Profiles of Women in IT

Transcription

Copyright 2012 by Ruth Guthrie
This book is dedicated to the exceptional women who shared their
personal and IT career experiences with us.
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 1. Profiles of Women in IT ................................................................................................. 7
Sarah Granger, Founder & CEO, Public Edge .............................................................................. 7
Marci Payne, Project Management Officer, California State University, Fullerton .................. 11
Denise Yamaguchi, Business Administration Analyst, Information Systems, Toyota Motor
Sales USA, Inc. ........................................................................................................................... 15
Jennifer Mellor, Dancer, Choreographer and Technologist & Principal Network Systems
Engineer, LifeSize ...................................................................................................................... 21
Lulu Fou, Commercial Director, Accenture .............................................................................. 25
Zenobia L. Bomani, Sr. SW QA Analyst - Test Engineer, Strategic Link Consulting, Inc.,
Adjunct Instructor, ITT Technical Institute ............................................................................... 28
Valeria Silvestri, Digital Media and Communication Manager ................................................ 35
Dawn Chaffin, Principal Program Manager, Oracle Corporation ............................................. 38
Connie Tuck, Senior QA Engineer, Exelis Visual Information Solutions ................................... 44
Rose-Marie Gonzalez, Manager Systems Engineering, Raytheon Corporation ...................... 50
Cecile Guerra, Program Manager, The Capital Group Companies, Inc. .................................. 53
Jeanose Lexima, Graduate Student & IT Consultant ................................................................ 57
Mimi Thai-Chen, Strategic Program Leader, Managed Care Strategy and Execution, Apria
HealthCare, Inc. ......................................................................................................................... 60
Gabrielle Capolupo, Sr. Director, Juniper Networks ................................................................ 65
Christina C. Wade, Web Developer, Freelance Consultant...................................................... 70
Stephanie Smith, Director, Ravenhaven Media ....................................................................... 74
Jacqueline Dilberian, Web Presence Manager......................................................................... 77
Maricel S. Camacho, IT Executive | Consultant| Entrepreneur ............................................... 80
Ruth Guthrie, Professor of Computer Information Systems, Cal Poly Pomona University ..... 84
Louise Soe, Professor, Computer Information Systems, Cal Poly Pomona.............................. 87
Chapter 2. Women in the IT Industry ........................................................................................... 92
Chapter 3. Advice for Women in IT ............................................................................................ 101
Introduction
In the Computer Information Systems department at California State Polytechnic University,
Pomona, we have seen the numbers of women students dwindle since the dot com bust of
2000. While we have about 500 undergraduate majors, the numbers of women has declined to
less than 10%. Yet, the alumna that return to us, describe rewarding careers, happy families,
and networks of support from colleagues, friends and family.
In our capstone course, student teams do a software development project for an industry
client. When there is a woman on the team, she sometimes takes the role of producing the
documentation for the project. This is not because of a lack of technical expertise. It is because
people do not like documenting their work and the woman often gets assigned the lower value
task. Women are reliable and you can count on them to go to meeting on time and meet their
deadlines. More recently, women on these teams have moved into roles as project leaders.
They are organized, can communicate effectively with clients and are diligent about keeping
track of team members and making sure that deadlines are met. They are highly successful
because they care deeply about doing quality work, getting praise from the client and respect
from their team members.
In a project team last year, a woman project team leader, had a client who did not know her
name and did not really understand her contribution to the team. In the client’s perception of
software development, there was no model for women technology leaders. At the final
presentations, she introduced herself to the client politely and stated, “My name is_____ and I
want you to know I was the project leader for your project and I was really responsible for all
the work that made this happen.” In some ways, her story reflects attitudes about women in
technological work. People (in this country) do not think of women as having technical skill and
women often lack the voice to explain that they do.
In Profiles of Women in IT, professional women share their experiences with technology from
childhood to a technology career. They discuss what attracted them to an IT career, difficulties
that they faced along the way and share advice on life and success with the reader. We hope
you find their stories compelling and inspiring.
In reading this book, you will find women that come from many different industries, have
different levels of experience and worked with many different types of technology. Through
their own words, you will see how these women built their careers in a variety of different
industries. They are risk takers and adventurers, willing to jump towards different
opportunities that came their way. They have remarkably positive and open attitudes, even
when their work was difficult or the times were hard. They give sound practical advice that is
great for any young person seeking a job, not only women and not only in technology fields.
While the careers of these women are technological, the stories are really about having
strength of character and curiosity in one’s approach to life. It is a collection of biographies that
tells the human side of success in the technology industry. With this, we hope it shows:
Many careers are available in IT for all kinds of people. You may find yourself drawn to
something that you had not considered as a career before.
Working in IT does not mean that you will sit behind a computer all day. IT careers
require you to work with people and think creatively.
You don’t always need an IT degree to work in IT. Many women from different
background find that they are great with technology and then move into IT careers.
