Ready to dominate your next interview, First name / Toasters? 

 

Of course, you are! But we know navigating the job hunt jungle can be a wild ride 🐯, especially for the women facing biases in the workplace, particularly in tech.

 

Time to break it down:

 

First, go full-on Nancy Drew 🕵🏽‍♀️ and investigate the company and the role you're applying for—and we don't mean skimming over a few Glassdoor reviews written by some disgruntled, whiny tech bro. Try to nab some face-time with a current or former employee and come armed with questions (and FYI, it’s good etiquette to pay for their coffee ☕️). You'll want to wrap your head around their mission, culture, and the products and services they offer. Not only will this demonstrate you’ve done your homework, but it'll also help you discover if the company vibes with your values.

 

Next, channel your inner detective and dissect that job description to understand precisely what the company is looking for. We already know you're fierce—now let's make sure your interviewer is in on the secret by showing up prepared:

Now, let's concoct some questions to ask the interviewer. But we're not talking dull, run-of-the-mill inquiries—spice things up a bit and make sure they remember you! Ask about the company's culture, future plans, and team structure. You want to ensure this is the right company for you, so don't be afraid to as those hard-hitting questions (like, “How does your company actively support diversity, inclusion, and work-life balance, particularly for parents?”).

 

Finally, don't forget to fire off a thank-you email after the interview. Making reference to something that stood out to you in the interview will help you leave a lasting impression. A thank-you email can go a long way in showing that you're the perfect fit for the role.

Toast helps you do the work you want for the pay you deserve 💕.

 

Last month, we launched two additions to our membership offering:

 

Culture Corners 👩🏾‍💻 offers Toast members exclusive facetime with our partner organizations, giving you a behind-the-scenes look into what it’s like to work for some of the coolest, most groundbreaking tech companies across Canada. Chat directly with talent acquisition specialists, and ask all your burning questions about workplace atmosphere, company culture, and the desired qualifications for open roles.

 

We know that mentorship is the secret sauce to success for women in business—that's why our Career Coaching 👭 program connects Toast members with a dedicated mentor in a buzzing 3:1 forum-style setting. Get ready to receive customized mentorship and support that will help you nail those interviews and slay your new role. Soon, you’ll be doing the work you want, when it works for you. 

 

We can’t wait to help you get that bread 🍞

Get ready to Meet Cool Women from your local Toast community (and do cool Sh*t, obvi!). 

 

Toast events are happening across Canada in April, and you're invited! Check out your city's Slack channel in our members' community for more details or to register!

Check out the latest roles with Toast partners! 

 

Product Manager: Set product direction and manage product lifecycle. Through research and data analysis drive the product vision and be an evangelist for your product area. You are the voice of the customer as you translate market opportunities into business goals for the organization.

📍: Ottawa, hybrid.
💰: TBD

 

Database Administrator: Provide first and second-level support and participate in the architecture, deployment, management, and support of mission-critical infrastructure. Core competencies include troubleshooting, analysis, problem-solving, teamwork, results-driven, decision-making, and communication skills.

📍: Ottawa, hybrid.
💰: TBD

 

Data Platform Developer: Design and implement data pipelines, develop tools to monitor health, analyze existing data pipelines, and provide mentorship to junior talent. Requirements include experience with SQL, Python, and data orchestration, transformation, and containerization technologies, as well as familiarity with Apache Kafka and Apache Spark.
📍: Calgary, hybrid.
💰: TBD

 

Front-end Web Developer: Improve the visual experience and accessibility of our website by implementing new features, functionalities, and SEO best practices. Collaborate with Visual Designers and Backend Developers to optimize the execution and speed-up coding process, ensuring the website is responsive on all devices. High level of proficiency in HTML, SCSS, and JS, and deep understanding of mobile responsive development techniques and SEO methodologies.

📍: Calgary, hybrid.
💰: TBD

 

VP, Product Engineer: Lead a high-powered team, focus on staff development, and foster an environment where developers can grow and exhibit loyalty. Experience in developing and delivering features for a technology company, identifying opportunities and issues, and translating them into actionable plans for product development. Responsible for refining the product vision, interacting with stakeholders, maintaining a deep understanding of customer needs, promoting continuous improvement, and ensuring timely delivery of quality code while meeting revenue and customer satisfaction goals.

📍: Calgary, hybrid.
💰: TBD

 

QA Developer: develop and improve artificial lift optimization software while working both independently and collaboratively with the team to ensure a successful product launch. You will be responsible for designing and executing testing strategies for web, mobile, API, and hardware components, utilizing automation tools such as Selenium and Postman, and integrating with APIs, databases, and event-streaming technologies.

