Introducing Liv Denyer, Product Lead
What is your role and current job?
I’m Liv, a Product Lead at Flux. I’m responsible for our Offers product which gives you instant cashback when you spend with your Flux offers card.
I’m also really excited to be joining the Triangirls team and helping to run the community 🥰
You can find me on Twitter here.
How did you get into tech?
My dad works in tech and taught me the basics of how to code when I was really young — so it’s something I’ve always been interested in. I was one of those fifteen year olds with an online blog… but I never wrote in it and spent the whole time redesigning it! It was always more of a hobby for me though and academically I was really interested in language and how people communicated with one another, so I studied linguistics at uni. Product management ended up being the perfect career for me — it’s this lovely blend of interesting problems, communication and tech.
What have the biggest challenges been as a woman or non-binary person in tech?
Being the only woman in the room creates a lot of imposter syndrome, especially if the company you’re at has a harsher culture (which is often the case if the leadership team is mostly white men). I spent a lot of time early in my career wondering if I wasn’t being taken seriously or paid what I was worth because I was a woman. Having that extra level of fear over the standard worry of “am I good at my job?” is really exhausting.
Have you overcome any of these issues? If so, how?
Building a community of women in my workplace changed everything for me. I set up a slack channel for women at the company I was in & we started spending time together and comparing notes. It meant we could validate each other’s experiences and help each other out — whether it’s advice on how to respond to a weird message, deal with a difficult person, or sharing salary info.
I also went to a salary negotiation class which was a ✨game changer✨. It helped me figure out how to benchmark what I’m worth and set out a strategy for asking for more. And seriously — this stuff works. I’d recommend it to everyone.
What advice would you give others in a similar position?
- Build yourself a network of women in the industry to share your experiences with — if there aren’t women in your company, meet ups like Triangirls are a great place to start
- Get yourself some salary data! Ask your colleagues (nicely) how much they’re paid. Let recruiters call you and ask them what you’re worth. Pay attention to the job ads you’re getting sent.
- Remember that when you’re interviewing, you’re there to figure out if the job is for you too! Ask lots of questions about the company’s culture and try to get answers from the perspective of a minority. If you don’t get the chance to during the standard process, ask them to speak to someone else or look up a current employee on LinkedIn and shoot them a message.
- If you can, find yourself a female mentor within the company who can support you and your development. It’s an excellent way of empowering you to do great things!
Is there any resources you recommend sharing?
Hustle Crew often run really great events (like negotiation workshops!!!! go to one!!!). They also have a membership that is $15 a month that gets you access to lots of events, and can work with your company to help make them more inclusive. I really recommend asking your company to spend learning and development or DE&I budget on them!
When did you first hear about Triangirls?
Probably on Twitter! I went to my first Triangirls event in 2019 and had a great time.
What have you learnt about yourself in the past year?
The last year (or like, the entire pandemic) has definitely been really challenging, but having to work from home forced me to disconnect from the workplace a lot more. It made me realise that I was way too invested in my job and that I wasn’t taking enough time and space for myself and the things that I love to do. I was really burnt out. So this last year has been all about rediscovering the things I want to do and how to set useful boundaries so that I don’t end up there again!
