I said I wasn’t tech savvy—then I rebuilt the website...

How to beat the bias and earn like the Steves 💰

TL;DR: The tech confidence gap isn't just perception—it's costing women real money and opportunities. Research shows women often underestimate their technical abilities by 30-50% compared to men with identical skills. This undermines both early career advancement and midlife pivots. The solution isn't learning every new tool, but developing strategic tech fluency in high-value areas that signal competence. Most training approaches fail because they focus on features rather than business applications. This issue breaks down exactly which tech skills translate directly to higher compensation and how to develop them efficiently.

Hey there 👋

In a 2010 job interview for an executive role, I was asked about my weaknesses. Without missing a beat, I said: ‘I’m not very tech savvy.’

I got the job anyway—my predecessor couldn’t even send an email. But what happened next completely changed how I saw myself.

Just months into my tenure, disaster struck. Our entire website got wiped out. The server crashed with no backup. Panic and chaos ensued. Our IT person, already an anxious type, was paralyzed with indecision.

Instead of waiting for a rescue, I remembered the Wayback Machine and started digging. Working together with our IT guy, we reconstructed the entire site from archived versions. Along the way, I fixed formatting errors, updated photos, and made improvements I'd noticed we needed. All things I had never done before—tasks that, if you'd asked me, I would have sworn I couldn't do without hiring a specialist.

Fast forward to a period of unemployment years later. I decided to create my own website from scratch. I thought, "If I could rebuild an entire website during a crisis, I can certainly build one now!" With tutorials and some help center questions, I did exactly that. Now, I'm the person friends ping when they need to know how to make a table in Google Docs.

The realization hit me: it was all about mindset. I'm Gen X — I started life with a dial phone, manual typewriter, and record player. Yet somehow I made the switch to iPhone, MacBook, and Spotify without much struggle. The limitation wasn't my ability; it was my perception of my ability.

What I thought was a personal weakness turned out to be a common pattern, and in the years since I've seen the same story play out again and again. The tech confidence gap is real, and it's costing women at every career stage.

Original artwork for Still Ticking by Victoria Aronoff. Find her at @stupidslothcards & Etsy

The Problem Pattern: The Digital Confidence Tax

Research out of Stanford University reveals that women consistently underestimate their technical abilities by 30-50% compared to men with identical skills.

This confidence gap is starkly quantified in a Harvard study of computer programmers. Women in their first year rated their skills at just 2.6 out of 5, while men with identical abilities scored themselves at 3.3. Even more telling? Women only began rating themselves highly after eight years of experience — despite showing equal competence from day one.

The pattern shows up across multiple fields. A comprehensive study from the University of Pittsburgh found that women engineering students consistently rated their abilities lower than men in engineering, mathematics, and physics—despite earning equal or higher grades in most of these courses. In fact, women outperformed men in every single mathematics course but still reported lower confidence in their math abilities.

The "confidence tax" manifests in several clear patterns:

• The Impostor Spiral: Believing you're "not a tech person" becomes self-reinforcing. You avoid technical tasks, get less practice, and fall further behind.

• The Perfection Trap: Waiting until you've mastered a tool completely before using it professionally (while men routinely use tools they're still learning).

• The Feature Fixation: Focusing on knowing every feature instead of mastering the high-visibility functions that signal competence.

• The Apologetic Preface: Starting presentations with "I'm not very technical, but..." which immediately undermines your credibility.

• The Delegation Default: Habitually passing technical tasks to others, missing opportunities to build valuable skills.

This isn't just about perception. A 2023 Harvard Business Review study found that perceived technical competence was the single strongest predictor of who received stretch assignments with promotion potential. And research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how significant this issue is — the confidence gap directly translates to a measurable pay gap, even when controlling for GPA, degree type, and technical expertise.

When self-belief drops, salary often follows (though fortunately not in my case!).

How Most People Try to Solve It (And Why It Fails)

The standard approaches to building tech skills are fundamentally flawed:

• The Total Immersion Method: Taking comprehensive courses covering every feature of Excel, PowerPoint, or data visualization tools. This leads to information overload without practical application.

• The Just-In-Time Panic: Frantically Googling how to perform specific functions only when absolutely necessary, creating a stressed relationship with technology.

• The "Get My Kid to Help" Approach: Delegating tech tasks to younger colleagues or family members, which reinforces the narrative that tech is "not for you."

