Mady Dewey’s Advice for Breaking Into the Tech Industry for Non-Engineers

The SI Swimsuit model is head of product marketing at a startup.

Mady Dewey.Ivan Apfel/Getty Images

Mady Dewey, a 2023 SI Swimsuit rookie, is defying stereotypes about what it means to be a tech entrepreneur. The California native and San Francisco resident is the former cofounder of social media app, Herd, which she created with the goal of providing women and non-binary individuals with a metrics-free and comparison-free online space.

The 27-year-old is now the head of product marketing at Try Your Best, a platform that offers brands resources and opportunities to engage and connect with their communities.

During Miami Swim Week, where the Swim Search winner walked the catwalk for the SI Swimsuit Runway Show, Dewey was asked her best advice for someone who wants to explore a career in the tech industry without possessing an engineering background.

“That’s such a good question. I get this question a lot. I think people assume that unless you’re a software engineer, tech is not available to you,” Dewey began. “But there are so many roles that are really closely associated with technical-facing roles. And there’s also a lot of roles that support the wider tech industry. And we need more women in all of those roles.”

She added that in her work, she works extremely closely with engineers and product teams to help them understand “what to build [and] when to build it,” as well as how to share the product with their target audiences in the most effective way.

“If you have a skill, whether it’s storytelling, whether it’s marketing, whether it’s sales, you can always align yourself with the product and tech and you should not feel intimidated by the industry because we need more women in those conversations,” the Socially Well podcast host continued. “I bring a perspective to the table in my mostly all male team that they wouldn’t have without me and [that] helps us build better products.”

Dewey also advises women interested in breaking into tech to simply to look for peers to learn from.

“So my biggest piece of advice is to look for those surrounding careers and don’t feel afraid to take the leap and look for other women in those roles if you can, and talk to them and seek advice from them,” the former Discord product marketing manager continued.

Fellow SI Swimsuit rookie Lauren Chan, who has pivoted careers through the past decade as a clothing entrepreneur, plus-size fashion beat reporter, fashion features editor and model, agreed with Dewey’s message.

“That’s such good advice because I really love your point about [how] there’s a way to tech through multiple avenues, through multiple interests,” Chan said. “If you love fashion, there’s fashion tech, if you love healthcare and helping people, there’s med tech, etc, etc.”

Check out Dewey’s Dews and Don’ts column for more tech, lifestyle and career advice here.

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