The tech industry presents a unique landscape of professional challenges that can significantly impact mental health, particularly for women in STEM. As technology continues to evolve, professionals are forced to navigate complex workplace dynamics, constant learning curves, and high-performance expectations.
Women, in particular, face additional layers of complexity, including gender bias, representation challenges, and often unspoken cultural barriers that can compound workplace stress and mental strain. This leads to cases of anxiety, burnout, and imposter syndrome which unsurprisingly has a negative impact on our mental health.
Accept help when it’s needed
When work is becoming overwhelming, it’s important to seek professional help. Asking for assistance and support can be difficult for many of us—there’s a stigma attached that suggests we’re not able to cope or have failed in some way.
But this isn’t true and taking a proactive step to work through the mental challenges you’re facing can help you find healthy ways to handle stress and anxiety. As Klearminds counselling in London highlights:
“Counselling is a talking therapy that can help you develop constructive strategies for addressing problematic concerns which cause emotional or psychological distress.”
Whether it’s face-to-face sessions, or online therapy, talking to a professional can provide you with the tools to handle your mental health more effectively, in and out of work.
Develop mental toughness
Mental resilience in the tech industry is more than simple endurance. It represents a psychological approach to professional challenges. It involves developing the ability to adapt to changing environments, maintain emotional stability under pressure, and transform potential setbacks into opportunities for growth.
For women in tech, mental toughness becomes an essential skill set that enables them to navigate complex workplace dynamics and overcome systemic barriers, while still maintaining professional momentum.
Handling imposter syndrome
Imposter syndrome is a common problem for high-performing individuals and especially for women in tech who can begin to doubt their capabilities or are made to feel inadequate in their role or the wider industry. Because of the demanding nature of this field, it’s easy for imposter syndrome to eat away at your confidence and self-esteem, which over time has a negative impact on your mental health.
It’s important to remind yourself that you have the skills and qualifications to be in your role—you’re where you are because of your professional merits and experience, so there’s no reason to feel inadequate. As the inspiring American television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes recently endorsed,
“People often say they feel like they’re an imposter, and someone’s going to find them out, but it doesn’t make sense to me. I belong in every room I’m in. If I got in the room then I belong in that room. I am there, aren’t I?”
Mistakes happen in any role and every industry, but don’t let those errors make you feel like you don’t belong in your position. Learning how to control imposter syndrome can have a huge impact on your mental health and confidence, so it’s worth focusing your energy on finding ways to overcome this for the future of your career and your mental wellbeing.
Learn to delegate
Effective delegation is one of the most crucial steps you can take to prevent burnout. In tech roles, where you’re often pulled in numerous directions at once for different projects, stress and overwhelm can quickly build up. But you don’t need to do everything alone. In fact, delegating and sharing the load not only reduces individual workload but develops team skills, and can improve the overall productivity of the team.
Identify the tasks that other people in the team can help with and that don’t require your unique set of skills to complete, and ensure you choose the right person for each task, without overwhelming them in the process. It’s also important that you provide clear instructions and support when delegating so that everyone knows what’s required of them, without feeling stressed or anxious.
Reframing failure
The concept of failure in tech careers often carries unnecessary negative weight. What we perceive as failures – whether a crashed system, a bug-filled deployment, or a missed deadline—are actually data points in our professional journey. Professional success in tech isn’t about avoiding failures, it’s about transforming our relationship with them.
When we encounter setbacks, our initial reaction might be self-doubt or frustration. By consciously shifting our perspective, we can extract powerful insights from these experiences. Instead of asking “What went wrong?” try asking “What did this teach me?” or “How can I use this experience to improve my approach?” This subtle shift in framing can transform a perceived failure from a source of stress into a catalyst for growth.
Consider maintaining a “lessons learned” journal where you document not just what went wrong, but what you discovered in the process. For example, if a project failed to meet its deadline, analyse the planning phase, identify bottlenecks, and document unexpected challenges. These insights become valuable reference points for future project management and team coordination.
Challenges as learning opportunities
Every technical challenge presents a unique opportunity to expand your skillset and deepen your understanding of your role. Rather than viewing challenges as obstacles to overcome, consider them as personally designed learning workshops that offer hands-on experience you couldn’t get any other way.
When facing a particularly difficult problem, break it down into smaller components and approach each as a learning opportunity. You might benefit from documenting your problem-solving process, such as your initial assumptions and how they evolved, different approaches you attempted and their outcomes, and collaboration insights you gained from working with team members.
This approach transforms challenging situations into structured learning experiences. Just as if you’re struggling with a new technology stack, each error message becomes a chance to deepen your understanding of the system architecture. Each debugging session offers insights into code patterns and best practices. The same approach can be used with interpersonal challenges too, strengthening your ability to cope the next time something similar happens.
Take a holistic approach to your mental wellbeing
Mental wellbeing in tech extends beyond the psychological strategies outlined above. It requires a comprehensive approach that integrates physical health, nutrition, exercise, and recovery practices. Mindfulness techniques, consistent sleep patterns, and deliberate stress management should be essential components of maintaining peak professional performance. We need to recognise that our mental health is an interconnected system involving physical, emotional, and cognitive elements.
Maintaining mental wellbeing in a demanding tech career is an ongoing process of self-discovery, resilience, and strategic personal development. For women in STEM, this journey involves more than just surviving professional challenges but transforming them into opportunities for growth, learning, and empowerment. The next time you face self-doubt remind yourself of the skills, dedication and strength that have brought you this far, and let those positives fuel your confidence moving forward.
Dakota Murphey
Dakota Murphey is an experienced freelance writer, who specialises in business and lifestyle topics ranging from digital trends to photography, sustainability and travel. She regularly contributes her insights and knowledge to a variety of digital publications.