Elaine Yakura, Louise Soe and I (Ruth Guthrie), have been studying women in information
technology (IT) jobs for eight years. Our interest began in finding what characteristics women
identified in themselves that made them successful. We also looked at different industries,
support structures that help to retain women in the workforce and cultural issues of the work
place. Looking back, we met some amazing women, each with a unique story about their
journey through the IT workplace. Their stories inspired us to create this book. In so doing, we
hope to inspire more women to consider IT careers.
Chapter 1. Profiles of Women in IT
Sarah Granger,
Founder & CEO, Public Edge
“Through this crazy journey, I realized that while I may not be the
best programmer and I’ll never be a senior engineer, I do excel at
communicating complex technical concepts to non-technical
people, consolidating the important points, and explaining why
they’re important.”
Education
B.G.S., “Technology & Society,” University of Michigan
Background
I remember distinctly the day my dad brought home our first computer. It was 1982, I was nine
years old, and it was an Apple II+. He told me, “this is the future and you need to learn it.” So I
did. And I loved it. He enrolled me in a BASIC programming class and I learned to write my own
word game programs in no time. The computer also came with a 300 baud modem. I only used
it at the time for calling my friend and typing to her, or checking the local movie theater listings,
but that was the beginning of my exploration of what would soon become the Internet as we
know it.
In junior high, I learned to type, and I became a bit more adept at writing programs. During high
school, I ran my own bulletin board system (BBS) on my Amiga computer. I had a tutor who
taught me how to program in C and LiSP. I essentially became an online publisher at age 14
without realizing it, with my Titanic themed BBS, networking with local users. One of my BBS
friends was arrested for phreaking, which led to my interest in computer security. Since my dad
was an attorney, he asked me to help him with making computer graphics for his legal briefs,
including one for the Supreme Court. These things set the stage for my career later.
By the time I entered college, I knew I wanted to do something with high-tech, but I wasn’t sure
what. I took more programming courses, but realized I wasn’t actually a very good coder. I
became a UNIX system administrator while in college, and I designed my own major,
“Technology and Society,” encompassing courses on topics like IT and economics, information
technology policy, and moral issues in computing technology. I also chaired the University of
Michigan ACM chapter and brought in speakers on subjects of interest like Shari Steele from
the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Career Path
When considering career options toward the end of college, I had the misguided idea that I
wasn’t qualified to get a job somewhere like the EFF right out of college, even as much as I
would have liked to do that. My sister was in the Bay Area, and Silicon Valley called to me, so I
got a coop job (like an internship, but for a semester) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab
(LLNL), where I worked as a network administrator and learned a lot more about security. The
Lab offered me a full time position after I graduated, and I was able to finish my coursework at
UC Berkeley without needing to return to finish my degree in Michigan. Unfortunately,
everyone in my group at LLNL was over 40 and I felt that I really wanted to be where the action
was, so I took a job at a startup network engineering (system administration) consulting
company called Net Daemons Associates (NDA).
NDA was a great place for me, as someone who thrived on a variety of challenges. I worked at
different client sites administering their SunOS, Solaris and Windows networks, and within the
first year, I became a manager, helping other engineers with their work. I learned a hard lesson,
however, about the importance of ergonomics. Before the end of my first year out of college, I
suffered from severe repetitive strain injuries – carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and even
tennis elbow – due to poorly adjusted desks, keyboards and mice. The pain in my wrists, elbows
and shoulders was so intense, I was forced to quit my job, go through a lengthy workers
compensation process, and take a tiny permanent disability settlement.
The next few years were intensely challenging. I began gradually doing some independent
computer security consulting and technical writing, using dictation software, taking a lot of
breaks. I didn’t make much money, but it was a way to keep myself working. Then in 2000, my
wrists were doing somewhat better, and I decided I was ready to do something bigger, so I
moved to San Francisco and I founded bComfy.com at the height of the dotcom boom. The idea
was to provide an online solution for companies to customize ergonomic setups for employees,
rather than needing expensive ergonomic consultants. I wanted to help prevent others from
suffering the same way I had. But before we could obtain funding, the bubble burst. I was
offered a position as employee #10 at another dotcom in San Francisco called Artloop, a one-ofa-kind online art database. I became their senior product manager until they ran out of funding.
Finally I decided it was time to go back to the interdisciplinary focus that interested me from
the beginning: the intersection of IT and society. I applied to intern at the EFF and worked there
for a few months. It was a wonderful experience and I still think the world of everyone there.
Then I moved back to Silicon Valley and through an odd twist of fate ended up working on a
presidential exploratory campaign as director of Internet strategy. Through that experience, I
helped launch the first blog by a major politician. Meanwhile, I began blogging myself.
When the campaign ended, I found myself with a new opportunity on the same exact day – to
become the project director for the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), an
organization where I had volunteered previously. That lasted two years, and then I began
consulting for nonprofits and political organizations on Internet and new media strategy.