• The Outdated Credential Chase: Pursuing certificates in specific tools rather than focusing on transferable concepts and high-value applications.

These approaches fail because they treat tech skills as an all-or-nothing proposition rather than targeting the specific capabilities that drive career advancement.

A Strategic Approach: Tech Fluency That Pays

Instead of trying to learn everything, focus on developing strategic tech fluency—the ability to confidently apply the right technical tools to solve business problems that matter.

Here's what works:

1. Master the High-ROI Basics First

The reality is that 80% of the career advancement value comes from 20% of possible tech skills. Start here:

• Data storytelling: Learn to create one professional-looking chart that clearly shows a trend or comparison. This single skill signals analytical thinking.

• Document design: Master basic formatting that makes your work look polished and intentional (consistent headings, proper alignment, strategic white space).

• Meeting management: Learn to confidently screen share, move between applications, and troubleshoot basic issues without apology.

Once you've mastered these, you can build on this foundation.

2. Change Your Tech Identity Language

The research is clear on this point: at every GPA level and across all technical majors, women have lower or equal levels of self-efficacy compared to men with identical credentials. This isn't about actual ability — it's about perception. And interestingly, researchers found that 33% of the influence that self-efficacy has on salary is explained simply by whether women enter technical jobs at all. Your tech identity quite literally determines which doors you open.

The words you use matter tremendously:

Instead of: "I'm terrible with technology."
Try: "I'm selective about which tools I invest time in learning."

Instead of: "Sorry, I'm not tech-savvy..."
Try: "Let me show you the approach I took to solve this."

Instead of: "Can someone else handle the technical part?"
Try: "I'd like to take lead on this so I can strengthen my skills in this area."

3. Use the "Learn One, Share One" Method

For each new technical skill you learn:

• Immediately teach it to someone else

• Document the steps for your future reference

• Look for an opportunity to apply it in a visible project

This reinforces your learning, builds your reputation as someone with technical competence, and cements your new skill through practical application.

4. Create Tech Confidence Triggers

Develop specific routines that signal to your brain it's time to engage with technology confidently:

• Have a specific workspace setup for technical tasks

• Pair it a ritual that pumps you up (for example, here’s a great playlist, or save the Reese’s just for tech tasks 😜)

• Keep a "tech wins" document to review before challenging tasks

These psychological anchors help override the "I'm bad at this" narrative when you face technical challenges.

5. Use AI as Your Private Tutor

AI tools are revolutionary for building tech skills because they:

• Explain concepts at exactly your level

• Allow you to ask embarrassing questions without judgment

• Provide (literal) step-by-step guidance in the moment

• Help troubleshoot specific problems you encounter

Try this prompt: "I need to [specific task] in [specific program]. I would rate my skills as beginner. Can you walk me through this step by step, explaining what each step accomplishes?"

👉 Power Practice for the Week

• Monday: Identify one technical task you typically avoid or delegate. Write down specifically what about it intimidates you.

• Tuesday: Find a 10-minute tutorial on exactly that task (YouTube is perfect for this). Watch it without trying to implement yet, or ask ChatGPT for one.

• Wednesday: Try the task yourself, referring back to the tutorial as needed. Document your process as you go.

• Thursday: Look for an opportunity to use this new skill in your actual work, even in a small way.

• Friday: Share what you learned—teach someone else or post a simple “how I did this” note.

• Weekend: Reflect. What shifted? Did your confidence rise? Did others respond differently to your tech leadership?

POLL

The Short of It ⚡

• Tech confidence isn't innate—it's built through strategic practice and identity shifts

• The skills that advance careers aren't comprehensive technical knowledge, but targeted abilities that solve business problems

• Changing your language around technology immediately shifts how others perceive your competence

• Learning in public and teaching others accelerates both skill development and recognition

• AI tools can serve as your personal tech tutor, allowing you to build skills privately before deploying them publicly

With you all the way,

- Kara

P.S. Next week's edition might be the most timely one yet: while men are quickly adopting AI tools to boost their productivity, women are more than 20% less likely to use AI for professional tasks. Sound familiar? It's the tech confidence gap all over again, but with even bigger stakes. I'll share a straightforward framework for getting started with AI, including specific prompts for three high-value workplace tasks that will save you hours each week. Because missing this technological shift isn't an option for your career.