Women in tech continues to see growing momentum in Southeast Asia. Today, women in tech in the region are not only taking charge in leadership roles but are also growing their presence in technical roles.

Women in Tech

According to statistics, women make up 27% of tech workers in the U.S. and only 22% in Europe and Asia-Pacific. However, they are increasing their influence in specialised fields. Currently, women hold 22% of AI roles and 12% of cybersecurity positions and these figures continues to only increase every year.

In Malaysia, PIKOM’s latest Economic & Digital Job Market Outlook flags specialised roles like cloud architects as a priority demand area, with salary increases already recorded across levels in 2025 and upward momentum expected into 2026. But how much of these roles are actually taken up by women in the industry in Malaysia?

In conjunction with International Women’s Day on 8th March, CRN Asia caught up with Khoo Sher Lyn, a Technical Specialist at Exabytes Group, a Malaysian-based solutions provider. Exabytes is actively involved in Malaysia’s cloud skills ecosystem and workforce development efforts, with Sher Lyn being one of the few female technical specialists in the country.

Sher Lyn shares her career journey with the region’s leading Al, business app, cloud, digital and e-commerce solutions provider as well as the importance of having more female representation in the tech industry.

Can you tell us a bit about your journey in the tech industry and what do you enjoy most about working in the tech industry?

I started my career as an intern in a call center support role. My transition into tech accelerated when my manager moved to the product team and sponsored my move, opening the door for significant career growth.

My passion for the industry was sparked by my first project with an F&B company. They needed to cut costs by retiring a custom mobile app used for maintenance. I helped them migrate their entire workflow to Lark-building a comprehensive system that covered trip planning, inventory management, daily sales tracking, and customer feedback. That project made me realise that with the right tool, you can turn abstract ideas into reality while optimising costs and maximising efficiency. I also discovered a love for learning the specific “jargon” and operational intricacies of different industries.

Currently, my work involves troubleshooting complex issues and “solutioning.” My clients are experts in their fields but often need help translating their operational needs into digital workflows. I act as the bridge between their business goals and the technical implementation.

The most satisfying part of my job is the problem-solving aspect-taking a client’s rough idea and turning it into a working reality that makes their daily business smoother and more efficient.

Why do you feel representation matters in practice in the industry?

Representation matters in practice because it changes who feels they ‘belong’ in the room and that directly affects participation, confidence and retention. When people see someone like them doing the job, it reduces self-selection out of the pathway. It’s not just symbolic; it makes it easier for newer talent to ask questions, take up space, and persist through the steep learning curve.

In technical work, representation also improves outcomes because diverse teams tend to challenge assumptions and spot blind spots earlier which matters in cloud environments where reliability, security and user impact are non-negotiable. It’s less about optics and more about building stronger teams and a bigger, more sustainable talent pool.

With demand for specialised digital skills accelerating, including cloud, expanding and retaining the talent pool isn’t optional anymore, it’s capacity.

Why is “job-ready cloud talent” important in today’s industry?

Job-ready cloud talent means someone who can contribute in a real environment, not just complete a course. In practical terms, job-ready people can work with cloud fundamentals confidently, apply basic security and governance habits, troubleshoot with structure, document clearly, communicate well with stakeholders, and take ownership of tasks even small ones in real projects.

It’s important today because the market demand is clearly moving toward specialised roles like cloud architects and cloud-related capabilities, and organisations are under pressure to execute. Malaysia’s job market outlook continues to flag demand for specialised digital roles including cloud, and salary movements reflect competition for these skills.

So job-ready talent isn’t just about hiring faster, it’s about reducing project risk, improving reliability, and helping teams deliver consistently as cloud adoption scales.

What are the gaps new hires and teams face in the industry? Can mentorship help with this?

Recently I have interns in my team. One of the most common gaps I see is that fresh graduates are often excellent at technical execution-they can complete assigned tasks perfectly-but they struggle to ensure those tasks bring actual value to the business.

In university, success is often about getting the ‘right answer. In the industry, success is about solving the ‘right problem. Learning to shift from simple task completion to providing solutioning that has business value is a skill that only comes with real-world working experience.

This is frequently a confidence issue. New hires often hesitate to look beyond the instructions or challenge a requirement because they fear being wrong. They stick to the safety of the ‘task’ rather than venturing into ‘solutioning’ because they do not yet trust their own judgment in a business context.

Because this business instinct takes time to develop, mistakes are inevitable. Even with advice, new hires often need to navigate these situations personally to truly grasp the lesson. That is why effective mentorship in my team focuses on providing a safety net. My manager always emphasises: ‘Everyone makes mistakes; that is how we learn. We ensure we know that we are a team, and we have each other’s backs to support them through that learning curve.

How do you contribute to women in tech enablement?

To put this into practice, I believe in making learning engaging. I frequently organise small, scenario-based challenges for my team to test their knowledge and agility.

These aren’t just tests; they are teachable moments. Once the challenge is done, I use the results to mentor them on how to simplify their thought processes and demonstrate faster, more effective ways to solve the problem.

Beyond the team, I actively share my experiences from customer engagements and industry events. By discussing how different industries value different things, I help junior women in tech understand the broader business landscape. This exposure helps them move beyond just ‘technical support’ to becoming well-rounded consultants who understand the diverse needs of the market.

Lastly, with Al taking over more roles, do you think that this will have an impact on how women view the tech industry as well?

Al will definitely change how people view tech, including women, but I don’t see it as ‘Al replacing people’ as much as ‘Al changing what good work looks like. The value shifts toward people who can combine technical literacy with problem-solving, judgement, communication, and responsible implementation.

