As someone in your early twenties, you struggle with what to do with your life. Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone to guide you along?

In this series, I ask women in the community to share their career trajectory and how they got to where they are today.

If you feel like you’re behind in life, this is for you. If you feel like you don’t know what you want to do in life, this is for you. If you want some directions or guidance, then this is for you.

Let’s get to it!

Check out the previous interviews here:

• Leanna Gives Advice on How to Get into Product Design
• Advertising Executive Lynn Recounts How She Found Her Passion in Advertising
• Gabriela Shares What it Takes to Be a Software Engineer
• Freelance Writer Camille Shares Her Tips on Spotting a Toxic Workplace and More

Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

Hello! My name is Dorathy. I am an enthusiastic model with an analytical mind. I am quality-focused and have a passion for life as well as a driver for eradicating gender disparity in our tech ecosystem. I love poetry and enjoy creating crafts that allow for female beauty enhancement.

I am a driver for eradicating gender disparity in our tech ecosystem and currently work with Wentors as a program coordinator.

Will you describe what you do for a living?

As mentioned above, I work as the program coordinator at Wentors. Wentors is an organization focused on increasing the participation of women in technology by providing access to female mentors in the tech industry. We are passionate about building a community that nurtures, caters for, and provides guidance for women in tech.

A typical day at Wentors includes team meetings (we work remotely) and meetings with members who want to be a part of the community who are looking for more info on how to get involved. 

In general, I enjoy working with the organization as there is no form of micro-managing and new ideas are generally accepted. I don’t find the role difficult or anything, besides when we call female tech experts give back to the community through mentorship as this will indeed be fruitful for posterity’s sake.

How did you end up where you are today?

I received my degree in Business Information Systems at the University of East London, UK, and then moved on to get my Masters degree in Information Technology Management.

I actually thought I would be heavy on technology or work in the tech industry like Microsoft, Google, or just a tech industry that aligned with what I studied; however, I see now that there has been a big transition/great diversion from what I had envisioned originally. 

What was your first and second job out of college?

I pretty much started out with an internship position at a financial institution, but with my background in technology, I didn’t stay long at the position because it didn’t align with what I was hoping to work in. 

My second job was at Citizens Disability where I worked as a customer service agent to US citizens with disabilities, helping them get their social security benefits. This turned out to be a positive experience for me because I was able to connect to a deeper level of service.

What Did You Do Next?

After two years working in customer service, I began my journey into navigating my way through three different startup companies. 

At my first startup, I took the role of research manager. 

For this role, I had to do lots of fieldwork that had to do with agriculture. That meant doing research in agriculture to get a better understanding of the industry, speaking with farmers to acquire data about their farm, inputting that into our system, and creating reports.

There was a lot of distinction between this role and tech. I stayed in this position for six months before I transitioned to my second startup where I worked as a project manager. 

In this job, I was able to interact with and manage a team of tech experts in an agile setting—this included the UI and UX designers, the software developers, etc. 

I also met and spoke with many of the stakeholders at the client company and attended board meetings. 

I enjoyed this role because it exposed me to different opportunities that allowed me to acquire a lot of skills that helped me grow more than I had originally thought. 

There were many ups and downs, including getting negative feedback because project management is a world that can drain you if you’re not careful, but it felt like a great adventure for me. 

After nine to 10 months, I moved on to my third startup, which is where I am now as program coordinator.

You’ve worked at a lot of startups. What are your thoughts so far?

To be honest, I don’t think I would really want to be in a startup company because there is a lot of work you would generally need to put in. 

In most cases, the teams are very small. 

Conversations are just between a couple of people and depending on the great minds that you have in the company, the company may grow or fade out in the industry. 

While this is typical of startups, I would love to experience working in large corporations again and getting a feel of the environment.

What is it like working at a startup?

Hmm…first off, I have seen that startups offer a unique experience on every level. The experience cannot really be explained because of the level of innovation and creativity in the work environment. 

You will have a lot of responsibilities

With startups, there is a lot of responsibility on the employees. If your skill level is zero or one, I bet that it’ll increase within a year or less, especially if you’re committed to growth.

For some companies, there is little to no supervision with the employees because it’s expected that you know what your role entails and that you can deliver consistently. 

Whatever decision that you make as an employee, you will have to bear the consequences and be accountable.

To stand out, you would have to be innovative because you’re coming in with your experience, you’re coming in with your abilities, and you’re coming in to help the company grow quickly in order to catch up with its competitors. You want to deliver results to appeal to the consumer or the client, whatever the case may be.

The workload will be heavy

There were times when as a project manager, I would work into the night creating reports or addressing an impending issue with the project.

Since the company was quite lean (this just means that the staff force is low), we needed to make sure that if we were to go into a meeting tomorrow, we had results to show to our stakeholders, clients, and the team in general. Again, this is because of how lean the company is. 

The job security is quite low

With startups, you cannot put your entire eggs in one basket so I’ll advise you to engage in multiple sources of income because they’re pretty much just starting out and there is no guarantee of staying afloat amongst competitors.

Be open to earning below your expectation because top managers may or may not be earning salaries.

And at some point, you may actually end up not having a social life

This is tied to the fact that the workload is so heavy which can play into your social life.

You want to close in on the tasks that you have been assigned and give your 110%; however, learn to prioritize and figure out how you structure your world, your personal work, and find that work-life balance because that will be very essential.

I have seen that startups offer a unique experience on every level. The experience cannot really be explained because of the level of innovation and creativity in the work environment. 

-Dorathy

What are your thoughts on working at startups for those early in their careers?

Personally, I think If you’ve recently graduated and are thinking of joining a startup, there are several benefits you could, in fact, gain.

You could be exposed to a lot of learning opportunities and be allowed to share your innovative ideas. You will easily learn to pick up the important skill of how to prioritize tasks, as this is of utmost importance and finally, the startup company would indeed be impacted by your work—and if you’re consistent, the promotion will come easy.

What skills would someone need to thrive in your position? Are there any degree requirements for your job?

Presentation skills, excellent written and verbal communication, organizational skills, paying close attention to detail, and learning to work under pressure are some of the important skills you will need to thrive in this role.

A degree in business administration is a great place to start at, but if you want to stand out, consider becoming a Certified ScrumMaster, Master Project Manager (MPM), or take PRINCE2 Foundation/PRINCE2 Practitioner, etc.

What piece of advice would you give to someone who doesn’t really know what they want to do?

I would recommend going into a place of self-discovery. Taking time to identify and pursue your passion by focusing on what you want to solve in the world and how you would generally make it a better place.

Be open to trying and failing—this is the only way to figure out where your destiny lies.

What goal or projects are you working on next?

Wentors is a global mentorship platform where women with lesser years of tech experience would get access to women who have, five to 10 or even more years of tech experience. We would work to pair both women together and engage them in a structured program for a selected time depending on the program type.

We work to eradicate gender disparity in the tech ecosystem by providing mentorship, supporting, and nurturing women in technology. Through building a global community of women in technology, we’re ensuring that the next woman has a place in technology—that she stays and grows in the field. 

We would definitely love to have more women get involved in technology and if you are a woman who’s passionate about the future of women in tech then please sign up at www.wentors.com to be a part of their next cohort!

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So, what do you think? Comment down your thoughts and reactions. I personally think it’s very interesting to hear about what other people are doing and how they got to where they are today.

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