Claire Mulkens-Schouten
QA-Engineer
“There were times when I felt that they didn’t take me seriously, but I think most people were shocked to see a woman occupy this role.”
The male-dominating reality of software development wasn't enough to hold back Claire Mulkens-Schouten from her career ambitions. She now combines her passion for helping customers with her love of tech.
Software development is no longer a boys' club
For many successful women, “making it” professionally means learning to master male-dominated workplaces where boys’ clubs still pervade, like Software Development. After noticing a gap between the Customer Support and Development teams at Foleon, Claire took the initiative and created a new role from scratch to continue her love for helping customers. “I realized that no software could be bug-free, and that was what spurred my interest to investigate more about software development. I still wanted to be customer-oriented, so pitching the role of a Technical Support Engineer — where I had identified a gap — seemed like the most logical move.” Often, Claire would get unexpected reactions from interviewees, and some customers were surprised to see a woman leading the charge as a Technical Support Engineer. She was once asked to put through a call to one of her male colleagues instead — who had just started a job at the company a few weeks prior. “There were times when I felt that they didn’t take me seriously, but I think most people were shocked to see a woman occupy this role.” Instead of being discouraged by the reactions, Claire decided to take her career ambitions further by setting her sights on becoming a QA Engineer. “I’ve always been tech-savvy, and in the past, I did compare myself to IT professionals and convinced myself that this career path wasn’t for me.” “It’s such a cliche thing to say, but Developers are often stereotyped as the anti-social, nerdy guy behind the computer for days at a time. I can’t imagine many women saying ‘yes, sign me up immediately’ for that job!” “In my case, I found the move to become a QA Engineer relatively easy since we already had women in the Development team, so I knew my teammates and they knew of my capabilities. It made pursuing my passion that little bit easier, but I know this isn’t always the situation for a lot of women in tech.”
We must critically assess barriers to entry. We must also create safe spaces, where zero tolerance is applied, and everyone can be themselves, without the fear of being discriminated against for their gender, sexuality, circumstance, ethnicity, etc.”
According to Statista, software developer gender distribution in 2021 was 92% male-led compared with 5% of women, and less than 2% of non-binary, genderqueer, and or gender non-conforming, which shows that a lot more work needs to be done to encourage greater diversity in the field. “We can shift the balance by normalizing that devs can be run by all sorts of people — from women, disabled people, LGBTQIA+, ethnic minorities — as well as the big musical theatre fans, and sourdough baking enthusiasts like me!” “We must also critically assess barriers to entry. We must create safe spaces, where zero tolerance is applied, and everyone can be themselves, without the fear of being discriminated against for their gender, sexuality, circumstance, ethnicity, etc.” Many companies are still hesitant on what they coin as positive discrimination — the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously. However, Claire insists that employers cannot be afraid to be proactive when diversifying their teams. “A while ago, I examined my networks to see who I was following, and if I’m being honest, it was predominantly white and non-disabled people. Recognizing my biases has helped me to understand that I must actively reach out to other people and voices to diversify my networks — a process I am undertaking.” With more than four years of experience working in Software Development, Claire says that one of her favorite pieces of advice about being a woman in the spotlight came courtesy of a Broadway star. “I got this incredible opportunity to have a singing lesson with Kerry Ellis (who, for the record, has also sung with Queen’s legendary Brian May!), and she told me to always trust in myself. Sometimes my imposter syndrome tries to derail me from doing that, but I always keep her words top of mind. So far, it’s served me well.”
”Recognizing my biases has helped me to understand that I must actively reach out to other people and voices to diversify my networks — a process I am undertaking.”