Meanwhile, I kept writing, and began blogging, finding my footing again in the world of new
media.
Current Job
I honestly can’t believe I began working with political and nonprofit organizations nearly a
decade ago. Time flies when you’re having fun. I’ve worked with some amazing organizations
and candidates through PublicEdge and as a writer and blogger, I’ve had some incredible
opportunities. Women’s organizations and women candidates in particular have come to me
for assistance, and I have been able to assist women running for office at all levels. Meanwhile,
on the media side, I was able to visit the White House, attend the Democratic National
Convention, interview members of Congress and top level U.S. officials, while studying the tech
policy aspects as well. It’s been a great ride.
Through this crazy journey, I realized that while I may not be the best programmer and I’ll never
be a senior engineer, I do excel at communicating complex technical concepts to non-technical
people, consolidating the important points, and explaining why they’re important. It’s hard to
teach a candidate why she should use Twitter if she has a limited understanding of the Internet.
Writing about why an Iowa city power plant could be in danger from a group of Russian hackers
is all in a day’s work. And now I’m doing more speaking to groups, which also comes with a lot
of satisfaction. It’s nice to see people’s faces when they first grasp a new concept around why
the Internet can help them.
Work/Life Balance
My reaction these days when someone talks about work/life balance is to start laughing. I can’t
help it – I feel like there’s just no such thing if you’re a woman in tech – particularly if you want
to be successful and have a family. It’s even worse if you’re juggling multiple professional
projects like I do. So at some point, something’s got to give. When I gave birth to my daughter
in 2006, again it was my health. I suffered from severe nerve damage on delivery and ended up
with chronic pelvic pain now called pudendal neuralgia. Luckily I already worked from home,
but I had to take on a lot more help than I had planned, and blogging became my haven.
Recently, I had to make a difficult choice of withdrawing from several volunteer roles that I
enjoy thoroughly in order to make more time for my family. I’m also focusing my writing and
consulting more specifically on what I do best. Meanwhile, I’m working on a book proposal and
framing a nonprofit organization that I hope to officially launch when I have more time. But as
I’ve learned the hard way, life throws you curve balls and you just have to keep on swinging.
Advice to Women
Find each other, help each other, stick together. In all my time as a woman in tech and new
media, I have had the most support from my female colleagues who face similar challenges.
When one person has a success or a challenge, we share what we’re going through, and
everybody supports each other. E-mail groups are a wonderful resource for this. If I write an
article and I want to make sure it gets noticed, I ask these friends for help, and in turn I do the
same for them. And it’s not just a trading favors game. These women over time have become
some of the truest friends I have. Support each other, build networks, collaborate, be
authentic, and be comfortable with your own power. The boys will not hesitate to help each
other and make aggressive moves. Learn to embrace risk, change, and novelty, while holding
onto a strong support system, and you’ll ride the wild tide of technology into the next
generation.
Marci Payne,
Project Management Officer,
California State University, Fullerton
“On my first day, I was introduced to the Vice President for Information
Technology as the person they were going to groom to take over
Telecom and he was told I would be the person to successfully take
them down the VoIP path.“
Education
MBA, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA – 2006
College of Business, emphasis in Network and Telecommunications Management
BS – CIS, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA – 2001
College of Business, emphasis in Network and Telecommunications Analysis
Background
I became interested in computers in 1980 when I went to “College Day” at the local university
and visited the School of Engineering and Computer Science. I went there with every intension
of becoming an Architect, which had been my passion since I was young, but was told by an
Engineering professor that drafting was being replaced by computer programs and there really
wasn’t going to be a demand for Architects anymore. All summer between graduating from
High School and entering College, I thought about what that professor had said and didn’t want
to go into a “dying” field. So, I began thinking about computers and took FORTRAN during my
first quarter as a Freshman in college. The professor was very tough and treated the class as if
it was the weed-out class for Computer Science but I was smitten by the logic and how easily it
came to me. That was it – I decided right then and there to major in Computer Science. When I
moved to California and decided to finish my degree, I realized I truly wanted to major in
Computer Information Systems and enrolled in JAVA and again was smitten by programming
logic.
