The Future is Tech – Nancy Wang
The Future is Tech
Technology Expert and AWIT Founder
Nancy Wang
On leadership, entrepreneurship, and fixing the broken rung
The “glass ceiling” has long been a metaphor for the invisible barrier preventing women from securing job opportunities or advancing to senior roles. The term suggests that women can see opportunities but are unable to reach them due to factors such as discrimination, bias, social norms, or unfair policies.
Another term that more accurately describes this situation has emerged: the “broken rung.” Simply put, if we view a career path as a ladder that employees must climb to attain higher positions, broken rungs inevitably hinder their ascent.
This term was coined during a five-year study conducted by McKinsey & Company in collaboration with Lean In and its founder, Sheryl Sandberg. The study analyzed data from over 600 companies in the United States, culminating in the “Women in the Workplace 2021” report. The report highlighted that women face greater challenges in securing promotions than their male counterparts, particularly in the early stages of their careers. It attributed this disparity to factors such as gender bias and discrimination, the absence of clear systems mandating promotions based on individual ability and merit, and a lack of access to mentorship and opportunities that help build skills and advance careers.
Despite progress in many sectors, the technology sector continues to see the widest gender gap. While most sectors see 86 women promoted to senior management positions for every 100 men, this number drops to a startling 52 in the technology sector. This gap is critical in a field accounting for over 10% of the U.S. GDP and providing more than 12 million jobs.
The various challenges women face in the technology sector prompt many to exit the field, disrupting potential talent and career trajectories. This, in turn, reduces female representation at decision-making levels, which can influence the future of organizations or even entire industries.
Nancy Wang has dedicated herself to changing this reality through her work in cloud computing and cybersecurity, as well as her leadership roles at major technology companies like Google and Amazon. We met the U.S. technology expert during her visit to Doha to uncover the secrets behind her career success, discuss her experience as an investor in the technology sector, and explore her journey with Advancing Women in Tech (AWIT).
An Inspiring Career
Nancy Wang was born in Pennsylvania, USA, to a family of Chinese immigrants. Her parents, despite financial difficulties, were determined to provide a good education for her and her sister. Wang’s passion for learning motivated her to pursue a career in technology, and she eventually earned a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where she specialized in computer science.
After graduating, Wang gained valuable experience in several roles across different companies, before joining Google as a product manager. She then moved to Rubrik, a company specializing in cloud data management and data security, where she served as a cloud product manager. Her success at Rubrik caught the attention of Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she was appointed Director of Product and Engineering, and later promoted to General Manager for AWS Data Protection.
After over four years of significantly contributing to AWS’s development and growth, Wang decided to focus on consulting in cloud computing and cybersecurity, alongside her venture capital investments in tech startups. In 2016, having gained extensive knowledge of the barriers women faced within these major companies, Wang founded the nonprofit organization Advancing Women in Tech (AWIT). Through AWIT, she sought to help women build careers in the technology sector, overcome the “broken rung,” and ascend to leadership positions within their organizations. She wanted other women to have access to the same kind of mentorship and career guidance that had helped her build a successful career.
AWIT initially hosted in-person workshops in the United States and Europe but shifted to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization now offers over 100 hours of course instruction on engineering management, product management, and cloud product management through the Coursera platform. Designed by experts in education and engineering, these courses have benefited more than 40,000 people worldwide, including many women who have successfully secured jobs in the technology sector, advanced their careers, and become executives in tech companies, or even started their own companies.
Wang believes that the tremendous advancement of the Internet and its associated technologies has greatly enhanced the online learning experience, making it more advanced than ever. She notes that it now rivals the quality of in-person education offered at universities, prompting institutions worldwide to offer full academic programs online.
The U.S. tech expert takes pride in her initiative’s impact over the past seven years. “I was very fortunate to have received a full-ride scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania. Otherwise, my parents’ financial situation would not have allowed me to attend college. That personal experience makes me passionate about ensuring that others have equal access to opportunities. I am a firm believer that education and knowledge are a right, not a privilege. This belief drove me to establish AWIT, as everyone deserves access to quality education and high-quality content at affordable prices,” she says. AWIT’s success led Wang to join the University of Pennsylvania’s board for online education, which became the first Ivy League university to offer a fully online master’s degree in engineering through its Master of Computer and Information Technology (MCIT) program, available through the Coursera platform.
