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Breaking Barriers: A Mum, a Career Transitioner, and a Woman in Tech Leadership
When people ask about my career, I usually get a mix of surprise and curiosity. I started my career in law, not tech. My early career was filled with legal claims, precedents, and lots of rules and structure, not code, data, or agile sprints.
But after coaching from a line manager, I realised I wanted to be involved in creating change and solving problems in new ways. So, I made the leap into tech.
I won’t pretend it was easy. Switching industries meant starting again. Whilst my early law career had found me ‘in-house’ for a tech organisation, my understanding was basic. As a career changer, I needed to learn new tools, new terminology, and a whole new culture. But I brought something with me that I didn’t want to lose: my voice.
Coming into tech, I quickly noticed how few women were in senior roles. In meetings, I’d often be one of the only ones. And while most people were kind, there was this subtle resistance whenever I raised issues about diversity or inclusion. I’d hear things like, “I don’t think it’s really a problem anymore,” or “It’s the market; it’s the same for everyone.” But the thing is, I don’t agree.
Being a mum adds another layer to all of this. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve juggled a work issue and a sick child, a school play or school run in the same day. It’s a challenge faced by waves of working parents. However, being a parent has taught me more about leadership than any professional course ever could. I’ve learned patience, empathy, prioritisation and resilience. Still, I can’t help but feel the unspoken judgments at times. The assumptions about focus, availability, or ambition.
But here’s the truth: I’m not less ambitious because I’m a mum.
If anything, I’m more driven because I want my son to grow up in a world where leadership looks like many different things; where my son doesn’t gender identify roles, where anyone can really be anything.
As we approach International Women’s Day, we will see more noise about this. Badge wearers, flag wavers, all saying the right thing perfectly aligned to the time of the year. But as I said, we don’t need noise, we need action. This means:
- Sponsoring women into senior roles, creating pathways for progression that are fair and transparent.
- Listening when women speak; really listening, and not defensively.
- For women like me, who are already in leadership, it means lifting others as we climb and making space even when it feels like we barely have the space ourselves.
I don’t have all the answers. But I do know that silence won’t change anything. I’ll keep being loud. I’ll keep having the awkward conversations. I’ll keep pushing for the rooms I’m in to look different - more balanced, more diverse, and more reflective of the world we live in.
For anyone considering taking a career leap – especially return-to-work mums, please know this: you are not starting from zero. You are starting from experience. The skills you built in another career, or though parenting are not irrelevant. Sometimes the biggest barrier isn’t capability; it’s believing you belong.
I don’t want to be the only woman at the table. I want to look around and see rows of us; confident, capable, unapologetically leading. Every time one of us speaks up, mentors someone, or refuses to shrink, we make it just a little bit easier for the next woman coming up behind us. Change won’t happen overnight. But it will happen, if we keep pushing, together.
Author biography
Caroline Hildreth, Transport Principal, Netcompany
Caroline is a Transport Principal at Netcompany, leading IT and digital transformation projects across the transport sector. ERG sponsor, ITS Vice Chair, and former solicitor.
About the campaign
techUK’s March TechTogether campaign continues with a focus on ‘empowering women in tech from classroom to c-suite'. Following International Women's Day our insights this week focus on female retention and growth in tech workplaces, spotlighting successful female tech leaders, gender pay disparities in the tech world, and addressing workplace biases and strengthening DEI initiatives.
TechTogether Week 2
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