Women at Mirada

How is it to be a non-engineer working in the tech world?

Luckily for me, I am a true geek so the tech world is my dream world. At Mirada, I make sure that I fully understand all the technical buzz and that I keep on top of industry news and innovations. It might sound obvious, but I’ve met several executives at other companies who were so focused on their functional areas that they couldn’t properly explain what their company actually does! On top of that, I’ve frequently realised that not having an engineering background can actually be helpful, as I can provide a point of view that is different to the one of my engineering colleagues.

To what would you attribute your professional advancement? Tell us, what is your secret super power…

No superpower, just one very basic rule of thumb: treating people the way I would like to be treated. Empathy is the magic word here, as it is crucial to try to understand others, to be kind to them and to respect them for who they are, regardless of their age or job title. You can choose your friends, but with workmates it is like with family – you can’t just stop calling them. You need to be able to work with everyone, no matter how different from you and your methods. As much as we talk about separating work from personal life, we are who we are and we cannot turn off our personality or mood once we clock in to work.

Any book, film or podcast you would recommend?

This is one of the most difficult questions you could ask me – I would love to recommend so many books! If I had to choose one, I think I’d go by “Thinking, fast and slow” by Daniel Kahneman. Understanding how our mind works also helps us better understand other people and their thoughts and actions, which is vital in any relation and especially at work. I’m also a huge fan of the HBR podcast series “Women at Work”, mostly as a form of therapy to hear other women’s experience and stories from in the workplace that are all too often similar to mine.