Caitlin Kalinowski may be better known as Hardware Director for Facebook Reality Labs’ Oculus VR products. However, she also has also been busy encouraging girls and young women to enter and continue STEM careers. Kalinowski holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, where she has also been a guest lecturer. Recently, she shared some of her views on STEM with Fierce Electronics.
How can the STEM industry work to hire more women and minorities?
CK: I'm passionate about increasing the number of women and other underrepresented minorities in the fields of technology and design. I believe the next generation of products must be designed and engineered by people with different backgrounds and experiences to output the best possible product.
In my field (AR/VR), bleeding-edge future technologies will be worn on the body (wearables, headsets, input devices), so it is even more important now than ever that design engineers and technologists represent the broader population, or in many cases, the devices will be less likely to fit correctly or function properly.
There are many ways for companies in STEM to hire more women and minorities, and one of them is to simply make a statement alongside the job search explicitly encouraging them to apply. Another is to open up the breadth of the "favored" schools that the company recruiters are targeting. I also encourage hiring managers not to overshoot on requirements in the job description--placing some stretch goals for candidates is fine, but underrepresented engineers are less likely to apply than others if they do not meet the majority of the "requirements" list in a job description.
Finally, underrepresented minorities can need extra support--it can be hard being a "lonely only" if the office is not very diverse. Creating groups in your company for folks to come together, share their experiences and socialize with other women or minorities at the company can go a long way.
What is imposter syndrome and how should we deal with it inside of a company?
CK: Everyone in STEM has probably had an experience at work that made them ask, “do I really belong here? am I good enough for this role/team/project?” That’s imposter syndrome.
There’s a narrative right now in the media and in tech that underrepresented women and minorities in STEM are much likelier to experience these feelings than others, but studies show this is actually not true, we all experience this doubt equally.
The real trick is what we do after experience these feelings. We need to teach that these feelings are normal, and make sure that our employees--and especially underrepresented workers--have managers, peers, and small groups they can turn to share their experiences and find support.
How do you build confidence in women and minorities?
CK: Successful employees recognize when they are feeling imposter syndrome, accept that it's just a feeling, and they would not be in their role undeservedly and move forward consciously.
I do think that when companies and the media continually spend time linking imposter syndrome to women and minorities in STEM, it can actually be damaging on some level because it can unintentionally send subtle signals about diverse workers "not belonging," or perpetuate the myth that other workers aren't experiencing these feelings.
Kalinowski joins other prominent women in STEM careers. Most recently, they include MiMi Aung, NASA JPL’s project manager on the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity who advised one young woman on a career in science.
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