Keep The Lights On !!! Women in IT Infrastructure Operations

Breaking the Mold: Women in IT Infrastructure & Operations

In the world of IT, women leaders often find their place in Applications Management, Quality Assurance, Project/Program Management, Service Assurance, or IT Training. And why not? These roles align with the strengths many associate with women with creativity (Applications), integrity (Quality), organisation (Project/Program Management), and talent development (Training). Women are natural multitaskers, effortlessly wearing multiple hats at work and at home.

Yet, despite the push for women in tech, there remains a glaring gap in leadership within IT Infrastructure & Operations”-a field encompassing Networking, Telecommunications, Servers, Storage, IT Operations, Data Centre's, Infrastructure, Database Administration, and Disaster Recovery. While engineering and IT scholarships abound, few women pursue careers in these areas, let alone rise to leadership positions.

Having spent most of my career in this space, Ive often wondered: Why do so few women choose this path? Based on personal experience, here are five reasons that may explain this disparity:

1. A Legacy of ‘MEN’S WORK’

For centuries, engineering and infrastructure-related fields have been perceived as male domains -whether building bridges or managing networks. IT Infrastructure is, at its core, about building and maintaining-traditionally seen as a man’s job. Perhaps it’s a reluctance to challenge that norm, a desire to excel in spaces where women already thrive, or simply an ingrained sense of risk avoidance.

2. The Relentless Grind

Infrastructure and Operations doesn’t run on a 9-to-5 schedule. Systems fail. Networks crash. Servers overload. And when they do, you’re on call-day or night. Even in leadership, you’re in the trenches, troubleshooting alongside your team. For women balancing work with home life, this relentless demand can be daunting. The pressure to be a “SUPERWOMAN” excelling in career, family, and personal aspirations-makes this path an uphill climb.

3. No Spotlight, Just Sweat and Grit

Leadership in IT can be prestigious, but some roles shine brighter than others. While Application or Program Managers are celebrated for successful project deliveries, Infrastructure leaders work behind the scenes often with little recognition. There’s no grand reveal, no applause. Just the quiet satisfaction of knowing you held the fort. And sometimes, that lack of external validation stings.

4. Notoriety Over Popularity

In the world of IT Infrastructure, success is invisible. People notice you only when things go wrong. When systems run smoothly, no one thinks about the data center, the network, or the backup systems. But the moment something crashes? Suddenly, everyone’s looking your way. You become famous for failures, while the wins go unnoticed. That’s a tough reality to embrace.

5. Proving Your Worth-Again and Again

Establishing technical credibility in this field is an uphill battle-and for women, even more so. You have to prove-over and over-that you have the knowledge, skills, and expertise to lead a highly technical team. You have to deliberately, consistently, and visibly showcase your technical depth. You have to immerse yourself in power systems, HVAC, SAN storage, virtualization, and a host of other complex technologies just to stay in the game. And once credibility is established, the effort doesnt stop-you have to keep defending it. Would a male counterpart with the same qualifications have faced the same scrutiny? I’m not so sure.

So, Why Do It?

Why choose a field thats exhausting, thankless, and full of hurdles?

Because there’s magic in the madness. The rush of solving a problem no one else could. The thrill of learning something new every single day. The quiet pride of knowing that, when the world flips a switch, it works-because of you.

At the end of the day, we keep the lights on. And that’s enough.

PS: Thank you Pratham, I finally had the guts to write this !

Regards,

Pree