Women in Tech at DocuSign: Jen Z.

Our “Women in Tech” blog series places the spotlight on female employees in tech jobs who tell us about why they decided to start a career in software engineering, what they do at DocuSign, who their role models are and more.

At DocuSign, we believe in the next generation of female leaders in technology and want to help them get on the right career trajectory. This week, we sat down with Jen in Product Management based in San Francisco to learn more about her career.

What is your current role at DocuSign and what do you actually do day-to-day in that role?

I’m the Director of Product Management for DocuSign’s Mortgage Solutions. My day-to-day varies greatly from developing our product roadmap to working directly with Engineering teams to design and build our products, to representing DocuSign on industry boards, to working with our sales and partner teams to grow our usage, to sharing our team’s progress with our executive team.

What did your kids or friends and family think you do?

My 4th-grader said, “You are a Product Manager. So, you are a Manager of Products. You work very hard and do a very good job helping solve problems.”

When did you choose to work in technology and why?

In college, I majored in Math and Economics and always loved solving challenging issues. That was a natural fit for consulting and engineering, which eventually led me to Product Management. I’m never satisfied with the status-quo. I love how quickly technology can improve our day to day lives.

What excites you most about working at DocuSign and why?

I work with a very talented group of individuals across our entire company who are all focused on our customers’ success. Working with smart people to solve challenging problems and seeing the change we can bring to our customers’ businesses and lives is very rewarding. You can never hear too many personal “DocuSign stories” of how we made someone’s life easier.

As a woman in tech, do you have any role models in technology that you look up to? Who are they and why do you look up to them?

Every day I learn from the people around me, but my mom would be my tech role model. She has a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Math. This was before computer science was an option. She was one of the first computer scientists and is a fantastic role model in and out of work. As an adult, I learned about the biases she overcame as a woman and mother in tech and had even more respect for her. She wrote one of the first word-programming software for AT&T Labs, but her boss didn’t think it had a market.

What advice would you give women who might be considering a career in technology?

If you think you are interested, then jump in… and bring a friend with you. Not everyone in technology starts as an engineer and many that start as engineers continue on to different roles in tech. So be open to all the roles in technology (in and outside of Engineering) where your unique skills, life experiences, and perspective will help create better products and experiences that represent the many voices of the company’s customers and employees.

Interested in pursuing a career in technology and working at DocuSign? Check out our job openings

Author
Mangesh Bhandarkar
GVP, Product Management
Published
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