DataDome Joins the Ranks of Great Places to Work 2024!
Members of DataDome's DE&I Women Empowerment Pod talk career development and advocating for yourself in terms of growth opportunities.
Devon Walo
Talent Acquisition Manager
This article is brought to you on behalf of DataDome’s Women Empowerment Pod—one of the DE&I (diversity, equity, and inclusion) focus groups dedicated to increasing gender parity internally and externally.
Performance reviews wrap up as the new year begins. Now is an ideal time to ask yourself, “What is next for me, professionally?” Some people are fulfilled and thriving in their current positions, while others may be itching for the next step.
As a Talent Acquisition Manager, my aim is to understand the motivations and career goals of the professionals I interview. Through countless conversations, I’ve learned that money talks (of course), but it’s far from the only thing that matters. Job candidates often entertain a new role due to a lack of growth opportunities with their current employer.
One thing I’ve learned is that—whether your aspiration is to progress as an individual contributor/expert in your field, or to develop into a dynamic leader who manages a team—career development begins with advocating for yourself.
Rym Rabehi is DataDome’s Lead DevOps Engineer, she manages our production environment and positions herself as a resource to help developers become more autonomous. Rym joined DataDome in June of 2021 and was quickly promoted to Lead due to her hard work, concrete value, and the results she brings to the table.
Rym’s DevOps group is part of the larger SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) team, which is in charge of improving DataDome’s delivery processes and providing a reliable and scalable platform to our customers. When our clients are under attack, the SRE team reacts quickly to handle the increase of traffic, ensuring enhanced reliability 24/7.
For Rym, the transition to leading the DevOps engineers felt natural, and when the opportunity presented itself, she took it.
My philosophy is: If I don’t try, I won’t know if I’m good at it or enjoy it. Even if it means changing my direction in the middle of the road, at least I learned something.
– Rym Rabehi, Lead DevOps Engineer at DataDome
As someone who loves a challenge, Rym saw her promotion as a learning experience. The trust she was given from DataDome’s leadership and the idea of learning new skills fueled her to step outside of her comfort zone.
Rym explains she’s grown as a leader in many ways since joining DataDome, strengthening her ability to communicate effectively across technical teams and her understanding of the value of giving feedback. She has felt empowered to own her subjects of expertise, and in turn, she has gained more confidence in herself.
Now, she actively supports her team by helping develop their skills with tools like Jenkins and Grafana, which naturally aids them in advancing in their careers.
When I look back, I remember I was a really, really shy person. I learned how to overcome myself and advocate for my position. It brought me to where I am now.
As Business Development Manager, Shereene Mou Tham leads six business development representatives (BDRs), who generate business opportunities across EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) and add qualified leads to DataDome’s sales funnel.
Shereene joined DataDome as our first BDR almost five years ago, and has been promoted three times since then. Shereene believes she joined DataDome at the perfect time—when the company was prepping for huge growth. It was evident to her then that, not only would the business grow drastically, but so would her role.
I knew I was at the right place at the right time to become a leader. The leaders of the company are very vocal and supportive of every employee’s growth, so it was not difficult to make my intentions clear.
Shereene stresses the importance of highlighting your value while expressing yourself openly and naturally with management. With multiple promotions under her belt, Shereene has had quite a few experiences advocating for herself.
For her, it boils down to two questions:
When she felt a strong desire to step up and take on more responsibility, and had a strong conviction on these two points, everything else followed.
Don’t just stand up, but stand out. Focus on one thing you are passionate about and work hard to make that your expertise.
– Shereene Mou Tham, Business Development Manager at DataDome
She recommends being known for something, one thing you are very good at. When people in your organization know you as the “go-to person” who is good at that thing, you are on a good track to becoming a leader.
Meet DataDome’s Content Manager Katie Bibee. She drives DataDome’s branding and corporate content strategy, leading the “content squad”—a team of expert writers, design talent, and freelancers.
Katie’s squad optimizes the look, feel, and voice of DataDome. They get to collaborate across all departments (with threat research experts, data scientists, product marketers, and various other contributors) to produce top-quality content for our website, blog, emails, sales enablement, ads, events, and more.
(So yes, you can thank Katie and her team for perfecting this article!)
Katie didn’t always see herself as a people leader. She explains that, at first, her imposter syndrome was strong when it came to managing others. It took time for her to embrace the positive impact she could have by simply working hard and empowering her team.
You don’t have to be the most outgoing personality on the team or the loudest voice in the room to lead. I can lead by offering encouragement, expressing gratitude often, and holding myself and my work to high standards.
Katie Bibee, Content Manager at DataDome
In any role, challenges are inevitable. This is how we grow. Katie shares that one of the biggest challenges for any creative role is autonomy. Whether you’re a designer, writer, or other type of producer, people have opinions about what you create.
Securing enough trust from leadership to execute her job thoroughly and effectively and to advocate for the needs of her team has not always been easy.
My role with DataDome came with a level of autonomy I had not experienced before, thanks to the empowering leadership team and positive culture. It has allowed our content to thrive!
Katie advocates for herself on an ongoing basis by supporting her team, outperforming ambitious goals, and identifying new areas of opportunity.
For anyone seeking to elevate yourself and move up in your career, she has a few recommendations:
Research your potential career paths toward the role you want to reach and talk with your manager or mentor about how you can get there. A good leader will want to help you become a leader too.
The journeys of Rym, Shereene, and Katie are as distinct as their respective verticals, but we see common themes in the insights they offer about leadership.
The DataDome team is expanding, and we would love to speak with you about current or future opportunities. Browse our team blog and check out our open positions.
