When we hear from women in tech, it’s usually the battle-hardened few who have already reached the significant heights of visibility. They get featured in interviews and enjoy the spotlight on international women’s day, awards for entrepreneurial success, and speak confidently on panels. 

Young women just entering the industry? A mere statistic. 

This demographic is still struggling to break into the tech world, research has found, with a lack of early encouragement and training, a lack of role models, as well as a dearth of technical confidence holding them back. 

Despite these oft-institutional drawbacks, women are still encouraged to ‘have it all’ — with ‘all’ being narrowly defined as juggling a career and children, in a power suit, and with a smile. 

Millennial and now Gen-Z women often have different ideas, interests, as well as short and long-term goals. 

The journey of Aimee Jarvie – who is now a project manager at IT and business consulting firm CGI – typifies many Gen-Z stories, whilst remaining staunchly individual.

Like many of her generation, her university experience was largely interrupted by the pandemic, and she started CGI’s graduate programme while working from home was still the law. 

Maybe not quite your average project manager, Jarvie also has been a powerlifter since 2018, before she joined CGI in 2021. 

At 23 years old, Jarvie appears to have the drive to excel at powerlifting and at business, but is also just a young woman simply wanting to live her life — multifaceted as it is. 

In this interview with DIGIT, she reveals the journey has not been an easy one, reflective of the oft-pernicious conditions the pandemic left behind for the workplace, and the continued advocacy required by her generation to improve mental health and social conditions. 

Imposter Syndrome  

Jarvie acknowledges her time in powerlifting acclimated her to male-dominated spaces — by the time she entered the business world, she was unphased. 

She admitted her luck when she confessed she hadn’t experienced many external issues at work due to her gender. 

Her time in university, however, was more frustrating, especially in male-dominated classes during her Business and Management degree.

The assumptions of her skillset — an offhand brand of exclusion — resulted in her being asked if she would prefer doing the slides of a project, as opposed to something more involved. 

Jarvie’s experiences in her university business course still reflect overall trends: marketing and human resource classes were typically more evenly gendered, whereas strategic, business-centric courses were male-dominated.

At CGI, however, the plethora of female role models inspired Jarvie, and she did not feel any particular instances of external sexism holding her back. 

Despite Jarvie’s current role as a project manager for a major tech company, internal anxiety can still manifest. 

Regardless of the more progressive make-up and support structures within CGI, Jarvis still tangles with self-perceived deficiencies — a wide-scale problem for many young women entering the tech industry, who carry disillusionments from aspects of the university experience and wider societal perceptions of women in tech and business.

“One of the things that I think you do get affected by as a woman, regardless of how positive your environment is, is how you view yourself, and you get impostor syndrome,” she said. 

Technical confidence has held many women back from applying for roles in the tech industry, pushing many to marketing or HR, or out of the sector altogether. 

“It wasn’t so much the actual external culture, it was that internal imposter syndrome,” Jarvie explained. 

Imposter syndrome is doubtlessly permeating younger generations entering tech and business — non-sensical feelings of inadequacy despite being perfectly knowledgeable and capable, feeling like your talent or skill set just isn’t enough. 

For Jarvie, however, she now feels much more comfortable in her role — able to ask questions when she needs to, and more confident in her own skill set. 

A Gen-Z Journey Into Tech

What attracted Jarvie to CGI was not entirely outside of tradition; she heard about the Montreal-based company while taking a year abroad in Canada, and was recommended the company by a family member. 

But tradition stops there. Akin to the documented trend among Gen-Z entering the workforce, Jarvie was ultimately attracted to her current company by its commitment to social responsibility, as well as the presence of women leaders.

Reflecting on what drew her to CGI’s graduate programme, Jarvie said: “The fact that [corporate social responsibility] was one of the core values of the company was really important to me — that’s something I could really get behind.” 

The hiring process itself also drew in newly-graduated Jarvie, being offered a conversation with Vice President, Business Unit Leader for Northern Ireland and Scotland Lindsay McGranaghan, before she even submitted an application put her at ease. 

Having women at the front of the company was certainly a positive sign for Jarvie. 

On this, she said: ”That is an example of tangible corporate social responsibility — actually reaching out to the community. I thought that was really good.”

A lack of role models is an oft-cited barrier for women and other marginalised groups from entering certain sectors, tech being no exception. 

Jarvie herself is acutely aware of this and is actively striving to make working spaces more inclusive for people that make it through the hiring process.