📍: Calgary, hybrid.
💰: TBD

 

Machine Learning Engineer: Contribute to cutting-edge model design, development of new training techniques, and training large-scale models on massive datasets. Proficiency in Python, ML frameworks such as Tensorflow, distributed training, Transformers, communication, and problem-solving skills are required, and experience with GPUs/CUDA and TPUs or top-tier paper publications is a bonus.
📍: Remote-first
💰: $110-150k

 

Intermediate Backend Developer: Building the core backend architecture at a HealthTech Startup that helps thousands of patients a month, while being thoughtful about data structuring and analytics. Capable in Ruby on Rails with a desire to learn. GraphQL, Github, Actions, PostgreSQL, and/or Heroku.
📍: Remote
💰: $80-120k

Jr. DevOps Developer: Continuously learn and build your skillset while working on numerous ongoing and new projects. Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD workflows across interdisciplinary teams, build and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and stay current on the latest industry trends and technologies related to cloud computing and container orchestration. Technical degree in computer science or a related field, experience with Linux operating systems, version control tools, cloud computing platforms, containerization technologies, networking, and security principles, as well as excellent communication and teamwork skills.
📍: Remote
💰: TBD

 

Know someone who would absolutely love these jobs? Get a $500 referral bonus 

for each successful candidate you send our way. It's a win-win-win-win (you win, your friend wins, we win, our partner's win—you get the idea!) 💰!

Toast partners have committed to ensuring gender equity in their workspaces, and they’re looking for the best possible candidates in roles across sales, software engineering, data analytics, and more—that could be you!

 

All you have to do is share your info below and we’ll check in any time our partners have a role that could be a good fit. No payment required.

Hi, I'm Jasmine! 

 

🎓 Graduated my undergrad from UVIC with a BSc in Computer Science and Psychology. I started as a Psychology major and barely touched the computer before adding the computer science portion of my degree (I'm a big advocate for trying things outside of your comfort zone!). During my university career I was an iOS developer, part of tons of clubs, worked over 8 different jobs and the best one was being campus tour guide. 

 

💼 Immediately post grad I worked for a subsidiary of the Canadian Govt in technical operations, and quickly realized the government tech realm was not as fast paced as I would have hoped. I moved to a start-up and worked in influencer eCommerce space, which was insanely fast paced. It was at this company that I met an incredible mentor who heard about my background and career aspirations. She said "You should totally be in Product Management" and I said "✨What's Product Management?✨". From there, I took a certification and was so lucky to have an incredibly supportive manager who gave me more strategic opportunities aligned more in the product space. 

 

💻 Now, I am a Product Manager at Ticketmaster for the Mobile App! My everyday is focused around how to make the fan experience in app better and better. Since I had a bit of an unconventional start to product, I definitely feel the imposter syndrome and have been living by "faking it till I make it". I've only had male managers and have definitely gotten feedback about my "tone" 🙄 in previous companies. Trying my hand in the product realm, I think the biggest challenges have been a combination of decision fatigue and questioning am I making the right choice? After being in my role for a year, my confidence in myself, my skills and my ability to be a kick-ass product manager has absolutely grown mostly by getting the reps in. Making fast decisions and some of them weren't right, but I learned.

 

💡 What I've learned? This is hard. Looking for work is hard. Finding out what you want to do is hard. Being a woman of colour in this field is hard. As much as it is hard, the times I've been the most out of my comfort zone have been the times I've grown the most. Prioritize yourself and your needs. I am 5 years post grad and been at 3 different companies and tripled my salary. As soon as I felt like I wasn't learning and I wasn't getting closer to what I wanted to be doing, I looked for another opportunity. Lastly, Swifties are THE most dedicated fan base. 

 

💖 My advice for those looking for their first PM roles: use a job tracker (I used teal)! I had a method where I would only add jobs to the tracker during the week to keep my excitement and apply to them on the weekends to keep morale up. Transferrable skills! You probably already have tons of product adjacent skills, work on marketing yourself as a product person. If you don't feel like you have the skills, work on building them (Feel free to reach out, I have some certifications, and build ship programs I researched when first trying to transition). Finally, don't give up. I was looking for about 8/9 months before finding my current position in an economic climate that wasn't as challenging as it is now. You will cry over positions, let yourself mourn. All you need is one yes and one person to believe in you.