Sandy Thondilege has worked with award-winning projects at NCS – including our work supporting Hostplus with a mobile app redevelopment that has been recognised with local, national and global awards in design. She’s also been put forward for awards herself – including as a finalist in the 2025 Women Leading Tech Awards (Delivery category) and the upcoming  Asia Women Tech Leaders Award, where she’s a finalist in a cohort of women that features some of the best in the industry across the region.

So, what inspires her, and what advice does she have for other women keen to advance their own career in tech? Sandy shares more about her story.
 

What or who inspired you to pursue a career in tech?  

I grew up in a small town in Sri Lanka. Our parents worked hard to ensure we had access and opportunities. I shared a computer with my brothers and sisters. I remember how hard we worked to earn computer hours, whether that’s chores or acing in a test. So, technology was always part of my life and always around me. But it’s really with the introduction of smartphones I became truly passionate about it. I loved how it simplified seemingly difficult tasks and made technology accessible for everyone. That’s something that always appealed to me.
 

What challenges have you faced and overcome?

Starting from university, being a woman in tech was not as easy as I had made up in my head. There is a lot of prejudice. Whether that’s lecturers or peers who thoughts girls can’t code or comprehend certain topics… But at the same time there were people around me who empowered me and supported my success.

After my degree, I entered the IT industry as a junior project manager. There, again, I learnt that within this industry to prove myself and to establish myself, everywhere I went I had to work twice as hard. Because there is a deep-rooted prejudice that you are working against - there have been examples where I have been turned down opportunities and the feedback that I was given was that they thought I was too confident.

In another instance, the agile coach who came to train the scrum team had given my manager feedback that you don’t hire a woman to do a man’s job. Because delivery was considered to be a leadership role that sits with men. I was angry at first but at the same time this instance changed me. It fuelled me to do better and be better. I was no longer trying to prove myself. Instead, I wanted to build teams who accept everyone and wanted to do their best every day and work towards meaningful outcomes. And that has been my mission since then. This is an ongoing challenge for women in tech and other industries.  So, it's important to create more opportunities and support framework for women.
 

What has been your most exciting career project?

Working at NCS with Hostplus has been my most exciting career project to date. I am so proud of the team and the ways of working we have built for this client.

Read more: NCS partners with Hostplus on a multi award-winning mobile app redevelopment
 

What motivates you at work?

It goes back to simplifying seemingly difficult tasks through technology and making it accessible to all. But another key driver is building amazing teams who look beyond the individual differences and work together to create good results. I love creating growth opportunities for team members and allow them to advance within their careers. This is something I focus heavily on my projects.
 

What is your advice for women wanting to pursue a career in tech?

Don't limit yourself because of stereotypes or naysayers. For every naysayer, there are five people out there who will support you and lift you up. Look for those people and surround yourself with them.