By Shaminy Navin
Brand & Marketing Specialist, Content Lead. HT Consulting
We couldn’t have had two more contrasting personalities over our lunch table — Dr Sien Ven Yu, a veteran from academia who up till 2021, served as the Dean of HELP University’s Computing and Digital Technology faculty; and Vanessa Tan, a budding 2nd generation entrepreneur who leads HT Consulting (HTC), a software development and integration house. Yet both shared similar fundamental views about the importance of inculcating early interest in technology amongst girls, and experiences about rising to the roles of mom first, then leader in their respective roles.
The strong relationship between HELP and HTC started in April 2012 when industry veteran and HTC Founder Harres Tan helped Dr Sien to establish the University’s IT Industry Advisory Board (IAB) by becoming its first chairman. Harres’ support also extended to his effort to invite other prominent industry friends to join the IAB, with the objective of developing greater relevance in HELP’s IT curriculum offering that would align students’ knowledge and behavior with the expectations of the industry.
Vanessa, who is the daughter of Harres, succeeded the leadership of HTC in July 2016, and was also invited to take a seat at the IAB in the same year. She has since continued the close-knit relationship with HELP.
The Personalities Behind the Personas
Vanessa, a mother of two children under the ages of 10, is passionate about developing talent both at home and in the company. Her leadership style is one that emphasises the importance of identifying each team member’s strengths — including her own, and to use these strengths to develop motivated individuals and teams to contribute their best accordingly.
“When I first joined HT Consulting, I was content to just manage the Brand & Marketing portfolio and did not have plans to succeed the business. At that time, I was confident that my first calling in life is to be a wife and mother. I also don’t remember having a burning ambition when I was growing up. But my earliest impression of wanting to do something ‘when I grow up’ finally surfaced in my late teens, and it was an idea to start my own small business.” Vanessa reminisced about her early days.
In contrast, Dr. Sien is a mother and grandmother to two adult children and 2 preschool-going grandchildren. She has collected a full spectrum of experience in the Information Technology field over her 36-year career — including spending the first 16 years working in London as a programmer, then an analyst programmer, a computer consultant and eventually also founding her own company to offer software consultancy.
Upon her return to Malaysia in 1995, she found herself joining the realms of academia as a senior lecturer in the IT Department of the then, HELP Institute — Today, known as HELP University. Over a span of 11 years at HELP, she completed her PhD in Information Technology and rose to become the Dean of the faculty. She retired from this position in 2021.
“I had to let go of my first ambition to become an architect when I realised how many years it would take me to complete the course! My dad had wanted me to pursue a degree in Medicine but I just couldn’t wrap my head around Chemistry during my A levels. He then had the foresight to advise me to consider a career in Computer Science,” said Dr. Sien
Thoughts on facing extra pressure as a woman, in a field that is dominated by men. And opinions on communication and engagement styles when managing staff as a female, in a leadership position.
“I was 34 when I stepped into this role and in the initial 2 years, found it challenging to find my footing as a young lady trying to lead a tech team made up of men. But I eventually came to realise the importance of gaining my senior management’s trust first, so that mutual respect and understanding could be achieved. I had to accept that only time would allow me to demonstrate authenticity in my character and leadership style,” said Vanessa
Finding that she is oftentimes the only female in meetings, she learned that it is helpful to be objective in her thoughts, so that when it is her turn to speak, she would be able to deliver concise information and make clear decisions. Having said that, she shared that it is essential not to subdue our women folk’s innate nature of being detail-oriented and to share a reasonable degree of vulnerability in the right circumstance. To be able to share vulnerability as a person in leadership can lead us to discover genuineness in our relationships.
“Diversity, whether through race, gender or creed is key to unlocking creativity in our workplace.”
For Dr Sien, she shared about the effectiveness of her Participative Leadership style, whereby she creates a safe space for her team to freely contribute individual ideas in discussions, after sharing her objectives and strategy for any given initiative. She observes that this approach encourages organic team participation, which leads to good engagement amongst the team and a higher degree of involvement from each member.
“As a result, we were able to make the best decisions — as a team.” said Dr. Sien.
The trend for girls and women to pursue an education and a career in technology is not as popular as expected. Why is this happening and how can we encourage more to study or choose a career in technology?
Having had the opportunity to personally interact with students throughout her years in academia, Dr Sien opines that there is a huge misconception amongst girls that Information Technology is a difficult and uninteresting field to pursue. Media and entertainment have also largely contributed to this misconception by portraying IT as a male-dominated space — Think: Boys with round-shaped glasses, greasy hair, dressed in gray sweatshirts, hunched over supercomputers whilst crunching code. This portrayal also contributes to many parents’ sentiment about the dangers of their daughters working long hours.
