Career advice doesn’t have to come from the pages of a self-help business book or a high-profile CEO’s TED Talk to be useful — in fact, the most memorable advice often comes from unexpected sources, like a brief coffee chat with your work bestie, a reassuring Slack message from your team leader, or even the lyrics of a Beyoncé song. 

For women who work in tech, there’s power in getting feedback and recommendations from other women who have been in your shoes. Despite incremental progress toward gender equality in the tech industry, women still only make up about 28% of the tech workforce. 

In honor of Women’s History Month, we asked women in the Codecademy community to share the best career advice they ever received. Read on to learn the practical and refreshing pointers that helped women in the tech industry thrive.

Remember to negotiate

The advice: “Always negotiate [your salary], even if you think the amount is final. I’ve always negotiated when getting a new role, and I’ve always ended up getting a higher amount than the initial offer. In the past, I’ve felt worried that they would rescind the offer or be upset, but that never happened! I realized my fear was standing in my way. Plus, it’s a great way to practice advocating for yourself. Remember, you’re worth it!” – Sarai Fernandez, Codecademy Domain Manager, Computer Science & Cybersecurity

How to do it: Negotiating your salary can be nerve-wracking, but think of it as an opportunity to ask for what you’re worth. Even in fields like technology, the gender wage gap exists. The latest Census Bureau data found that women earned $0.83 to every dollar earned by men — and the gap is even wider for women of color. Not sure what to say when it comes time? Read this blog for some examples of lines you can use when you’re negotiating your salary. 

Face your fears

The advice: “Fear won’t take you anywhere beyond where you stand. Sometimes we feel sad or scared because things are not going how we want them to — but what are you doing to change that? Do you want to work at a big company? Well, what about applying for the job? Do you want to change your role? Instead of thinking about it, start a course about your new interests! Do you want a role upgrade? Talk to your boss! Not sure how to do certain projects? Speak up! Knowledge problems can be solved by learning; fear is solved by facing it.” – Laura Guette, Multimedia Engineer

How to do it: Learning a new skill is empowering and can help you grow in your career. If you’re ready to take the next step — whether that’s enrolling in a course or taking on a new project — be sure to check out the new and improved Codecademy plans. The new Codecademy Plus plan, for example, is ideal for folks who are working towards a promotion or who want to build specialized skills, because you can build your own roadmap based on your goals. Take a look at the whole Codecademy course catalog to get inspired.

Apologize sparingly

The advice: “As a woman early in my career, I never realized how much I apologized — even for things that I wasn’t responsible for or weren’t in my control. My boss at the time gave me the feedback that I didn’t need to continually fall on the sword for my team and others. She shared how she did the same thing, and as a woman we can often use it to keep everyone happy. I didn’t need to say, ‘Sorry,’ instead I needed to think about how I would work with the resources I had to find a solution. There is of course a time and place to take accountability, but I never realized how much I was using it as a catch-all for any problem. Now I realize the power of being solution-focused and direct.” – Britney Russ, Codecademy Director of Product Management

How to do it: If you’re an over-apologizer, there are lots of other useful phrases you can use in place of “sorry.” For example, “I appreciate your patience” or “I’d like to add.” 

Stay consistent

The advice: “Consistency is the only way to achieve your goal.” – Ankita Choudhury, Student

“Consistency is the key.” – Roseline Aderemi, Data Analyst Instructor

How to do it: It’s not surprising that multiple people emphasized the importance of consistency in tech careers. No matter where you are in your coding journey, it’s important to find ways to make coding a habit. Set a realistic goal for yourself, and choose your weekly learning target (find this in the “My Home” section when you’re logged in to Codecademy) to stay accountable. Not sure where to start? Here are some bite-sized coding goals to consider setting for yourself. 

Make sure your voice is heard

The advice: “Learn the phrases: ‘I haven’t finished speaking’ and ‘Yes, I understand that,’ and use them.” – Megan McCoy, Codecademy Project Manager

How to do it: File away these concise and clear phrases the next time you feel like you’re being interrupted, talked over, or just plain ignored. Communication research has shown that women are interrupted more frequently than men. 

Track the impact of your accomplishments

The advice: “The best career advice I’ve ever received is to always remember to track the impact of my accomplishments, to ensure that there’s a way for me to measure the success of what I do. This is constantly helpful during annual performance evaluations.” – Jennica Econg, Product Manager

How to do it: Keeping a running log of your accomplishments at work is an awesome way to make sure that your individual contributions are not overlooked. Check out this article for tips on creating and maintaining a “hype document.” 

Make your own luck

The advice: “I reference this TED Talk all the time, because it shatters the idea that ‘luck’ just happens to people. Luck does happen, but in this talk, [engineering professor Tina Seelig] equates luck to ‘the wind,’ and ‘the sails’ are your actions that invite luck in. For instance, talking to a stranger creates a new connection that ultimately benefits you both in the end.” – Sil Lavers, Codecademy UX Researcher

How to do it: Do something small that stretches you outside of your comfort zone, like introducing yourself to someone whose career you admire, or offering to present in a meeting.

