Behaviours in Tech | It’s All About self-awareness & self learning

Brittany Danishevsky

Season 2 — September 27, 2021

Psychology is the study of behaviour and people. You gain a basic understanding of why people do things the way they do. Psychology teaches us that we’re all motivated by and influenced by so many things. That understanding can give people the ability to have a lot of grace in situations and for one another. Sales and engineering are both careers about understanding people and influencing their decisions. You can always connect what you study to what you do by identifying how that study has shaped your worldview.
Psychology was also useful when it came to building products. Ultimately software engineers are working with people every day and building for people. They’re building/coding so that an end-user can benefit and find ease when navigating your product.
Brittany uses her engineering skills to perpetuate the knowledge to build products she’s excited about and work with people to influence others. Whereas Psychology plays an all round. In the way, she navigates her work life and interpersonal relationships.

If the systems don’t change, there are going to be really confident little girls trying to break the glass ceiling but will get pushed back by their surroundings. There needs to be an active change in overcoming stereotypes within the tech and math fields. Collectively we need to find ways to address this issue.
Brittany came from a psychology program, that was 80% women, to a software engineering program, that lacked women. From microaggressions to full-on discrimination her path wasn’t easy. She shares tactics and mindsets to overcome these.
People offered Brittany to do work for her because they didn’t believe she could handle the pressure. Regardless she continued to put herself out there, and introducing herself as a Software engineer, and breaking the common stereotypes. Brittany is ultimately creating and welcoming a new narrative for women in the tech and science space. In many ways, the whole profession was started by women.

Imposter syndrome can present itself differently in everyone. For Brittany, it shows up in the feeling of not being good enough. Like, someone finding out that they made a mistake on you. It can also show up in the form of intense anxious feelings.
One way to tackle the feeling of imposter syndrome is to go back to a place where you feel most confident. For example, in the morning start with tackling the low-hanging fruit, the task/assignment that needs the least attention or energy.
Secondly, take deep breathes, take it one step at a time, go for a walk. Some days imposter syndrome can be really bad, so allow yourself to feel it through and don’t do anything. And know that it is ok and that the mindset will not last forever. Self-acceptance and grace is the most helpful attitude to have when dealing with imposter syndrome.

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