During her leadership capacity at HELP, Dr Sien had led the faculty to conduct workshops for girls in secondary school to plant early seeds of interest. She recommends organisations to support hackathons that are organised specially for girls, and sign-up as network partners of programs developed by Girls Who Code, Girls in Tech or Women Who Code.
Her advice to industry leaders such as Vanessa is to consider that the landscape of the workplace has changed — expedited even more over the last 2 years of the Covid pandemic. Organisations that value inclusivity and diversity can show support by being flexible in work hours and offer work-from-home options if necessary. This is particularly helpful for women who have responsibilities such as school runs and child care.
Raising young children in a world today that is largely driven by technology, Vanessa suggested that parents can play an effective role in cultivating interest in daughters starting from their early learning years.
“Expose them to block-coding where they can create simple digital animation and games, or robotics where they have the chance to build and program something that works. Allow them to see that their creative ideas can ‘come to life’! By capturing their interest in their formative years, the likelihood of our girls perceiving gender as an obstacle in this field could be lessened.”
Experiences on life before and after becoming a mum — Did it change the way you work?
Much to our surprise, motherhood has taught Vanessa to be more disciplined so that she can have sufficient time for work and her children. She does this by building consistency in their daily routines. She also observes that routines help her children thrive from season to season, thus making her role as a full time working mother an enjoyable one. Of course, she doesn’t deny that her cumulative ‘working hours’ from home to the office, and back home again is oftentimes very long and tiring!
Dr. Sien exemplifies the true meaning of a nurturing mother who instinctively knows her priorities. She opened up by sharing that there was a period when her children were under the ages of 10 and the family was still residing in London. She made the decision to stop working, in order to focus on the young children. When she returned to Malaysia and desired to find a job to occupy her time while the children were at school, her decision-making was largely driven by her priorities given to her children first. She had found herself accepting an offer to join HELP as a Senior Lecturer because she was afforded flexibility in her working hours.
Do you think that you are consciously taking less challenging projects because you are a mom?
“I don’t. I take the work needed to be done as they come my way especially if it determines the survival of our company. But if something is within my control, I try my best to set realistic goals so that they are achievable and I can go home to be with family!” Vanessa remarked.
Dr. Sien shared the same sentiment and does not recall a time when motherhood had slowed her from accepting challenging projects, especially if it was a directive from the Senior Management.
Outlook on work-life balance as a working mom
Vanessa’s personal premise is to find a way to give her best to both family and work. During the 2-year lockdown where she had to work-from-home as well as support her children in virtual school, she learned that there are seasons where it is acceptable to start work later, so that she can be with the children first. And in these seasons, it is also okay to work extra hours when the children have gone to bed; because when there is a job that needs to be done, it is our duty to ensure its completeness.
Dr Sien was honest to share that because she is particular about clearing her daily outstanding tasks, she has never adopted a ‘no after-hours’ work policy. During her children’s growing up years, she too, found time to check-off her task list after her children had retired to bed or on weekends. She commented that this also helped her to ensure that she is ready for a productive workday, instead of being tied down to a backlog of tasks.
Your parenting style and are there future expectations for your next generation?
During our conversation, Vanessa candidly shared that she has no expectations for her children to continue working in HTC or pursue an education in IT in the future. Should the opportunity arise, she would be happy to contribute to her children’s start-ups in the capacity of an angel investor or advisor — Of course, only if that is what they want.
Dr. Sien admitted that she had adopted a strict nature of discipline as a parent while her children were growing up! But she was quick to add that she has mellowed down very much since, and more so now as she shares some responsibilities of babysitting her grandchildren. Although she did suggest for her children to consider taking up a course in IT or Computer Science, she readily accepted the other fields of studies that they eventually decided on. She was proud to share that her son is co-owner and head coach of a local CrossFit gym, while her daughter is a proficient writer who majored in English.
Speaking with Dr Sien and Vanessa has made us realise that there is no ‘one size fits all’ in motherhood and leadership. Both roles involve identifying our priorities and applying what we believe is best-fit for that season, for those whom we are leading and nurturing.
Whether you are a biological mom or a spiritual mom reading this article, we thank you for your selfless decisions and hearts that are always ready to give your best to your team and your children. May you be blessed as you continue to navigate through your seasons of career and a lifetime of motherhood. Happy Mother’s Day!
