She Talks Tech

Emerging Tech Voices Ep. 11: Career Growth and Boundaries

She Talks Tech | Emerging Tech Voices

Hosts Hlulani, Murendeni, and Nhlamulo sit down for a candid roundtable on what career growth actually looks like once you're in it, and why "boundaries" isn't just a buzzword but a survival skill. From imposter syndrome after a non-traditional entry into data science, to the real cost of overworking for validation, this episode unpacks how growth, burnout, and boundary-setting are more tangled together than most career advice admits.

In this episode
How career growth definitions shift over time, from chasing promotions and titles to defining growth as sustainable delivery and self-trust
Starting a data science career through an online certificate instead of a university degree, and the pressure to "prove" ownership of the title
Why growth isn't linear, and unlearning the instinct to plan promotions on a fixed timeline
The early-career trap of overworking to be seen as relevant, and what that costs long-term
Turning performance reviews and check-ins into a personal habit, not just a company policy, including weekly one-on-ones and informal "coffee chat" alignment sessions
Knowing when to hold boundaries firmly versus when the season of the business calls for flexibility (e.g. close to a launch or deployment date)
The moment of realizing that consistently overdelivering (finishing 5-day tickets in 2 days) sets an unsustainable expectation
Who really benefits when someone has no boundaries: the individual, the employer, or both
Practical boundary tactics: blocking calendar time for lunch and focus work, communicating workload feasibility upfront, and understanding "what time it is" in the business before deciding where to push back

Pull quotes
"I'm only learning now that growth is not linear."
"Boundaries work well when you have priorities."
"Who actually benefits the most when you don't have boundaries? ... It's both."
"It's not sustainable, but it did help me earlier on in the career."

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Age Should Not Hold You Back: Jacqueline Berger on changing careers at 35, from drilling engineering to AI and cyber defense

What does it take to walk away from a career you've already conquered and start over? Hlulani talks to Jacqueline Berger, who spent six years as a directional driller on oil rigs, including a seismic field internship in the Sahara, before reinventing herself at 35 as a data scientist now working in AI and cyber defense.

Inspired by Michelle Obama's Becoming, Jacqueline went back to school for a computer science degree as the oldest in a class of twenty-somethings. She talks about why motherhood, not the work, became her breaking point, and the part-time fight that followed. She also challenges the "AI or die" narrative head-on, making the case for small language models, for protecting junior developers, and for the diversity that guards against the blind spots behind faulty facial recognition.

And in a letter to her 10-year-old self, she lands on the line that gives this episode its heart.
In this episode: Vienna childhood and the chemistry lesson that started it all, the Sahara shock, life on the rigs, motherhood as the turning point, going back to school at 35, breaking into tech, challenging the AI hype, and a letter to her younger self.

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63 - Hard Work and Focus: Silvia Gonzalez on 27 Years in Industrial Automation, Global Leadership, and Paying It Forward

Silvia Gonzalez has spent 27 years in industrial automation, moving from her first role at GE Fanuc in Mexico City to her current position as Global Head of Software Business at Emerson, where she holds global P&L responsibility and sits on the board of directors of Progea SRL. Hers is a career built on learning fast, staying curious, and refusing to be defined by the rooms she walked into alone.
In this conversation, Silvia takes us through the full arc of her journey: from tearing apart radios as a child in Mexico, to training sales forces on PLC programming before she felt ready, to developing critical control solutions for some of the largest oil and gas companies in Latin America, to leading global software teams across multiple time zones and cultures. She is direct about the moments she doubted herself, the leaders who believed in her before she did, and what it took to eventually believe it herself.
This is a conversation about what it actually looks like to build a career over decades, not overnight.

What we cover
Growing up in Mexico with an engineer father and a brother who pushed her to compete, and how that shaped her early drive
Walking into her first job at GE Fanuc without feeling ready, and what she learned from getting up to speed fast
Building the critical control business across Latin America, working with Pemex, Petrobras, and PDVSA
Spending over a decade at GE across multiple restructures, and when she first started thinking of her work as a career rather than just a job
The move to Baker Hughes and why she said yes to a role that took her outside everything she knew
The shift from individual contributor to global leader, and how the narrative changes when it stops being about you
Owning a global P&L for the first time and what it feels like from day one
Sitting on a board of directors and learning to communicate from the driving seat
Leading across time zones and why she does 6 AM calls without complaint
Being a woman in industrial automation, what has changed, what has not, and how she approaches mentoring the next generation
The leaders throughout her journey who saw something in her before she saw it in herself
Her blueprint for anyone building a long career with integrity

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62 - Show Up and Do It Well: Sinah Legong on Ecosystems, mLab and Staying the Course

Sinah Legong is someone Hlulani has known since the early days — back when they were both finding their footing at mLab in Pretoria, surviving on noodles and showing up to every event that had free food.

Today Sinah is at the forefront of one of South Africa's most enduring tech ecosystem builders. She has opened provincial offices, managed partnerships at executive and grassroots level, walked startup founders through their first business registrations, and sat with them when the wheels fell off. She has been doing this work quietly, consistently, and without stopping.

In this episode they catch up properly — and the conversation covers a lot of ground.

From growing up in a household where entrepreneurship was just survival, to stumbling into computer science because a university application arrived too late, to becoming the person who holds the ecosystem together when everyone else is chasing the next big event.

In this episode:
Growing up in a family where business was a daily necessity, not a career choice
How a missed application deadline redirected Sinah into computer science
What mLab actually is and why it is the only one of five African labs still standing
Why big tech companies are still treating youth programs as KPI tick boxes
What early stage startups consistently get wrong — and where the real drop happens
The hidden cost of working in silos across South Africa's innovation hubs
What it takes to build an ecosystem that people actually trust
Why she still shows up, even in rooms where she was told she did not belong

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#SheTalksTech #WomenInTech #GirlsInSTEM #WorkCulture #AfricaTech
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Go to the Ground: Precious Lesupi on Accessibility, Neurodivergence and Building for the Margins

Precious Lesupi is back. Cybersecurity specialist, accessibility advocate, BRICS gold medallist, and one of the most honest voices to sit across from Hlulani on this platform.

This time they are in the same room, and the conversation goes everywhere.
From getting dirty in a primary school in Welkom teaching kids to use AI for grief support, to facilitating cybersecurity training for human rights defenders at the UN, Precious is doing the kind of work that does not make the LinkedIn highlight reel but changes lives anyway.
They talk about what corporate spaces get wrong about neurodivergent employees, why Precious stopped trying to change the rooms that would not listen, and what it actually looks like to build inclusive tech from the ground up rather than waiting for permission.

In this episode:
Why accessibility advocacy only made sense once Precious went hands-on in communities
Working with UN Women to protect human rights violation records safely
Competing solo at the BRICS Skills Competition in Russia and taking third place
What corporates get wrong about autism and ADHD in the workplace
Why Precious stopped advocating in implementation rooms and went straight to policy
Documenting African art and knowledge before it disappears
Building a virtual reality fitting room for wheelchair users

Support the show buymeacoffee.com/shetalkstech
#SheTalksTech #WomenInTech #GirlsInSTEM #WorkCulture #AfricaTech
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