Think in possibilities 

The advice: “This advice reminds me to let go of my insecurities and not think of my limitations, feeling unsuccessful, and that I will fail. It helps me think positively and not be shaped by prejudice on background, gender, and education.” – Emi Stockx, aspiring JavaScript Developer 

How to do it: Most of us are familiar with impostor syndrome, or feelings of self-doubt regarding your capabilities and achievements. This phenomenon is even more common among people who have underrepresented identities, like people of color and women, according to the American Psychological Association. If you find yourself stuck in a cycle of self-doubt, there are lots of strategies that can help you overcome impostor syndrome, like connecting with other people or finding ways to acknowledge your successes.  

Don’t doubt your qualifications

“If you have 50% of what they ask for in the [job] ad, you can apply for the job.” – Emelie Wänstedt, UX Designer, in response to an invitation from Codecademy for people to share their personal experiences on Facebook

How to do it: Deciding to submit your application for a job opening can take a lot of courage — and research has shown that women often won’t apply for a job unless they meet 100% of the qualifications listed. Women apply to 20% fewer jobs than men, and are 16% less likely to apply to a position they view, according to a LinkedIn Gender Insights Report. If you’re job hunting and questioning whether or not you have enough experience to be considered for a role, read this blog for tips from a tech recruiter. 

Be sure to check out the Codecademy blog for even more advice on how to have a fulfilling career in tech, interviews with people who have cool coding jobs, stories about Codecademy learners who launched new careers, and more.

March is Women’s History Month, where we celebrate and pay tribute to the women who’ve played a vital role throughout American history. Within the tech industry, women have always been at the forefront of innovation and progress — although nowadays, women make up only 28% of the tech industry workforce.

To shed some light on the unique challenges that women face in the tech industry, we’ve compiled a list of book recommendations about women working in tech over the years. From a biography of a woman cryptanalyst during World War II, to a memoir from a software engineer in Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom, there are so many moving stories to add to your want-to-read list. 

Reading these books will help you better understand tech’s “herstory,” and hopefully inspire you to work towards gender equality in your own professional life. 

Part memoir, part collection of essays, veteran programmer Ellen Ullman’s most recent book paints a vivid picture of what it was like to be a woman engineer during the early days of the dotcom boom. Life in Code is packed with fascinating anecdotes (like the time the Google co-founders offered Ellen a job at a party and she turned it down) and meaningful reflections about the power of programming. BTW, if you haven’t read her hit 1997 book Close to the Machine, you should definitely add that one to your list, too! Buy it here.

Learn about the history of the internet through the lens of the pioneering women who built it. From the 19th century to present day, the book Broad Band spotlights women who had a lasting impact on the internet, like Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and the ENIAC Six. You don’t have to be a history buff to appreciate this fascinating collection of stories. Buy it here.

Whether you’re an engineering apprentice or are managing a team of developers for the first time, you’ll find workplace wisdom in this book by Raji Rajagopalan, Director of Engineering at Microsoft. Raji shares stories about her own experience being a first-generation immigrant in America and navigating being a woman of color in tech. She also shares practical advice that helped her along the way — like how to cope with public speaking nerves and get better at storytelling. Buy it here.

You might remember seeing the news headlines about Ellen Pao in 2015, and the gender discrimination lawsuit she filed against her employer, a prominent venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. The case was a lightning rod for discussions about sexism within tech. In this book, Ellen, who is the former CEO of Reddit, shares her story about being a woman of color and whistleblower in a predominantly white male industry. Buy it here.

Though it was published nearly a decade ago, this powerful book of essays and first-person anecdotes written by women in STEM is still relevant today. Each chapter is a separate crowd-sourced essay by a woman whose work involves innovation and entrepreneurship, including some big names in tech, like Megan Smith, former Google VP and Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Kim Polese, who was the founding product manager for Java, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Heidi Roizer. Innovating Women sheds important light on the meaningful contributions women have made in the tech industry, while also acknowledging the realities of gender bias. Buy it here.

If you’re learning about data science or working towards a career in data science, this book is a must-read. Invisible Women breaks down all of the ways in which gender bias and discrimination against women is ingrained in data that drives crucial decisions in our modern world. Though the findings are eye-opening (and downright maddening), reading this book will motivate you to pay attention to diversity in datasets that you interact with in your own work. Buy it here.

This is a fascinating true story about Elizebeth Smith, a woman who went from studying languages and Shakespeare to becoming America’s first female cryptanalyst. Elizabeth was highly skilled in “code-breaking,” which is a process of decrypting code or cipher messages to uncover hidden information. She worked as a cryptanalyst during both World Wars, and went on to work for the U.S. Navy, Treasury, Coast Guard, and Army. Buy it here.

Want even more tech books? Codecademy has tons of recommendations for riveting and useful reads. Check out this list of tech books written by Black authors, books that make great gifts for technologists, and more.