Career Path
My career path began by examining what area of Computer Information Systems (CIS) I wanted
to focus on during an introductory CIS class at Cal Poly, Pomona, where the students had to
choose their study track. The choices were Web Design, Database, Networking and Telecom,
and Systems Analysis. I loved web design and programming but didn’t know much about
Networking and Telecom and also knew I didn’t enjoy Systems Analysis. The professor told me
that since I was already good at web design and programming I should focus on something I
didn’t know to become well rounded. That made sense to me so I focused on Networking and
Telecommunications. My experience was that Networking was becoming saturated while
Telecommunications was becoming a lost art with people who had been in it for years but
weren’t sure if they’d stay in it much longer since it was going VoIP (Voice over Internet
Protocol). VoIP intrigued me so I applied for a student position at Cal Poly, Pomona, in the
Telecommunications Department within the Information Technology Division. That’s where it
all started. I learned how to configure telephones on the Avaya switch, tone and troubleshoot
a line, and punch down jumpers and cables. I learned the safety rules for going into Telecom
vaults (aka manholes) and taught myself how to design a telephony network using AutoCAD. I
made myself indispensable and was hired at Cal Poly, Pomona, as a full-time staff person upon
graduating with my BS. I had come full circle – back to my wanting to be an Architect but being
a Telecom Network Analyst using AutoCAD to design 3-D Telecom switch rooms, cable trays and
paths inside buildings and across campus, and being in charge of large Telecom projects.
While in graduate school, I decided I wanted to move up the career path ladder into
management and since there weren’t any openings where I was, I applied for a staff position at
Cal State, Fullerton, and was told during the interview they were looking to hire a staff person
that they could mentor into a management position. I felt like I had hit the jackpot when I
received the job offer. Within exactly nine months I became the Manager of the
Telecommunications Department. Cal State, Fullerton, was looking to move into VoIP and
wanted a fresh perspective, which was why I was hired. On my first day, I was introduced to
the Vice President for Information Technology as the person they were going to groom to take
over Telecom and he was told I would be the person to successfully take them down the VoIP
path. A lot has happened since that day as I have let go of the Telecom Department to move up
the ladder as the Project Management Officer for Information Technology. One of the
enterprise wide projects I am managing is to upgrade our telephone switch from the Aastra
Pointspan to the Aastra Clearspan which is completely VoIP. So, even though I’ve left Telecom,
I’m still involved in telephony. I’m continually being called upon for advice due to my extensive
telephony experiences across two Cal State campuses and many large Telecom projects.
Current Job
My current position is the Project Management Officer for the Division of Information
Technology at California State University, Fullerton. The position I was in during the writing of
this book was the Director of IT Projects, Telecommunications, and TitanCard. The basic
difference between the two positions is that I no longer deal with the day to day operations of
the departments but rather oversee the planning and management of projects,
communications, change control, and documentation processes for the Division of Information
Technology. This includes management oversight of critical IT projects including feasibility
studies, strategy development, project management practices, issues escalation, risk mitigation,
and benefits realization. I have project management support staff to help manage the projects
but am ultimately responsible for the success of the projects. Through the use of my staff, I
manage the plans, schedules, status reports and deliverables for the IT portfolio of projects
while ensuring project tasks, timelines, scope, and resources are properly maintained and
provide general oversight and leadership to project managers assigned to IT projects. I serve as
the escalation point for IT project issues and risk. I also provide leadership and direction to the
IT departments and project teams comprised of IT staff, vendors, and consultants for the
execution and completion of project activities. This includes resolving conflicting priorities in
scope and schedule across the organization, tracking performance against objectives, and
developing corrective strategies when objectives are not met. I also manage the IT
Communications, Training, and Web Administration Departments as they play essential roles in
the success of IT related projects.
My day to day job consists of meetings which tend to be project, committee, or strategy
related. I enjoy managing staff and treat my staff with respect and trust that they can do their
job without being micromanaged. My days also consist of writing Requests for Proposals and
Memorandum of Understandings for services and support provided by IT to other areas across
campus. I recruit new staff several times throughout the year and conduct the interviews
myself along with staff that I select who might work closely with the new employee. Since my
interview at Cal State, Fullerton, was the most comfortable interview I’ve ever been in, I do my
best to make my interviews be a comfortable experience and explain the process thoroughly.
One of the best and most challenging aspects of my job is being agile. I might come to work
thinking I have my day planned out and with a swift visit from my boss, the Vice President for
Information Technology, my plans may completely change. Honestly, even though that can be
challenging at times, it’s what I love the most about my job – it is never mundane.
Work /Life Balance
When it comes to balancing work and family, I’m very lucky because my husband and 11-year
old are both very understanding. They know I could be (and am) called at any moment for an
emergency at work. I carry multiple mobile devices everywhere with me – even on vacation –
and am in constant contact with work. It’s just something they know to expect from me as I’m
a very conscientious employee, which they also know is what has helped me work my way up
the ladder. I take work home from time to time and on vacation if necessary, but I also allow
myself time to play online games which is relaxing to me. I’ve recently taken up the hobby of
baking and decorating cakes and cake pops, which also relaxes me. My family and staff enjoy
reaping the benefits of my baking as I bring treats into the office quite often.
Advice to Women
I come from a family of four girls and my father had five sisters and no brothers. My father
instilled the belief in us girls early on that we could do anything we wanted in life. If we wanted
to do something that typically was only done by men, then do it. I gained self-confidence
through this belief and have never considered myself less than anyone else – especially a man.
