are doing, there’s so much more to be done in terms of making computer science and technology in general more appealing to young women.
Hobbies:
Who has time for hobbies? Beyond running a growing software company, I have two small children and a major home remodeling project in the works. It’s a good week when I can get to the gym! If I have a few spare cycles, I invite some friends over and cook up a big pot of soup. Chopping vegetables is cathartic.
What do you think is the hot button issue for the software & services industry in 2013?
Enterprise organizations are starting to seriously question their investment in expensive and unwieldy enterprise software. Of course, this is hardly a new trend but I do believe we’re at an inflection point of sorts in which a new generation of lightweight, cloud-based applications can provide a realistic alternative to bloated legacy-ware. Not only is the price structure more appealing (especially from a Opex perspective) but employees are simply growing tired of having to use bad software to do their jobs.
What drove you to pursue a career in tech?
I worked as a project manager in the marketing department at Google in its early days – I think the company was at around 500 people at the time. I had the opportunity to learn about all of the different products Google was offering, and I definitely got bit by the tech bug. The tremendous growth we were experiencing and the buzz we were getting was infectious. The trend continued in my next role at Amazon, and that sealed the deal for me: I knew tech was where I wanted to be.
Do you feel you faced any particular hurdles being a woman in tech? What were they and how did you overcome them?
I’ve been lucky in my career to have worked for great female leaders at great tech companies all along the way. That said, I have sat in countless meetings and boardrooms where I was the only woman in the room. I wouldn’t say I’ve been blatantly discriminated against, but the phrase “boy’s club” exists for a reason. I’ve made my way this far with old-fashioned hard work, a direct communication style, and a thick skin. Now I work hard to pull more women up along with me through mentoring and coaching.
What advice would you give to young women who want a successful career in tech?
Never stop advocating for yourself! While women are climbing the ranks across industries, technology very much remains a male dominated industry. Whereas men are taught to be aggressive in asking for raises and promotions, too many women remain mired in entrenched societal norms in which they don’t vocalize their self-worth or promote their individual contributions. I always tell the young women that I mentor that no one will be a better or more persuasive advocate for their careers than themselves.
Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA. Follow the Software team on Twitter at @SIIASoftware.