Exploring the Tech Journey
During my 20-plus years with Huawei, I’ve had many different positions: in China, India, Singapore, and now Turkey; in both managerial and non-managerial roles; in every domain from Software Testing to HR and Quality Management, and now in Product Management for Huawei’s Pangu AI model. I am lucky that my family agreed to travel the world with me. They’ve given me the courage to explore the unknown no matter how old I was, no matter what country or culture I’m in – especially in such a male-dominated industry.
Give it a try
When I moved to India, there was an impressive number of women working in Customer Support, but as time went on, I saw less and less women climbing the career ladder. This was mainly because they had to take care of their families. I found myself very lucky.
My husband took care of my son as we moved around the world. I wasn’t alone as many around me were looking for their own solutions like this. We shouldn’t set boundaries for ourselves. You should always just try, because you never know. In some ways, the tech industry is uniquely open compared to traditional industry. For example, we are seeing the rise of many prominent female vloggers and more and more work from home. Despite this, more can definitely still be done.
The power of a manager that rejects the gender norm
Some managers think that women are more emotional than men. They hesitate to assign challenging tasks with tight timeframe to women. This limits our opportunities to prove ourselves. But women are resilient, more so that society wants us to believe.
One of my proudest professional achievements was this dying software project that I completely turned around. It had so many requirements to fulfill and was about to miss the delivery deadline. So, I stepped in, led the team part-time, and reset the team’s priorities. I was ruthless, cutting out all the unnecessary bells and whistles and dragged us over the finish line. For me, a good manager must reject gender stereotypes and just be the best they can be. As a manager, I refuse to hold either my male or my female subordinates back just because of stereotypes.
Stay growing, Stay flexible
Once you work in an industry for 20 years, you can’t expect it to remain the same forever. The tech industry changes very fast. This actually kicked off a mid-life crisis for me – something that is quite common in tech. My openness to new possibilities and my supportive family helped me out. I am grateful that Huawei has such a strong job rotation system and reskilling programs that are available to everyone, both men and women. They helped me explore new opportunities in different departments and even in different countries whenever I hit a bottleneck.
Now, I work in AI. Less than 30% of people in this field are women. I think AI will be the foundation of everything in the future. People won’t need to learn coding themselves if they can use an LLM. For me, that’s the next exciting opportunity. I also hope more tech solutions will be curated for the elderly. I hope all women will have the chance to find their unique way to shine.
Rao Feipeng: Senior Product Manager of Huawei Pangu AI Model