Because I have seen myself as an equal to men all my life, I have presented myself as an equal
and have not experienced a glass ceiling. The men I work with see that I know what I’m talking
about as I show it through my daily work. One rule I made for myself long ago was: Never talk
about something you’re not truly familiar with because someone will see right through you and
your credibility will plummet. Instead, keep up to date on the latest technologies through
reading and hands on testing so when you do get asked for your opinion you can speak
intelligently. That intelligence will gain you the trust of your colleagues in both sexes.
One of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Edison. He said, “Opportunity is missed by most
people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Never be afraid to break a nail or
get dirty if that’s what it takes to get the job done. I truly believe that by keeping my
technology skills fresh and being willing to work hard, I have been blessed with many
opportunities that might not have come my way. Know who you are and what makes you
happy and go for it. As long as it’s legal, don’t let anyone or anything stop you from reaching
your goal. Keep a positive attitude and a smile on your face. I’m often asked while passing
people in the hallways, “How are you?” And my response is typically, “Wonderful!” That
positive response throws many people off balance, which is rather fun to watch. Try it – be
positive, confident, honest, and respectful and you will go far in life.
Denise Yamaguchi,
Business Administration Analyst, Information Systems,
Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.
“Instead of waiting on someone or calling the help line when something
was broken, I would repeat the process I used to fix it before. This
worked a majority of the time and impressed the guys from our IT
department so much that they showed me how to fix more things, even
computers. This was how I fell into my first support role.“
Education
Associate of Arts in Merchandise Marketing, FIDM
Background
My parents were very attentive and influential during my childhood. My mom nurtured my
artistic nature and my dad encouraged my sci-fi and technology interests. During my youth, I
enjoyed dismantling and reassembling small trivial objects in and around our home. This
pastime was a bit stressful for my mom, but she did her best to embrace it. My dad on the
other hand, enjoyed my inquisitiveness to see how things worked, except for when I came up
with those “extra” parts that just did not seem to fit anymore.
My dad was a parts inspector for a small aerospace company and worked with a variety of
machinists. I loved going to work with him on weekends to act as his personal “office assistant.”
Little did I know this was preparing me for the workforce at a young age. After navigating safely
through the work area to the office, I would launch into my routine – get the mail and sort it,
then make deliveries to each person’s in-basket. After that was done, I would get a soda from
the machine to share with my dad. This made me feel important and I now consider this my
first office job.
We always joked about my dad secretly wanting a son, but got daughters instead. Luckily for
him, I was a bit of a tomboy and loved being outdoors – shooting hoops, climbing trees, having
fun being active. I could not wait to finish my homework so I could be outside, until of course,
my dad brought home our first computer.
I remember helping him setup the huge monochrome CRT and the Apple IIe clone with a dot
matrix printer. Dad liked to read the manuals, which worked out great for me since I rarely read
manuals. As he read aloud, I would follow his directions and experiment. In a very short amount
of time, we were both well-versed on how to work the system. I used the computer for all my
assignments, even if it took twice as long to format.
Although I was still fascinated with technology, I decided I would be better suited for a career in
fashion. However, that path was short lived. During my first semester at FIDM, I was required to
take an MIS course, where I excelled and easily passed. The concepts were simple for me to
grasp, so my instructor had me assist other students who seemed to be struggling. This planted
the seed that would eventually grow into a career in IT.
Career Path
From my education, you can already tell I stumbled into IT purely by accident. There were
obstacles with every technical position I was hired for, requiring me to prove myself worthy
each time. Being in a male dominated field, this type of continuous skepticism might have
scared off some women, but in my case those situations made me strive to learn and achieve
above and beyond what was required.
After graduating from FIDM, I secured a marketing position at a major Japanese airline.
Originally hired to help with marketing reports, I repeatedly accepted more assignments to
learn about other areas of the business. One facet of my job was assisting with reservations and
I was trained on two separate airline systems. At that time, you were required to memorize
airport codes and manually enter reservation strings into the systems. In order to help me
remember, I composed a list of the most commonly used codes and a table of example
reservation strings for both systems. The trainer was thrilled that I was a quick study and
requested part of my time be allocated to help her train on the applications. She also asked
them to incorporate the reference guide I designed into the learning materials for her training.
Another aspect was to reconcile and print weekly reports for the reservation system. The
printer that ran these reports was one of many office electronics that repeatedly broke down.
Instead of waiting on someone or calling the help line when something was broken, I would
repeat the process I used to fix it before. This worked a majority of the time and impressed the
guys from our IT department so much that they showed me how to fix more things, even
computers. This was how I fell into my first support role.
For two years I continued to learn and accept more responsibility, thinking I was building a solid
foundation and would be able to move up in the organization. My idealistic thoughts of being
promoted were dashed when during an executive meeting, I was asked to serve tea and coffee.
