Published 2016-03-07

Spotlight on Schibsted’s tech women at WIT conference

Schibsted celebrates International Women’s Day on 8 March with three of our senior tech women presenting at the Women in Tech conference in Stockholm.

In Schibsted Media Group we know that diversity is key to make innovation thrive. We truly believe that monoculture is bad for business while diversity drives more innovation, stronger solutions, and better results and ensures a wider range of experience. 

One of the ways to achieve a higher degree of diversity is to attract more women to tech positions in our companies and organization. By engaging in the tech community, we participate in creating arenas where women can get inspired and dive in to the technical subjects and challenges that the media industry is facing today.

On Tuesday 8 March Schibsted Media Group is one of the main sponsors of the Women in Tech (WIT) conference taking place in Stockholm on 8 March. You can follow the conference via live streaming as of 13 hrs CET

Click to read more about  WIT 2016 and Schibsted Media Group’s sponsorship here. 

Our VP User Experience (UX) Lidia Oshlyansky, along with Product Manager Jacqueline Dozier and Engineering Manager Atelach Alemu Argaw will be on the main stage for a session at WIT called “Building a modern, disruptive, innovative and data-driven business: Product and technology perspectives”.  We have asked them some questions. 

Why should more women work in tech?

“Let’s rather say: Why shouldn’t they! Women should be empowered to work in any and every field. We talk so much about the importance of diversity in workplaces – this applies to all workplaces. Any person, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion etc. should be able to go into a field of work or study that excites them – and succeed. All it takes is smarts, curiosity and drive. Tech is all around us right now – you can’t do anything in the Western world without it. We depend on technology literally all the time. Women should be a part of shaping that technology because in that way we also participate in shaping our realities,” says Lidia.

What do you enjoy the most about working in Schibsted?

“There are lots of things. The huge potential we have to shape the company and therefore the future of Media and Marketplaces. The truly brilliant, funny, fun, super smart people. The challenges we face from competition big and small. The really interesting projects we have that will help us become more and more leaders in product, technology and UX,” says Lidia.

“Schibsted’s mission of empowering people in their everyday lives really rings true to me. I find it really rewarding to work on products that are connecting people, making their lives easier, and enabling efficiency. I love the way that marketplaces are expanding lifespans for secondhand products and positively affecting the environment. Personally, I work on tools for journalists, and I really believe in the role and responsibility of journalism as a cornerstone in a functioning democracy, keeping citizens informed and holding government agencies and elected officials accountable,” says Jacqueline. 

What tech opportunities can Schibsted offer?

“The field of tech in Schibsted is very diverse, covering anything from engineering positions to UX and product. We would love to see as many women as men apply for all and any tech job we list on our site – again it should never be about gender, creed, religion, race – it should be about curiosity, skills, and ambition. We need the people building our products to be as diverse as the people using them!” says Lidia.