Tech Ladies Digest - Week of 7/13

From Individual Contributor to Leader: Your Next Career Move

July 13, 2025

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Many talented women in tech excel as Individual Contributors (ICs), but often hesitate to step into leadership roles. The transition can feel like a broken ladder—so many end up overlooked or sidetracked. But taking that leap unlocks powerful opportunities for influence, impact, and growth.

Research shows the challenge is real: for every 100 men promoted from IC to manager, only about 52 women get there. This early career bottleneck, known as the “broken rung”, has long-term effects, shrinking the pool of women eligible for senior leadership roles. And it matters. Companies with gender-diverse leadership perform 48% better than those without.

So how do you bridge the gap from IC to leader? McKinsey recommends three key enablers:

  1. Access to skill building – proactively seek out leadership training and stretch projects.

  2. Bias-free promotion processes – advocate for structured evaluation criteria and transparent promotion paths.

  3. Mentorship and sponsorship – a mentor guides you, but a sponsor advocates for you in rooms where you’re not yet present.

This moment is especially timely. As AI and emerging tech reshape our industry, senior women are leading adoption, but junior women are falling behind in confidence and visibility. That gap is your invitation, not a roadblock. With the right support, now is the time to make your voice heard.

Ask yourself: Do you have a sponsor? Are you taking on leadership without the title? Are you positioning yourself for that next role?

This topic isn’t theoretical, it’s a roadmap. In the coming weeks, we’ll unpack actionable strategies, spotlight community stories, and highlight opportunities to build leadership skills, including snippets from our ICON sessions designed for emerging leaders.

Your leadership matters. Let’s get you there!

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⭐ EVENT SPOTLIGHT ⭐

Join our event with Caveday this week ​to learn the concept of deep work and how to get more done in less time. We’ll begin by talking about “flow,” the science of productivity, and the art of finding focus… even working from home. Then, we’ll actually do a work sprint where you’ll get more done in 20 minutes than you have in most entire morning! Finally, you’ll leave you with clear takeaways about being more focused and productive, especially working from home.

​Bring a project to work on: that thing you’ve been putting off or that thing that needs to get done. Once you leave The Cave, you’ll never work the same way again.

📰 IN RECENT TECH NEWS

  • ASML Drops U.S. DEI Targets: Semiconductor firm ASML has removed inclusion and diversity goals from its U.S. workforce to comply with recent regulations but continues global efforts to boost women’s representation in leadership and hiring

  • UK Engineering Sees Gains, But Gender Gap Persists: Women now hold 16.9% of engineering roles in the UK up from 10% in 2010 thanks to initiatives like Gender Pathways and return-to-work programs, though much work remains

🎇 COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS

👭 BECOME A PRO MEMBER

We’re excited to make Tech Ladies Pro Membership more accessible than ever at just $25/month or $250/year, giving members two months free when they opt for an annual plan. This change means big savings for many of our existing members while ensuring that more women can access the career-boosting opportunities Tech Ladies has to offer. Join us today and be part of something bigger.

📚 LEARN A NEW SKILL

Check out our partnership with Springboard offering Tech Ladies members a discount on both their career bootcamps and AI course. Check out their career bootcamps and AI course!

🔬 DISCOVER NEW INSIGHTS

We’re committed to providing our community with the insights they need to succeed in their careers - check out our resources page to read insights on compensation, work-life balance and much more to accelerate your career with data!

🎉FIND YOUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY

Join the Talent Network to connect with incredible companies committed to hiring diverse talent and check out the Job Board for the most recent job postings!

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