Women in Tech: The trailblazers part three

In this series, we feature five of those women working in Tech. Located in all corners of the ING world, they reveal their journey and experiences in this ever-changing and dynamic industry.

How did you get into Tech?

I studied management engineering and started working at ING as a process consultant initially. After a couple of years in process excellence, AI had become a ‘hype’, and I developed an interest in it. I wanted my career to be more AI and Tech oriented. ING’s Analytics department was a great place to work. That´s why I´m here. My motivation is being someone that can develop products with new technologies.

Why choose ING?

I was working in an e-commerce company when I graduated. One of my friends said that she was super happy with her team at ING because of ING’s culture. “You’ll like it!” she said. “Don´t look upon it as banking. It´s more like a tech company that has a banking licence.”

This triggered my interest, and I shared my CV with her manager. In the end I got the job and I´m still with ING seven years later.

What job do you do?

I´m product owner for a GenAI chatbot in our Analytics department. I’m currently working with our Retail banking countries, mainly ING in the Netherlands, to scale a daily banking GenAI chatbot. This chatbot is a conversational technology that translates into a servicing tool that helps customers by replying to their questions 24/7. The better the bot, the better the customer experience! One of the main advantages is that customers can get instant answers to their queries at any time and (hopefully) don’t need to call our contact centres.

What do you love about being a woman in Tech?

I love being different. As you can imagine, it´s man-heavy environment. I am used to that as I studied in a technical university where most of the people in my class were male. But still, it can be a bit lonely without some colourful women! I explain my situation to my managers by saying: “you know, you can talk football and I can join your discussions, but I don’t have anyone to talk about nail art or fashion!” Jokes aside, it´s great to be in Tech if you´re interested in it. It is technical, but I think this also gives me more energy to be professional in business life. I like to try new things in my life, even some unknown things. The Tech environment generally provides this experience, you can try new things, test them, if they work you can make them a future proof product. That´s why it´s good to be in the drivers’ seat and enjoy the route.


What advice would you give to other women seeking a career in Tech?

It will already be a different environment than maybe you’re used to. But be yourself! And do your job well.

I’ve never felt like I’m in a minority or are treated any differently. Rather that I´m part of the group and always challenging everyone to do things better. I think women often see problems from a different angle.

What has been the most difficult challenge you have encountered in your journey?

The hardest part is adaptation. Technology is rapidly developing. Teams, products, platforms, etc. are changing. It does take time to adapt and to get the clarity you need to provide guidance/direction for people. That can be hard to manage, but I’ve learnt to accept and overcome that.

What advice would you give to students or others contemplating a career in Tech?

I think in any career you need to have an appetite to learn and adapt. I suggest three things:

(1) Learning by others: There will be experienced people around you in the company or outside of it. Seek mentorship from them and learn from their experiences. Also, network with people who are in the domain that you´re interested in. This can also be useful in the future.

(2) Soft and hard skill development: This is important. You need to stay curious and keep learning new technologies but not with a hype mentality. Rather by considering the implementation of these technologies into a company’s problems. This is one thing that is perhaps missing from our sector.

(3) Hands-on experience: Practice is important. If possible, translate things you’ve learnt into hands-on experience. This could be an internship, part-time work or even setting up a start-up. Putting things into practice is crucial. You’ll quickly learn whether it is a success or a failure.

What’s the next big thing when it comes to technology?

Predicting the next big thing in Tech is always a bit speculative. But I am keen to see improvements in Generative AI, wearables and biotechnologies. GenAI has brought another level of human and tech combined products and services to the market, especially conversational technologies. I expect these generative technologies, in combination with wearables, to be an interesting next step. I´m excited to experiment with them soon.