Women in Tech: The trailblazers part five

In the last of this series, we feature Katarzyna Orantek, who reveals her journey and experiences in this ever-changing and dynamic industry.

How did you get into Tech and why?
It was more of a happy coincidence than a plan! I studied social sciences and while working on my Masters started to study psychology, so I did eight years of study instead of five. I didn’t want to start my professional career late so searched for a job that I could combine with my education. This is how I landed in IT as a service desk first line agent providing technical support for customers in German and English. Even though my language skills were a major factor, I quickly learnt that my educational background also helped a great deal. I learnt ITIL, took over the recruitment process for the team and later shifted to project management and process quality.

Why ING?
After I finished my education I could focus more on work, and started to search for more exciting opportunities than IT service desks. Colleagues from the previous company were already working for ING Hubs Poland, so I had some inside knowledge about the company and the working environment/atmosphere. I took my chance and applied for a role of process quality expert and here I am! I’ve been with ING since 2012.

What do you do in your current job?
I am the product manager of two teams in the internal tooling area, developing solutions that help with the everyday work of employees in all ING Hubs. My focus is on identifying fields to introduce improvements, save time and the improve the quality of processes. The latest achievement was introducing Change Compass as a tool for managing change initiatives for all the ING Hubs.

What do you love about being a woman in Tech?
I don’t feel gender has anything to do here, at least in my case. I like working in Tech because I like to do things that have meaning and have measurable results. I know the work we do has a positive impact on many people and their everyday job. It gives a sense of accomplishment when you see an idea you had implemented with other people using it and saving their time and effort. This gives me a positive drive for the future.

What advice would you give to other women seeking a career in Tech?
Don’t try to adjust to be like someone else, but rather choose a career where you can use your skills. If you are an extrovert, you would not feel good in a position with close to zero contact with other people and the other way around. We are all individuals with individual skillsets. The crucial thing is to find a job where you can make the best of what you already have and grow in a direction that is interesting for you and makes you happy.

Sometimes we judge ourselves too critically and don’t notice the many skills that can be advantages because they are just ‘normal’ things for us. Look at yourself as you would be looking at a different person and assess weaknesses that could be transformed into advantages. For example, I am involved in many topics and have a short memory, so I have the habit of writing down things all the time (both digitally and with pen and paper). What I thought was my weakness has become something that is valued by my co-workers and stakeholders. It helps me and my team keep track of decisions made during meetings, etc.

What has been the most difficult challenge you have encountered in your journey?
Overcoming my perfectionism and the need to prove myself. I needed to understand that I don’t need to have all the technical skills and know everything there is to know to be good at my job. I am a person with no technical background. Some time ago I was a part of the team that was developing ServiceNow globally. I was responsible for the platform part which was all about the technical stuff and not the process side of the tool. It was difficult for me, at the beginning, because I felt a strong need to prove that I could do this and became easily lost in all the technical dependencies. But I managed to understand that it was not a one-woman job, that I am a leader of a team of professionals that have technical skills and know how to do their job. My job was to make sure the needs of end users or the company were understood and translated into the functional requirements and prioritised so that my team could do their magic with it. I focused on understanding things on a higher level and used my skills to make sure the topics had the structure, were planned and teams were aligned with each other. I learnt a lot during that time.

What advice would you give to students or others contemplating a career in Tech?
I would quote the classic master Yoda from Empire Strikes Back: “Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.” Face challenges, learn in action. If you fail that is also a lesson.

What is the next big thing when it comes to technology?
I will say what everyone else is saying now: AI and all the advantages and challenges that comes with it. It is already transforming various industries by enabling automation and driving innovation. It can be a great tool but also requires plenty of awareness around topics such as data protection. We all have things that we don’t like to do and would like someone or something else to do it for us to focus on the exciting topics, so further development of AI-based tools is inevitable.

As a science fiction fan, I am also curious on the future of quantum computing. Even though it is black magic for me, I know it has the potential to revolutionise many aspects of technology and science and solve problems that are currently out of reach for classical computers.