women in tech

At Alludo, we know that diversity drives outcomes. 

We know that having more perspectives to draw from fuels innovation. 

You don’t have to take our word for it.  

Companies with more than 30% women executives are 48% more likely to outperform companies with the least gender diversity, according to McKinsey research. 

And yet, women are still underrepresented in a wide range of industries—especially women in tech and other STEM-related fields.  

When women don’t have a seat at the table, the company’s leaving a lot on the table. 

Women’s History Month seems like a good time to point out that we’re pretty darn proud of our table at Alludo: 

• Our CEOis a woman.  
• Our SVP of Engineering is a woman. 
• 43% of our Executive Leadership Team identify as women. 
• 34% of our people managers are women. 

• 33% of our employees are women. 
• 9 women have titles of VP or higher. 
• 21% of technical positions are held by women. 

To put those stats in perspective, fact-checked 2022 research from Zippia found that women hold fewer than 20%of leadership roles in the tech industry overall. Overall STEM stats are skewed by the exceptionally high level of women in health-related fields (more than 70%). The story is very different in technology. The tech industry has a long way to go, and while we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, we know there is still room to grow—and room for us to serve as a leader in elevation of women in tech. 

Is the industry improving? 

In a word (okay, two words): not really. Women dominated computer and technology-related fields during World War II as their male counterparts were sent to the front lines. In 1960, they held onto more than 25% of programming jobs (just one of many tech roles), according to the New York Times. To be fair, it wasn’t considered “high-status work,” and women were rarely promoted into leadership. Still, women weren’t rare in tech and weren’t discouraged from pursuing it. 

Zippia reports that 40 years ago, women held 35% of tech roles. That number had dropped by 2018. Not the direction we want to be going in. Part of the problem is that, even if women enter the tech industry, many of them don’t feel comfortable sticking around. Half of all womenin tech drop out by age 35, compared with only 20% in other fields. Women leave tech jobs at a rate 45% higher than men. At 37%, “company culture” is the largest contributor.  

Looking up 

It’s easy to be doom-and-gloom about the representation, experience, and tenure of women in tech. But this Women’s History Month we have a lot of reason to be optimistic. There is a ton of momentum around getting girls interested in STEM, like the National Girls Collaborative Project, Carnegie STEM Girls, the Girls STEM Academy at the Space Center in Houston, Million Women Mentors, and many more. 

There are also companies like ours, where women are heavily represented all the way to top. We already shared some highlights, but we’re celebrating this Women’s History Month, and we can’t help sharing more. We’re a global organization, so here’s a look at our stats by country: 

US:  

• Women People Managers: 44%  
• Women employees: 42%  

Canada:  

• Women People Managers: 46%  
• Women employees: 42%  

Germany:  

• Women People Managers: 44%  
• Women employees: 49%  

We’re not only optimistic, but we feel an obligation—make that an honor—to lead the way, and do so vocally. We’re genuinely excited about where we’re going and the people and organizations we can inspire along the way. It takes all of us. 

Throughout this Women’s History Month, we’ll be sharing more content to celebrate the women of Alludo and all the women who inspire us. We’re glad you’re part of it. 

A look at her career in parallel with Parallels

Quite literally no one has more experience with Parallels than Elena Koryakina. She was there from the very beginning, as a pioneer in virtualization and a woman in tech, while still a graduate student at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. She was the first person to run Windows solutions in the virtualization engine that was the foundation of what is today Parallels Desktop, which means that every employee and every customer since then are walking in her footsteps.

Over more than two decades, Elena rose through the ranks as a woman in tech in roles such including software engineer to senior vice president of Engineering, leading the research and development team at Parallels under the Alludo umbrella. Along the way, she served as a technical advisor, unit manager, project manager, director of cloud infrastructure, and vice president of engineering.

“It’s very important to note that it has been a long career path,” says Elena. Even before officially joining Parallels, Elena worked as a software developer at the Moscow Central Depository in the late 1990s. Elena is at once humble about her achievements (she holds multiple patents based on her work) and extremely practical. She feels strongly that others looking to emulate her success understand that it comes as a result of two elements: constant curiosity, and constant investment in your education and profession.

Celebrating women in tech

As we celebrate International Women’s Day today, it’s critical to address an obvious point: Elena is a pioneer in tech by any demographic standards, and the fact that she’s a woman who played such a central, early role in modern tech is even more exceptional. Still, Elena insists that her gender isn’t as much of a factor as people might make it out to be. “Maybe I was lucky, but my professors didn’t treat men and women any differently,” she says. “While my university was mostly men, there were lots of talented women too, and I’ve been surrounded by talented women for my whole career. I believe that we shouldn’t think about whether you’re a woman or a man, but whether you love your work, and what ideas you bring to the table.” She’s inspired by people from different backgrounds, with different experiences and interests.

Sources of inspiration

One source of inspiration has been her grandmother, who played a significant role in Elena’s childhood. Her grandmother wanted Elena to become a doctor, which seemed like a great fit because Elena was always interested in physics, math, and biology. She initially planned to pursue education in biological medicine and technology, but fellow students noticed her talents and encouraged her to focus on IT. “It was a group of men, actually,” Elena says. “They said, ‘Come with us, we’re IT technologists, and it’s really interesting.’” Elena shifted courses and immersed herself in mathematical modeling, and had the chance to build software tools to perform that modeling. She loved it. And she’s grateful to those students, who truly saw her for her ability.

As for her grandmother, Elena says she was extremely proud of her after Elena shifted away from biological medicine. As it turns out, her grandmother only wanted Elena to become a doctor because she wanted Elena to be useful to people. “A doctor obviously helps people,” Elena says, “But we do, too. I’m absolutely sure that my profession and the products we provide for our customers make peoples’ lives better and their work easier. We simplify life for them and allow them to work from anywhere. What we do is so similar to the goals my grandmother set for me.”

Managing priorities

In addition to staying curious and continuing to invest in your education and yourself (Elena pursued an advanced, fast-track course at the Harvard Business School on Leading with Impact in 2014.) , she also advises other women in tech to prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. “There are only 24 hours in a day,” she says. “And your prioritization should be flexible and change throughout your life.” When Elena was a student, she would go to school all day and when she completed her labs she would go to work on what would become Parallels, and put in a 10-12 hour shift—working very late into the night before starting everything again the next day. She thrived on that demanding schedule, because it worked for her at that time. School and work were her only priorities.

After she became a mother, Elena shifted her priorities. They’re now “My son, and virtualization.” Elena notes that pregnancy is, in itself, a virtualization project. And shifting priorities doesn’t need to happen only if one chooses motherhood, Elena points out. “It could be travel or anything else that is important to you. Pursue what you love. Continue your dreams.”