Mums in Tech ft. Marwa Gorvan

As part of the ‘Mums in Tech’ series, MotherBoard caught up with Marwa Gorvan, Senior Product Designer.

The purpose of our ‘MotherBoard’ content series is to highlight incredible working mums within tech, as well as individuals and businesses that are supportive and progressive within their approach to creating more inclusive tech teams for women.

Firstly, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role?

I’m Marwa, a product designer, writer, speaker, and mother of two delightful boys.

I started my design career as an intern in a startup and somehow ended up working in enterprise companies with SaaS products. Now, I work with engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders to design products and design systems that are well crafted, accessible, and usable.

If you could sum up what it’s like being a working mum in tech in one sentence, what would it be?

It’s like spinning a hundred plates and some have to fall, but you have to choose which ones do. The combination of any additional role on top of motherhood will always provide extra challenges. But it is important to remember that you are also a human being and not a machine.

How do you find the balance between your career and motherhood?

I have been very fortunate in my career to have flexible working conditions. I struggled when my eldest was very young as I had to go to the office everyday but I could leave earlier to pick him up. This was far from easy and I often felt exhausted with the commute and the guilt of hardly seeing my child. I saw him all but for an hour at the beginning of the day and a few hours at the end of the day.

Later this changed when Covid changed the way companies worked. I was able to work remotely full time and even got a remote contract. This was amazing as it meant I could see my son more than the hours I stole during the work week. I was able to work around core hours and not stress when he got the inevitable cold or chicken pox.

As my family and children have grown I have established a good routine for my life. This way I can be organised and not worry about the daily things like laundry, meal times, and school runs.

What has been your greatest challenge as a working mother in tech?

Managing burnout when I have limited time for myself has been difficult in the past. After having my first child it was easy to forget that my needs also had to be met. Of course I burnt out really quickly and I had to adapt. I reprioritised my life and became more lenient with myself as I learnt that the ambition of perfection was hindering me.

What skills have you developed as a mother that have helped your work life?

I think being organised is incredibly underrated, the routine I had needed when my children were young was helpful in structuring my time. I can talk for hours on how I break up my time to make sure everything is shipshape but essentially it really is good time management.

When you were returning to work, what one thing helped you / would have helped you the most?

This was a combination of open communication with my manager and knowing what I wanted for myself. I made sure I understood the policies and used my KIT days when the time came.

What do you feel should be the top priority for employers who want to support working mothers better?

Employers need flexibility and empathy for working parents. This means accepting that parents and carers have duties outside of work. Employers need to be mindful that emergency days will be taken, the summer will be really busy, and not everyone can get childcare.

Any final words of advice for other mothers in the Tech Industry?

Motherhood is difficult in any circumstance and sometimes our pride will stop us asking for help. But I would encourage anyone who needs it to get help. It can be paid or otherwise but the goal is to lighten your load so you can be the best version of yourself that you can be.