The Young Professionals Network

According to Jarvie, CGI has multiple groups dedicated to different demographics within the company; a Women’s Network, a BAME Network, a Neurodiverse Network. 

While these were progressive steps, Jarvie saw a clear gap.

She joined the company in 2021, still during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and when remote working was still the rule, with flexible, hybrid models soon to permeate much of the tech industry.

With undulating lockdowns and a university life turned upside down, entering the workforce became a challenge like never before. Jarvie noticed that young colleagues such as herself were struggling. 

“These young people have gone through such a tricky time, often finishing their degree, their masters, during Covid. They just need a network around them of support,” she said. 

The Young Professionals Network (YPN) started as a response to a mini-project assignment to produce a business case for a Young Professionals Network, as part of the CGI Graduate Scheme’s Student Kickstart Initiative. The project went on to become established as a full network across the company’s branches in March 2022. 

With three main tenants, the YPN was meant to fill the undeniable social gap created by the pandemic.

“The important thing about the Young Professionals Network is that it is a network founded by young professionals for young professionals,” Jarvie explained.  

Her and her compatriots settled on three main pillars to define the network: social, career, and wellbeing. 

Social was a given — “we wanted to have a reason for people to get together and be social and not just hide in their houses anymore,” Jarvie mused. 

Careers was also an obvious choice. ‘Professional’ was in the name, and creating a hub for all of CGI’s resources and opportunities for better access was a major benchmark for this provision. 

Jarvie reflected that because of the environment they were launching the network in, wellbeing had to be a main tenant. 

With many members being Mental Health First Aiders, the network has provided coaching and services to colleagues, offering a safe space to have difficult conversations for those just starting their career. 

Jarvie said: “I think those environments just create something within the company where people feel they can be vulnerable and open. 

“I think that makes it a much happier place to work.” 

Work-Life Balance 

For Jarvie, flexible working has not just been a game-changer: it’s been essential to allow her to pursue both of her passions.

Powerlifting is a demanding sport, requiring intense, time-consuming gym sessions as well as strict dietary requirements. 

It was that intensity which was so key to Jarvie beating her anorexia — switching to a sport which focuses on building muscle helped her overcome the deadly eating disorder.

She’s been powerlifting competitively since 2018, and in 2022 broke the Scottish record for the women’s 57kg junior weight class, lifting a total of 372.5 kilos in total across bench press, squat, and deadlift. In November 2022 she also had the privilege of representing Great Britain as a junior at the European Championships in Poland.

But she’s not stopped there – Jarvie is now entering Open Competitions and currently working with a 140kg squat, a 75kg bench press, and now lifting her previous best of a 160kg deadlift for multiple repetitions, aiming for a total weight of 400kg by the Scottish Open Championships in July. 

“I don’t actually know if I would have been able to keep up my sporting career at the level I have, if I had to go to the office every day,” Jarvie said. 

She added: “Now I can work my training around it — that’s been a game changer for me.”

But it’s not just the hybrid working model — having a flexible work schedule also allows Jarvie to care for her mental health.

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Jarvie’s anxiety can sometimes make work overwhelming. On those days, she can simply call her manager and move her day around to make it less stressful.

“That’s been really important and this really helped me feel accepted for who I am and the struggles that I face,” Jarvie said. 

Hopefully, stories like Jarvie’s will become more and more commonplace as Gen-Z continues to enter and transform the workplace. 

While the pandemic forced many companies to adopt remote and hybrid working models, Jarvie’s case is evidence that there’s more that can be done to help workers cope with mental health, social isolation, and achieving the ever-elusive work-life balance. 

She herself has benefited from a more open and understanding work environment — participating in CGI’s Women’s Network provided Jarvie with the resources and support to start her own journey after struggling with heavy and painful periods for years. The Women’s Network encouraged Jarvie to seek medical advice for endometriosis, as well as broach necessary adjustments with male managers.

These workplace networks have allowed Jarvie to continue pursuing her passions, and she’s looking forward to the future. 

CGI has also established a Young Parents Network, “which is really encouraging” Jarvie said, as she looks forward to continuing to grow her life and passions in a flexible ecosystem.

Jarvie has shown she’s been keen to speak up – either against sexist assumptions in commercial gyms or university courses, and even in a supportive work environment as a young voice surrounded by seasoned professionals.

So while we can continually solute past trailblazers and recognise that we still have far to come on many fronts, reflecting on current battles, struggles, and triumphs is also worth a headline or two.