Women in DevOps - Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Charting Your Career Path in Tech
In March, Women in DevOps, part of Trinnovo Group, joined IDBS, part of Danaher, to bring together a powerhouse of voices to share experiences, challenges, and advice on building a fulfilling and resilient career in tech.
At Women in DevOps, we are proud to be part of a global community striving to close the gender gap in technology and inspire the leaders of tomorrow. As part of Trinnovo Group, a community-led recruitment and advisory business, we’re committed to building inclusive environments and championing meaningful change across the technology sector.
IDBS is a leading provider of advanced software solutions for research and development organizations. By partnering with initiatives like Women in DevOps, IDBS demonstrates its commitment to fostering inclusive and supportive environments where all individuals can thrive. Their dedication to creating psychologically safe spaces and promoting growth aligns perfectly with the themes discussed at the event, making them an ideal facilitator for such impactful gatherings. Through their innovative solutions and community engagement, IDBS continues to empower professionals in the tech industry to reach new heights.
Why This Topic, and Why Now?
Today’s workplaces are undergoing seismic shifts, whether prompted by rapid technological advancement, geopolitical unrest, shifting generational expectations, or burnout. These changes prompt a collective moment of reflection. Now, more than ever, is the time to push for a transformation that is equitable, sustainable, and truly human-centred.
Building Environments Where People Can Thrive
We began by asking our panel: ‘What does a working environment look like where people feel comfortable taking career leaps and managing change?’
The response was clear: psychological safety is fundamental. It’s about cultivating trust – patiently, intentionally, and authentically. Without trust, voices are suppressed, and innovation stalls. Trust, once lost, is difficult to regain.
Panellists shared personal stories that highlighted the importance of inclusion. One speaker recounted starting a new job only to be told she got the role "because she was a woman" – a painful, isolating moment that underscored how far we still have to go.
Creating inclusive spaces means asking individuals what psychological safety looks like for them and helping set them up for success accordingly. It also means defining clear boundaries and expectations while encouraging growth.
For managers, the challenge can be daunting. Supporting someone new means understanding what they bring to the table and giving them the time and tools to grow – balancing patience with accountability.
Embracing Uncertainty as Growth
We tackled the idea that uncertainty and self-doubt – often labelled "imposter syndrome" – are not failings but natural parts of growth. As one panellist noted, "Uncertainty always comes with growth."
Rather than forcing careers into a traditional ladder, we explored the idea of the “jungle gym” approach to career development – encouraging lateral movement, skill-building, and exploratory growth. Many companies now offer dual career tracks so that progression doesn’t require moving into management.
Leaders can support this by holding open and empathetic career conversations. One panellist described asking team members, "If your dream job landed in your inbox tomorrow, what would be in that job spec?" This approach encourages individuals to think deeply about their values and goals and helps leaders create growth opportunities within current roles.
Balancing Personal Investment and Professional Growth
We also discussed the cost of career investment – particularly for women. From the motherhood penalty to systemic bias, career advancement often comes at a higher price.
One panellist encouraged professionals to treat their careers as a quest: "You’ll have your own goals, and that goal will evolve. Be honest with yourself about what you want and what you're willing to do to get there."
It’s also important to challenge traditional expectations around work-life balance. As one speaker put it, "Balance isn’t always possible, but blend is." Creating a life and career that aligns with your values and strengths often means making hard but necessary choices.
Levelling the Playing Field
Recent data from the British Chambers of Commerce found that 67% of women felt childcare duties had hindered their career progress. Nearly 90% believe more support is needed.
So how do we level the playing field?
Through allyship, action, and structural change. Policies must evolve to support diverse talent, and leaders must create a culture of feedback, learning, and mutual respect.
What Makes a Career Truly Fulfilling?
We closed the event with a powerful question: "What’s one thing you wish more people knew about building a career that makes you happy?"
Answers included:
- Embrace the unknown – it’s where growth lives.
- Confidence comes from competence – gather evidence, track your progress.
- Be honest about your values and align your work accordingly.
- Seek out what brings you joy – you’ll likely be better at it.
- Inclusion matters – you were hired for your difference, not despite it.
At Women in DevOps, we believe that careers should be built on courage, curiosity, and connection. Our panel reminded us that while the path may not be linear, it can be full of purpose. Let’s continue to pave the way for a more inclusive and empowering tech industry – together.
Stay connected with us for more events, insights, and opportunities to drive change.