Investing in Tech
Wang shared with us her experience in entrepreneurship and her strategy as a tech investor, offering valuable insights into what venture capitalists look for in startups. She prefers to invest in the early stages of startups, whether by supporting an individual or team with a promising idea or a prototype, or by funding a company that has already launched a promising product and is just starting to gain market traction, build a customer base, and attract further funding.
During these early stages, most startups lack the financial data that investors typically rely on to make informed investment decisions. Wang compensates for the lack of such data by evaluating the project and its founding team, relying on the vast experience she has gained throughout her career.
“The founding team plays a crucial role in my decision-making. Domain experience, such as a technical degree in the field they have chosen for their company, is a plus but not always essential. What matters most to me is their passion and dedication to the project. Their willingness to sacrifice to solve problems and overcome challenges is key. It is about grit and perseverance,” she says.
Wang also emphasizes the importance of technology choice in startups. There are countless opportunities for startups worldwide, particularly in fast-growing technology fields like data security, cloud services, and artificial intelligence. She focuses on key questions: How does the team view the market and competition? Where do you stand relative to your competitors? What sets your product apart? What will compel customers to choose it over others, especially those offered by larger, more established companies?
“To answer these questions, the team needs to demonstrate a solid understanding of the problem they are solving for customers. If they have good answers, which will become evident during the pitch conversation, then they have a company that piques my interest and I would want to invest in it,” Wang explains.
Tips to succeed in the Tech World
Wang advises anyone looking to build a successful career in the technology sector to focus on fast- growing fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and other emerging technologies that can contribute to human advancement. “In these fast-growing fields, you will learn the most and find the greatest opportunities to advance your career. Most founders of major tech companies began this way. Stay focused, persevere, and work hard; you might develop a new technology or launch a company or platform that becomes a major brand,” she says.
The technology expert encourages young people to stay ambitious and persevere in reaching their goals, no matter the obstacles they encounter. Reflecting on her own experience overcoming career hurdles, Wang shared, “Before landing my first job at Google, I was rejected from over 50 jobs I applied for, including twice by Google. After each rejection, failure, or misstep, you must keep going—that is the power of grit and perseverance.”
Wang encourages those striving for leadership roles not to shy away from taking responsibility, even in the face of fear, because you do not know if you will succeed until you try. She emphasizes the importance of viewing one’s professional journey as a long-term investment. “When I think about anyone’s career path, I like to borrow the concept of compound interest from finance. If you invest in yourself by continuing to learn and build relationships with mentors and sponsors, eventually the principal, the interest, and the dividends will pay out what you are today. It will reward you in the long term and lead to both professional and personal growth,” she concludes.
To learn about the programs and courses offered by AWIT, visit https://advancingwomenintech.org/
Venture Capital
Venture capital is a type of private equity where investors provide funding to early-stage startups in exchange for owning a share of the company’s equity. This type of investment supports innovation and the growth of the entrepreneurial sector, helping founders avoid the difficulties of securing funding from traditional financial institutions or relying on high-risk personal funding. Known as “venture” capital due to its inherently high-risk nature, investors accept the possibility that the startup may not succeed, while also recognizing the potential for substantial returns if the company grows into a major brand.
Cloud Computing
An emerging technology that has firmly established itself over the past decade, revolutionizing IT infrastructure. The term originates from the “cloud” symbol used to represent the Internet in early computer network diagrams. Cloud computing enables individuals and businesses to access infrastructure solutions, software, and applications via the Internet. These services are hosted in data centers owned by cloud service providers, offering a practical, cost-effective, and secure option to store and protect data. Additionally, it grants clients access
to the latest software and applications that contribute to the growth of their businesses. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are among the leading companies offering these services.
Product Manager
The role of a product manager has become critically important, especially in technology companies. A product manager is responsible for setting the overall strategy for a product, whether it is a software program, application, device, service, or any digital product. Product managers collaborate with teams across various disciplines, including engineers, designers, marketers, and researchers, to develop a product roadmap. They oversee every stage of the process, from concept development and planning to execution, launch, and ensuring the product’s success in the market.