I thought they were teasing, so I smiled and disregarded the request. The Director paused and
asked me again. When I politely declined, they excused me from the remainder of the meeting
and one of the administrative assistants was asked to serve them. Later, she pulled me aside to
inform me that I would never be promoted no matter how hard I worked. She said I had three
strikes against me – I was a woman, a Sansei (third generation) that did not speak Japanese,
and my modern day thinking would not be acceptable in this environment. Although upsetting
at the moment, in retrospect I am thankful for her truthfulness, as it motivated me to seek
better opportunities.
As luck would have it, my friend, who also happened to be one of the technicians from our IT
department, accepted a technical support position at a major printer company. They were
hiring for telephone support agents and he contacted me to see if I would be interested. An
interview with his manager was arranged and although reluctant to hire me due to my lack of
technical work experience, I convinced them I would be an asset. Within a few weeks, I was
trained on how to answer the queues, practice good customer service skills, and troubleshoot
all aspects of the supported printers – It was stimulating and so much fun!
While fielding customer calls, there were many interesting ones, especially from men who
refused to believe a woman could be answering a technical support line. There were two
specific calls I remember and now they both make me laugh. The first was a man that was
highly irate. When I answered the call, he screamed at me, asking me why they transferred him
to another operator. Trying to explain to him that I was a technician was not easy and he did
not want to attempt anything I asked of him, especially something as simple as reconnecting his
cable. He was positive that would not fix the problem he had, but after a few minutes of
venting, he finally tried it and it worked. He was a little embarrassed, mumbled a quick “thank
you” and hung up. The other call was at the same agitation level as the first. This time he
specifically asked to be transferred to a male technician. I politely replied that I would be happy
to place him back in the queue, but the chances of him speaking with another female
technician were very likely. He had been on hold for a few minutes and did not want to take his
chances, so he finally decided to let me help him. Again, it was just a simple cable issue. These
two incidents illustrated many more to come during my time on the phones, but the
gratification of enlightening men like these to the fact that women can be technically
knowledgeable, was definitely worth the effort!
Armed with a positive attitude and eagerness to learn, I was eventually given more
responsibilities, preparing me to assume escalation and training positions. In these roles, I was
able to reach beyond what I was originally hired for. Troubleshooting became more gratifying –
writing batch files to test new printers or to troubleshoot why a printer was not working
correctly, fielding escalation calls from front line technicians, and writing technical
documentation to be utilized in new hire training. After contracting for six years, they hired me
as a full time employee. The only negative thing I heard about this was from a woman coworker who complained I was not qualified and was only hired because I was “cute.” My
proven track record, great work ethic, and determination to further my knowledge made a
lasting impression on management, which is the reason I was hired. Consequently, that is also
how I was recruited to the company I am currently employed by.
When one of my supervisors, Vicky, accepted a new position at Toyota, she recruited me to
work as a printer support technician. A few months passed and I noticed she was stressing over
the tasks of establishing a new technical support department. Organization is one of my strong
points, so I suggested transferring me from support to administration. The manager, David, was
very supportive of this idea and I began helping out with every aspect of planning – developing
processes, conducting phone and onsite interviews, new hire orientations, meeting
coordination, budget, ad hoc reporting, metrics… literally everything. This was a dream job. We
had a fantastic team with loads of synergy. Four years after transitioning to administrative
support, I was hired as a permanent associate in a supervisory role. Vicky, David, and Gary (my
National Manager) played active roles in developing my skills and I am grateful for their
guidance and confidence in my abilities. If not for their encouragement and support, I may not
be where I am today.
Current Job
As many companies do, our stellar team was separated by the decision to outsource. We all
went our separate ways for a short time, but managed to network and reunite again. This time,
it was in the data security group.
My national manager recommended me for a PMO-type position and a few colleagues
recommended me for an analyst job. Of the two opportunities presented, the opening in the
PMO suited my organizational skills, but did not entice me as much as the analyst role on the
security team. It was a difficult decision, but I chose the analyst role for the promise of being a
more diverse career path. At first I felt completely lost with all the new terms and it took me a
while to acclimate myself. They tasked me with reviewing all the policies and practices. Once
familiar with the language and outline of the documents, I had to update and make them
consistent and uniform in style. Small project assignments were forthcoming, followed by more
administrative and process improvement tasks. Although my colleagues have since moved out
of this group, I remain in Product Management and have been an analyst for almost five years
now. Responsibilities in my current position include areas of identity and access management,
risk management, information classification, application requirements,
education/communication, social media, and encryption.
Some people dream of being a manager, but I am not one of those people. When necessary, I
take point on projects, sometimes without realizing it. Other moments, I am very aware of
being gently, but firmly obligated by management to be a leader. My hesitation to manage may
seem like I am unmotivated, but I can assure you that is not the case. Being a realist, experience
has revealed that I am perfectly content as a “worker bee” and striving to be the best in
whatever position assigned. Reflecting on these experiences, I am truly grateful for all the
opportunities that helped to shape my career.
