Critical Careers - Women Building Careers in Digital Infrastructure - Book - Page 62
Critical Careers
MID CAREER
What challenges have emerged for you as
your responsibilities have grown?
The biggest challenge for me has been internal rather than external. When I
moved into the ICT team, I went from being the person people came to for
answers to being in a position where I felt like I was starting again.
I did not have an engineering or technical background, and that created
a lot of self-doubt. I started to question whether I belonged in that role
and whether people might think I had been given the opportunity for the
wrong reasons. In reality, the team was very supportive, but that did not
immediately remove the feeling. It took time to rebuild my con昀椀dence.
That move was also a clear moment of stepping outside my comfort
zone. I had to make a conscious effort to build my knowledge, whether
that was through training, working more closely with engineers, or
spending time with suppliers and manufacturers to better understand the
technical side.
It was uncomfortable at 昀椀rst, but it reinforced an important lesson. You do
not need to have all the answers from the start. If you are willing to learn
and put yourself in those situations, your con昀椀dence will grow over time.
Sarah
Kinsella
GLOBAL PROGRAM MANAGER | CBRE
60
Looking back, it was less about external barriers and more about how I
saw myself in that moment. That experience has stayed with me and has
made it easier to step into new challenges since.
