Telecom remains a highly male-dominated field. Despite a stronger gender balance than the larger tech industry, the climb into leadership is still disproportionately narrow for women in the world of telecommunications.
While the gap culminates in the c-suite, the lived realities that reinforce it surface much earlier. Reporting across construction, installation and field operations, a familiar pattern emerges: credibility often remains in question long after the skills are there.
One premise technician, Claire Mudd, described a homeowner asking to reschedule the install with a male technician. Britni Cuington, another prem tech in Texas, emphasized the role of union backing to be taken seriously. Florida-based construction foreman Allison Matthews saw sweat equity as the way in.
Beyond technical training and field experience, learning how to navigate the social dynamics of the industry became another skill in itself.
In her recent book, Zina Hassel — a telecom veteran of nearly four decades — describes it as having an “armadillo skin.” She’s navigated many corners of the industry, seeing firsthand the pressures that shape careers beyond just technical ability. Tough but flexible, the unique skin of the armadillo teaches a resiliency that knows both when to absorb pressure and when to push back.
“Resilience in telecom is not about hardening yourself emotionally to everything,” Hassel told Broadband Nation. “It’s about learning when to absorb pressure and when to push back strategically. Early in your career, you will likely be underestimated, interrupted, or placed in support roles even when you bring equal or greater expertise. That’s where awareness matters.”
Outside the technical skills, understanding the "coordination-heavy, detail-heavy and customer-sensitive" nature of the work is just as important. All of which relies on being able to effectively communicate under pressure, said Hassel. “Being able to translate technical issues into business impact is often what determines whether a project succeeds or fails."
And for frontline workers, that communication includes the homeowners and renters they work with in addition to coworkers.
“Customer advocacy is another overlooked strength,” Hassel added. “Understanding client needs and aligning internal teams to deliver against them is a core driver of success in this industry. You do not need to be an engineer to thrive in telecom. You need to be someone who can connect systems, people, and outcomes reliably.”
Systems and self-advocacy
Resilience, Hassel argues, isn't only a matter of enduring difficult moments. It's about developing habits that make hard work visible, more deeply understanding the larger business (not just the trade skill), and creating opportunities for the people who come after.
“In practice, resilience looks like three things: documenting your contributions so your work is visible, speaking up when credit is misattributed, and not internalizing setbacks as personal failure,” she detailed. “At the same time, it means choosing your battles. Some moments require direct confrontation; others require patience and timing.”
The key piece, as Hassel puts it, is not to allow work to fade into the background.
"If you designed it, led it, or solved it, you own that outcome and should be recognized for it,” she said.
But that broader perspective, she argues, doesn't end with individual recognition. It also comes from understanding how the larger system operates.
One of the biggest shifts in her own career came when she moved from being a customer of telecom services to becoming a supplier — a transition that revealed the operational constraints behind every delivery timeline. “As a customer, you focus on outcomes and expectations. As a provider, you see the infrastructure, constraints and decision chains behind those outcomes,” she explained, and understanding both is a big advantage.
While it helped her to anticipate the frustrations of her clients and up solutions that actually grasped the operational realities, Hassel also saw the way it allowed her to empathize in both directions: waiting for a solution — and all that went into actually providing one.
When she looks at frontline workers today, she applies a similar lens for understanding the work in its entirety.
“Telecom remains the foundational infrastructure for everything,” she reflected, from healthcare to remote work. “Even as the industry evolves and merges more closely with technology, the underlying principles of connectivity still matter,” she continued. In that transformation, she's witnessed the understanding of legacy systems fade.
“As experienced field technicians retire, that knowledge gap is widening,” she argued. “Understanding both legacy systems and modern delivery models creates a powerful bridge skill set. Professionals who can translate between old infrastructure and new technologies will remain highly valuable.”
The core of Hassel’s advice is to widen the aperture — to understand the whole and the history to positively influence the future. “Success in this industry should not be individual; it should be generational. If you can help someone else move forward, even in a small way, do it,” she advised. "That could mean sharing knowledge, making an introduction, or simply encouraging someone to speak up in a room where they might otherwise stay silent.
She hopes the progress she's seen throughout her career can translate into stronger pathways for the next generation of women entering telecom.
"The industry only improves when experience is passed on intentionally,” concluded Hassel. “If each person brings at least one other person forward, the entire field becomes stronger, more balanced and more sustainable over time."
Interested in exploring job opportunities within the industry? Check out Broadband Nation's jobs board, training portal and Learning Center.