Technical Support Manager Jana Goree is an 8x8’s finalist in this year’s Women in Tech Excellence Awards. She has overseen a rapidly growing team spread across four of 8x8’s offices. To learn more about her Transformation Leader of the Year nomination and her career, we interviewed Jana in the build-up to the awards.

8x8: What brought you into a role/career in tech?

Jana Goree (JG): I’ve been a manager in several different sectors, including retail and the motoring industry, for the last 20 years, so ending up in tech was a coincidence. I’ve always liked managing people, knowing how things work, and working with innovative products. In my previous roles, I managed contact center agents; I had a good understanding of the way things like softphones and IVR worked. So, tech and specifically 8x8, turned out to be a natural fit for me.

8x8: What's it like working at 8x8?

JG: As an organization, I appreciate the diversity of 8x8’s employees. I manage four global teams, in Manila, the UK, India, and Romania. I find working with different cultures to be incredibly rewarding. From a personal perspective, I’ve had the opportunity to grow at 8x8. There’s support and guidance available for everyone, and I feel that the leadership teams believe in our abilities and want us to succeed.

8x8: Do you have the career you envisioned for yourself?

JG: When I was younger, I wanted to be a police officer. I have a strong moral compass, and I like to understand people. I enjoy knowing what makes someone tick and helping them to make the best of themselves. I think this is how I ended up as a senior manager for a global team—I’m always learning how people work and trying to bring the best out of them. Although I’ve been on a journey, I think the path I’m on is the perfect path for me. I’m always challenged, engaged, and happy and I’m working with an ever-growing team.

8x8: What's been the biggest surprise for you in the last 12 months?

JG: Twelve months ago, I was managing one team in the UK. Now I’m managing four, globally. That’s been an incredibly fast growth that I’ve enjoyed a lot. For me, one of the biggest surprises was how well I’ve adapted to this journey and the challenges it’s thrown up. As I said, working with other cultures is incredibly rewarding—I’ve been to Manilla twice in the last year, first for my team and then for the wonderful food there.

8x8: What have you achieved in the last 12 months that you are most proud of?

JG: Having added three new teams across the world, I’ve been proud of how I’ve brought them all together. We all work as one team now. I put in a lot of work to align everyone to the same goals and create a trusting environment. That trusting environment is maybe the most important part when we are working remotely or between countries. The only way to do that is by having regular meetings, daily check-ins, and by giving everyone permission to be candid with me. That was difficult for some, as giving candid feedback to a manager can be intimidating. But I made sure they knew it was for our team’s growth, my growth, and their growth too.

8x8: Are there barriers for women wanting to work in tech/SaaS?

JG: Unconscious bias is one of the biggest barriers because it means people are treated unequally without realizing it. I’d also say that anything we can do to boost women’s confidence is a good thing. That will stop women from being dissuaded from tech, from trying things, or from going after the promotions—and we want to see more women promoted in tech.

There are certainly barriers for women working in tech. Things are better than they used to be thanks to awareness raising and education, but we can always keep working for more.

8x8: What more could/should men be doing to ensure it's a level workplace?

JG: I would say that everyone should keep educating themselves and be open. A continued focus on the issues will help make progress here, and education and awareness will help to minimize the effects of unconscious bias. It’ll help people notice the biases and make them think about the consequences and how they can change.

8x8: In terms of equality, have things progressed in the last 12 months, gone backwards or mostly stayed the same?

JG: From my personal experience, things keep progressing and improving. I do not feel like I’ve seen things going backwards. I’ve seen several women around me promoted, such as one of my team leads who was recently promoted to the manager of the UK and Romanian teams for me. We’re going in the right direction, and we just need to make sure we keep on track.

8x8: The four pillars of the Women in Tech Festival are diversity, innovation, community, and empowerment. In your experience, which has resonated with you the most during your career?

JG:: All four are important and resonate with me. However, empowerment stands out from the rest. I feel like I used to have to work twice as hard to get where I am just because of my gender. We’ve progressed massively over 20 years. But women aren’t empowered in their jobs in the same way that men are. For example, I have joined the decision-making meetings in the past, where I have seen women speak up but their ideas have been dismissed, only for a man to say a similar idea and be acknowledged. Things like that are extremely disheartening.

8x8: If you could click your fingers and tomorrow and it’d be different, what one thing would you change in the tech sector?

JG: A lot of people will disagree with me about this, but I would change the speed of AI adoption. I think we should have it fully integrated into society by now, and it’s not evolving fast enough for me. The benefits of AI are many, and it can alleviate the burdens on many sectors such as healthcare and nursing. A lot of people want to see it slow down, but that attitude overlooks the benefits that it can bring.

8x8: How do you feel about being a finalist in the Women in Tech Excellence Awards for 2023?

JG: I’m thankful for being a finalist, and I’m proud and humbled to have made it this far. When writing my entry, it forced me to look back at what I’ve done over the last 12 months. Stepping back like that made me realize what an achievement it is. It also made me proud of my team because they’re on the same journey as me and they’re imperative to my success.

8x8: Your nomination is very prestigious. What advice would you give to women starting their careers who want to make a similar impact?

JG: Don’t be afraid and take opportunities. If you’re willing to learn, there’s nothing that you can’t achieve. There are many roles that I’ve applied for where I didn’t necessarily have the experience, but I went for them and got them. You have to try. And if you try and you enjoy it, then you’ve succeeded, because you have to enjoy what you do.

Read more in 8x8’s Women in Tech series