Work/Life Balance
Unfortunately, I’m not coping as well with work/life balance as I imagined I would be. My
definition of time management equals sleep deprivation. The few vacation hours I have are
consumed while volunteering at school, getting off early to cheer at games or performances,
and going to doctor’s appointments, among the other surprise events life throws at us. After
working 9+ hours a day, shuttling my kids to practices, school functions, and various activities,
we do not have much quality time together. We eat late and have to consume our food quickly
in order to finish homework. On a good day, homework is done and they are in bed by eleven
o’clock. On a bad day, well, just imagine a cat fight… not a pretty picture.
Now on to my third job… housework. The old saying, “A clean house is a sign of a misspent life,”
certainly does not apply to me. Some of my neat freak friends describe my house as having a
“lived-in” look, just to be polite. Things are in their respective places most of the time and even
though it may not appear to be organized, there is a system to the chaos. Although free-time is
limited, it is definitely a house that welcomes family gatherings and having friends come over to
hang out.
Being a single working mom, work life balance has been elusive. Dedication to my children, as
well as my job, and striving to be the best at everything I do, makes me my harshest critic. This
took a toll early on with my family and sometimes still does, but I am definitely trying to
improve the balance.
A good example of this struggle was when I supervised a PC support group. I had crews that
worked on weekends, sometimes holidays, and I was always on-call. One particular time, on a
Thursday night, my manager told me I had to work a late shift that upcoming Saturday night
and supervise until Sunday morning. I thought he was joking, so I smiled and said "No way, I
have plans." It shocked him that I said no, so he replied that it really was not a request. Now, I
was shocked. Ordinarily, I would not have any issues coming in, but this was Mother's Day
weekend. A 7-kid sleepover was already confirmed, along with arrangements to meet my mom
for lunch. I refused to disappoint my kids again, not to mention ruin my Mom’s luncheon. Even
after mentioning Mother's Day, he still asked me to rearrange my schedule and come in.
It was a bad assumption on my part that he would have remembered, or cared that it was
Mother's Day weekend. One last attempt was made to help him understand the reasoning
behind my resistance. After explaining my plans in detail, it finally dawned on him why I was
not as cooperative as usual. He apologized and made a comment that he sometimes forgot I
was a mom because I was always at work. Good reminder for both of us that although work is
important, my family is held above all else.
On that note, I have been extremely fortunate both at work and at home. Managers have been
flexible and understanding of my personal obligations and allow me to arrange my schedule
around my family, when necessary. My network of family and friends is incredible, which is how
I survive each and every day. Without their support, my children would not have had as many
opportunities to participate in a majority of the activities they have been involved with. So,
even though I want to think I can be super woman and do it all, I have finally resigned to the
fact that every now and then, it is perfectly acceptable to ask for a little help from people who
are more than willing to provide it.
Advice to Women
No matter what curve balls are thrown at you, just be prepared to swing and connect. If you
swing and miss, keep trying. Eventually, everyone gets a hit. If you never step up to bat, how
will anyone ever hear your great ideas? Putting on my “mom hat” and quoting from one of my
daughter’s favorite movies, “Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the
game.” Do not let others discourage you from following your dreams. Work hard, but never
expect anything or feel entitled. If you want things to happen, take the leap and make it
happen. Reach for your goals and never stop believing you can achieve whatever you set your
mind to. Easier said than done, but it can be done.
Advice on getting a job in today’s tight job market
One word – Perseverance. Another favorite movie quote of mine on this very word is:
“Continuing in a course of action... without regard to discouragement, opposition or previous
failure. Begin each day as if on purpose.” Nothing rings clearer to me when I think of the
women in IT that I admire the most. All of them have persevered, have succeeded, and are
well-respected in their fields.
Jennifer Mellor,
Dancer, Choreographer and Technologist
& Principal Network Systems Engineer, LifeSize
“It’s been a learning curve figuring out time zones and
schedules, but so far it’s working out, and I must admit I feel
pretty clever being the dancer pulling out her laptop and
writing some code.”
Education
B.S. Mathematical & Computational Science, Stanford University
Background
I’ve always loved doing things (more so than say, reading), and my primary passion as a child
was dance – in fact, it still is. This may not sound like the opening to a woman now happily
working in technology, but I believe the best engineers and artists are not so different – we’re
both creative problem solvers at heart. I can’t imagine a world without dance, and I believe
technology is shaping the world we live in. I am lucky to do both.
When it comes to computers, I was a child of the 80s. When I was really little, my sister and I
went to my father’s office on the weekend when he was working extra hours every once in a
while and got to see the large computer room for doing the accounting tasks. I also remember
punch cards my dad brought home from his programming classes at the community college –
yes, to learn more about computers and how they worked, my father studied Assembly, using
punch cards. Good man.
