The Sacred Why Behind Our Work: Reclaiming Purpose in Tech's Fast Lane
Two men and a woman at a working technical meeting with the woman pointing to an image on a large monitor
A story about remembering what matters most
Last year, as an internal coach at my former employer, I was on a coaching call with a senior architect. She'd reached out because she felt stuck—technically brilliant, steadily moving up in her responsibilities, but feeling increasingly disconnected from her work.
"I used to love solving problems," she told me, her voice carrying that particular exhaustion I recognized too well. "But now it feels like I'm just optimizing metrics. Revenue up 23%, user engagement climbing, technical debt piling up... but when did we stop talking about the people our code actually serves?"
Her question made me stop and think, not because I didn’t know what she meant, but because I knew exactly what she was feeling. Because somewhere between sprint planning and stakeholder updates, between scaling challenges and market pressures, I had also lost sight of the purpose behind my work —which is what led me to leave corporate tech.
The Story We Tell Ourselves
In tech, we're taught to move fast and break things. To iterate, optimize, and ship. The narrative is seductive: we're building the future, disrupting industries, changing the world one line of code at a time.
But here's what that story misses: the heart of why most of us chose this path in the first place.
I've worked with dozens and dozens of women in technology through my coaching practice, and their origin stories share a common thread. They didn't get into tech for the stock options or the ping pong tables. They were drawn by possibility—the possibility of solving problems that matter, of making information accessible, of connecting people across impossible distances, of democratizing opportunities that were once reserved for the few.
They entered this field carrying something precious: the understanding that technology, at its core, is about serving the highest good. This possibility of doing good is our sacred why.
The Feminine Wisdom We've Forgotten
There's ancient wisdom in the way women approach problem-solving; wisdom that the tech industry desperately needs to remember. Where traditional business culture often asks "How fast can we scale?" feminine wisdom asks "How do we scale with intention?" Where the default question is "Can we build it?" the deeper question becomes "Should we build it, and for whom?"
This isn't about gender—it's about bringing back the parts of leadership and innovation that we've systematically undervalued. The ability to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously. The instinct to ask not just "What's the impact on our metrics?" but "What's the impact on the community?" The courage to slow down long enough to ensure we're building the right thing for the right reasons, not just building it right.
When we reconnect with our why—when we remember that business at its highest form is about improving the human condition and the state of the world—everything changes. Our code becomes more thoughtful. Our products become more inclusive. Our companies become forces for the highest good in the world.
The Risk of Speaking Truth
But here's the challenge: advocating for this perspective often feels risky. In cultures that prioritize speed over sustainability, speaking up about ethics can feel like career suicide. Questioning whether we're building the right features for the right reasons can be dismissed as "not being strategic enough."
I've watched brilliant women silence themselves rather than voice concerns about products that felt misaligned with their values. I've seen engineers quietly fix bias in algorithms without making noise about it or worse–letting it slide–afraid that calling attention to the problem would somehow reflect poorly on their technical skills and jeopardize their futures.
This silence is costing us everything. Because when we don't speak up, when we don't bring our full wisdom to the table, we're not just limiting our own growth—we're limiting technology's potential to truly serve the world.
Your Voice Matters More Than You Know
That architect sent me a message three days after our call. She'd started a working group focused on user empathy in product development. Not a formal initiative approved by leadership, just a small group of engineers who wanted to reconnect their work with its deeper purpose.
Within a month, they'd identified three features that would significantly improve accessibility for users with disabilities. Within two months, they'd influenced the roadmap of two major products. Not through politics or persuasion, but by consistently asking the right questions and creating space for others to remember why they chose this work.
That's the power of speaking up. Not with grand gestures or risky confrontation, but with steady, consistent advocacy for what matters most.
Returning to the Sacred Why
Every line of code you write is connected to a human story. Every product decision you influence touches real lives. Every voice you add to a design discussion carries the potential to make technology more humane.
Your why—the reason you chose this path—isn't separate from your technical expertise. It's the foundation that makes your expertise meaningful.
The business of business, at its highest form, has always been about improving the state of the world. Creating solutions that matter. Building bridges where there were once barriers. Using our gifts in service of something larger than ourselves.
This is particularly true in technology, where our creations can touch millions of lives in ways we may never fully understand.
A Call to Courageous Action
So I'm asking you to do something that might feel uncomfortable: remember your why. Not just intellectually, but viscerally. Remember the moment you realized that technology could be a force for good. Remember the problem you first wanted to solve, the people you first wanted to help.
And then—here's the courageous part—let that why guide your next conversation. Your next code review. Your next product discussion. Speak up when something doesn't align with your deeper purpose, even when it feels risky.
The tech industry needs your voice. Not just your technical skills, but your wisdom. Your questions. Your insistence that we can build technology that truly serves humanity.
The future of technology isn't just about what we can build—it's about what we choose to build, and why. And that choice, more often than not, starts with one woman brave enough to ask the questions that matter most.
The conversation continues. I'd love to hear about why you chose this path and —reply and share your story.