Posted on DARK Reading magazine, April 6 by Shimrit Tzur-David
Sage career advice to young women from the female CTO of a security startup: Get a pair of earplugs, and put them in when you hear words like ‘can’t’ or ‘don’t.’
Does the “glass ceiling” still exist? On the one hand, a woman was almost elected president of the United States, and government statistics show that women constitute about half the US high-tech workforce. On the other hand, US Census data shows that of the women in the workforce, more work at lower-paying jobs than at higher-paying ones. And when it comes to the cybersecurity industry, women represent quite a slim margin, representing 11% of the world industry’s workforce, making me somewhat of a unique creature.
I’m the CTO of a cybersecurity startup called Secret Double Octopus (an odd name, but one people tend to remember), and it’s my job to oversee the company’s R&D operations and conduct the tech deep dive at client meetings. My immersion into a male-dominated environment dates back to my days as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, where I served as a sabotage and mines instructor…