Globally, employers are signaling that Al and data skills are rising in importance, alongside cybersecurity and tech literacy but also skills like creative thinking, resilience, curiosity, and lifelong learning. That mix actually creates opportunities for more people to enter tech through different pathways, not just one traditional route.

At the same time, we should be honest that Al will transform some job tasks more than others, and some reports suggest women’s work can be more exposed to automation in certain occupations which means we should respond by widening access to upskilling and ensuring women are part of the Al-enabled future, not pushed to the margins.

So my view is Al makes enablement more urgent, not less. If women see clear pathways where learning converts into real roles and growth, tech becomes more attractive, not more intimidating.

Full article from CRN Asia.

Kuala Lumpur, 2 March 2026 – As Malaysia accelerates into a new phase of cloud adoption, the definition of “talent” is undergoing a critical shift. According to Annie Ong, Chief People Officer of Exabytes Group, the conversation is no longer about awareness of cloud technologies, it is about execution capability.

For years, organisations focused on understanding what cloud is and why it matters. Heading into 2026, that baseline is assumed. What employers now demand is operational depth: professionals who can run, secure and troubleshoot live cloud environments where downtime affects customers, revenue and brand trust.

Recent data from PIKOM reinforces this shift. Its Economic & Digital Job Market Outlook shows rising demand for specialised roles such as cloud architects, with salary growth of 10-12% in senior and managerial positions in 2025 and continued upward pressure expected into 2026. These figures reflect more than wage inflation, they signal a market that is prioritising depth of capability over general IT hiring.

From Cloud Adoption to Cloud Operations

Malaysia’s entry into a new era of cloud operations is visible in enterprise migration trends. As organisations move mission-critical workloads into local infrastructure such as the AWS Malaysia Region, cloud stops being experimental. It becomes the backbone of reliability, business continuity and customer experience.

In this operational phase, “job readiness” is no longer conceptual. It is behavioural. Employers are hiring individuals who can operate responsibly in live environments, where systems are interconnected, time-sensitive and often unforgiving.

The Missing Middle Between Training and Employability

Interest in cloud careers remains strong. Certifications are widely pursued and undeniably valuable. They demonstrate discipline and foundational knowledge. However, the gap often emerges between certification and accountability.

Training environments are controlled. Production environments are not.

In real-world systems, failures cascade. Permissions break access. Networking misconfigurations ripple across services. In these moments, confidence must match knowledge. Many early-career candidates understand what a cloud service does but struggle with what to do when something fails under pressure.

According to Ong, the gap is not a lack of learners. It is the “missing middle” between training and employability, structured responsibility, safe exposure to real problems and guided accountability.

Certified vs Job-Ready: What Employers Actually Look For

In interviews, the difference between certified and job-ready candidates becomes clear.

Job-ready cloud professionals:

• Demonstrate independent problem-solving

• Apply a security-first mindset by default

• Communicate clearly under pressure

• Document actions and decisions consistently

• Show cost-awareness in architecture decisions

• Take ownership of bounded tasks during incidents

The most common gaps are not advanced coding issues. Instead, they involve underdeveloped fundamentals: weak networking basics, limited security awareness, reactive troubleshooting habits and insufficient understanding of business impact.

These foundational behaviours prevent downtime and build trust in live environments, making them more valuable than theoretical mastery alone.

The Risk of a Dependency Trap

If Malaysia’s local pipeline does not mature quickly, reliance on imported expertise for specialised cloud roles could increase. While international talent is valuable, sustainable national capability depends on developing domestic operators at speed.

Malaysia possesses strong foundational talent. The question is velocity — how quickly learners can be converted into competent operators before global competition intensifies further.

Women in Cloud: A Capacity Strategy, Not Just Diversity

Ong argues that expanding women’s participation in cloud roles should be viewed as an economic capacity issue, not merely a diversity initiative.

Women represent a substantial portion of Malaysia’s potential workforce. In a market where specialised digital roles remain in high demand and salary competition is rising, expanding the effective talent pool strengthens national resilience without lowering standards.

Where gaps appear among women entering cloud pathways is rarely motivation. More often, it is a lack of structured clarity, what to learn first, how to practise safely and how to demonstrate credible proof of readiness.

Structured mentorship, staged milestones and early exposure to real responsibilities accelerate confidence and progression.

What Actually Moves the Needle – Including for SMEs

Meaningful conversion into job-ready cloud talent requires supports that function in ordinary weeks — not only during public campaigns.

Effective strategies include:

• Clear skill pathways with visible milestones

• Mentorship tied to accountability

• Early real-work exposure with guardrails

• Protected learning time within working hours

• Transparent skills matrices for progression

For SMEs, the solution need not be expensive. Role clarity, guided ramp-up tasks and milestone-based certification sponsorship can create measurable progression without large budgets. Strategic certification, aligned to role requirements and supported by hands-on labs, delivers  more impact than blanket “cert everything” approaches.

The Next 12 Months Will Define 2026

To avoid a cloud skills bottleneck by 2026, three shifts are urgent:

1. Hire for proof, not perfection – Evaluate reasoning, behavioural readiness and portfolio evidence.

2. Build the bridge – Formalise mentorship, structured exposure and protected learning time.

3. Measure outcomes, not participation – Track conversion and retention, not just sign-ups.

Malaysia’s cloud story is no longer about adoption. It is about operational reliability at scale.

The organisations that lead in 2026 will not be those that trained the most people. They will be those that built the fastest pathway from learner to confident contributor.

And to those considering cloud careers but doubting readiness: readiness is built through participation, not perfection. In cloud and Al, continuous learning is universal. Strong fundamentals, structured responsibility and incremental growth create long-term impact.

By Annie Ong, Chief People Officer, Exabytes Group

Full article from The Ledger Asia.