Women in tech need to get comfortable asking the hard questions and taking risks. Here's why

As a woman working in technology, it’s not always easy to make your voice heard. This wasn’t the case at the recent Acumatica Summit in Seattle, where three women tech leaders gave open and honest accounts of how they’d climbed the career ladder in this male-dominated business.

The panellists shared their advice on several areas where women traditionally can struggle in the workplace. One of these is self-promotion, advocating for themselves for new positions or opportunities, which we covered in part one of our coverage. Another challenge is becoming comfortable with asking for what you need, whether that's pay, support, flexibility or resources.

To overcome the difficulty associated with making an ask, Helen Yu, founder and CEO of Tigon Advisory, recommends putting yourself aside and instead focusing on the value alignment. Yu cited an example of asking for additional resources on a team:

What I do ...