#WomenInDevOps #CareerGrowth #TechCareers #InclusionMatters #Leadership
The Collaboration
Women in DevOps and Trinnovo Group were delighted to partner with IDBS to bring this event together. Here’s what IDBS had to say:
"On March 19th, I had the privilege of attending the 'Women in DevOps - Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Charting Your Career Path in Tech' event, hosted by IDBS in partnership with Women in DevOps, a division of the Trinnovo Group. The event was a remarkable gathering that brought together a diverse array of voices to share their experiences, challenges, and strategies for building a rewarding and resilient career in tech. The thought-provoking panel discussion on emerging trends and opportunities was particularly enlightening, offering valuable insights into how our work environment and work-life balance are evolving. The personal stories shared by the panellists emphasized the importance of inclusion and creating psychologically safe spaces. The networking opportunities that followed were equally valuable, allowing attendees to connect and support each other in their career journeys. Kudos to IDBS for facilitating such an engaging and empowering event!"
Meet our Panel
Host & Discussion Chair – Dominika Kodadova
Dominika Kodadova is a Principal Recruitment Consultant at Trust in SODA (Tech Recruitment), part of Trinnovo Group and the UK and Ireland Lead for Women in DevOps. A passionate advocate for the diversification of the tech workforce, Dom has hosted thought-provoking discussions on what it truly means to empower women in an environment resistant to change, including the recent panel discussion: Empowering Women in DevOps and AI: Breaking Biases and Embracing Advocacy. Dom specialises in connecting diverse talent with inclusive, high-growth career opportunities across the full spectrum of technology. As a community lead for Women in DevOps, Dom is passionate about helping women break down the same barriers she once faced on the road to fulfilling work.
Panel Member - Liz Tyler
Liz leads the global services, customer support and quality functions at IDBS. She has been instrumental in helping to position IDBS as the industry leader in quality accreditation.
In her previous role as Senior Director of Quality & Operations, Liz led teams responsible for Corporate Quality Assurance and Sales & Services Operations. She joined IDBS in 2014, having previously worked for Novartis in various IT management & leadership roles including Clinical Development IT and CIO UK and Ireland Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, Liz was a Consultant at Accenture.
She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge and a BSc Hons in Chemistry from the University of Bristol.
Panel Member - Charlie Walters
As an experienced IT Director, Charlie heads up Engineering and Platform Enablement teams focused on Site Reliability Engineering, Automation and Platforms Ops within HSBC’s Chief Technology Office. Her responsibility within this space is to drive consistent engineering best practices and tooling for the CTO and to manage shared infrastructure platforms used globally across HSBC.
Charlie has worked for over 25 years in a broad range of roles, primarily across software delivery but also operations. She has tackled all types and sizes of challenges both at large insurance and finance corporates as well as in emerging tech start-ups. Her speciality of managing transformational change and agile ways of working has allowed her to deliver on what she truly values, building high-performing teams and delivering efficient, resilient and reliable services.
Charlie is a strong advocate for supporting people to be successful in their careers and is now involved in CTO People and Talent growth. Outside of HSBC she is an ambassador for Everywoman and is passionate about fostering diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. She achieves this through volunteer roles such as being an ambassador for Everywoman, as a careers enterprise advisor for a local council and a mentor (One million mentors). As a speaker at various conference events, Charlie delves into crucial topics such as tech industry culture, empowering inclusivity, and intrinsic motivation.
Panel Member - Sveta Bazhko
Sveta is a seasoned engineering leader with extensive experience in leading platform and infrastructure teams. Most recently, she served as Director of Engineering at Yelp, where she led the Data Infrastructure organisation.
Throughout her career, she has transitioned from individual contributor roles to entrepreneurship as a technical co-founder, and then to engineering management, building and scaling teams, and leading senior managers and Staff+ engineers in globally distributed companies.
Previously, Sveta held engineering leadership positions at BuzzFeed, Cisco Meraki, and Tractable AI, where she fostered a culture of high psychological safety and accountability. She led the development of new systems and services and managed large-scale migrations, impacting millions of users worldwide.
Panel Member – Andy Bold
Andy Bold is a seasoned senior engineering leader with extensive experience in cloud infrastructure, DevOps transformation, and platform engineering. Currently serving as Senior Engineering Manager of Platform Engineering at Flagstone Group Ltd, he manages multiple teams delivering a cloud-based cash deposit platforms for retail and institutional clients. Throughout his career spanning organisations in both the private and public sectors, Andy has demonstrated expertise in implementing security frameworks, automating deployment pipelines, and building and mentoring cloud engineering teams. Andy has a proven track record of reducing cloud spend, improving delivery reliability, and driving operational excellence while effectively managing budgets and teams across multiple industries.