We got a TI-99, which we hooked up to the television, and in addition to playing amazing video
games like Space Invaders, we (okay, really my father) programmed quizzes for Sunday school
that got saved on cassette tape. The family’s first PC was a Tandy from Radio Shack, and for fun
my sister and I would type in the source code for various games (in Basic) out of the back of PC
magazines. The archeological digging game was especially long, and there were a few bugs in
that one, but in the process we learned how it worked and eventually began to write our own
simple programs.
It wasn’t until high school, when I started dating my *now+ husband, who is and was a hardware
geek, that I began learning about motherboards and jumpers and cables and such. In return, he
also took a year of ballet, and since my dance instructor also had her own IT business, the three
of us would talk about dance, computers, and everything in between (like physics).
Career Path
In college, I thought I wanted to be an environmental engineer until I found out Differential
Equations would be the last math class I had to take. I switched to Applied Mathematics with a
Computer Science minor. Then I moved to California to attend Stanford University (one of the
best decisions I’ve ever made), and they had the perfect interdisciplinary major for me:
Mathematical & Computational Science. I took a bunch of advanced math, computer science,
statistics, and operations research and realized everyone is studying the same thing, just from
different angles and with different tools. I loved that.
When I graduated, I considered getting a masters degree, but we were living in Silicon Valley
during the dot-com boom! While co-workers researched what island they would buy when
their stock options vested, I wanted to advance in very short order. After a couple different
internships and jobs, my husband and I both got on the same server software team at
Excite@Home – building the high-speed Internet infrastructure that we all enjoy today, getting
free beer and t-shirts every Friday, staying at work past midnight and rewarding ourselves by
sliding down to the game room and playing a few rounds of California Speed. It was like the
closest a straight-A student could get to being a rock star. Just when I started leading projects
and was up for a promotion to Senior Software Engineer, the bubble burst. Our company
folded, and through some clever legal trickery, I even lost my vacation payout.
We decided to move to Philadelphia, working for Comcast IP Services, who had just taken over
control of the cable modem infrastructure from Excite@Home. Thus began stage 2 of my
career, where I learned how to work in a mature, stable company and where I was one of the
youngest engineers working on multi-million dollar projects. It was a great time. But, longing
for California, we returned to the Valley to jobs at Logitech, and I switched gears to start
working with video and 3D rendering and leading the flagship video software projects on
Windows. I came to find that I really excel figuring out new, challenging problems. I moved to a
research and development team within the company, where I would bring in new technology
from outside sources or internally developed by the team, including graduate students whose
thesis projects I supervised, and work with strategic development and the general managers of
various product divisions on feasibility and applications for the company.
All this time I’d been dancing and even choreographic, but it was while at Logitech that I joined
a new modern dance company, DOUBLE VISION (which, incidentally, both uses and explores the
meaning of technology through performance), that was touring the U.S., coast to coast, for 6
weeks. While on tour, I discovered that I needed to nurture this side of me, and after I came
back, I went to a leadership program that helped me really analyze where I was at this time of
my life. I needed to refocus my life on dance. It took months to let the decision sink in and get
up the courage, but my husband and I sold the condo and the Mercedes, and I quit my job to
become a full-time dancer, dance instructor, and choreographer in San Francisco – whatever
that meant. Released from hours of commuting and sitting in meetings, I started dancing every
day and teaching dance, founded my own dance company (Jennifer Mellor Dance Project),
joined a nonprofit Board of Directors, and took on projects I would never have done before. I
immediately realized the benefit of being tech-savvy though, which is a notorious challenge for
artists. My husband and I have both collaborated on technology for various art projects for
friends, and it’s really satisfying to use those skills for something beyond the 9-5.
After about a year, I took a part-time software development contract and had a refreshing
amount of flexibility working from home while continuing to dance more and more. Perhaps
most importantly, during this time, I realized that my sense of identity is based on who I am and
what I do and value, as opposed to a way to make a living or the company I currently work for.
I didn’t have to be just one thing or the other. As I figured out what to call myself, I discovered
what I already was: dancer, choreographer, and technologist.
Current Job
My current job is as Principal Network Systems Engineer at LifeSize, a division of Logitech. I
design and develop software for high definition, multi-party video conferencing systems. My
husband and I had recently moved to New York City, and one of his former co-workers was
trying to hire an engineer for his team but having difficulty finding someone qualified. Prior to
moving, my husband had joined a new team on the condition that he could work remotely from
NY. I decided that if I could also work remotely and keep a flexible schedule, it could be the
perfect position. Video communication is something I’m pretty passionate about – for one
thing, it enables me to work from anywhere. And I really enjoy server development. Plus, I get
paid to do what I enjoy, which is figuring out how to solve hard problems. This discussion was
occurring just as I was about to go on tour with DOUBLE VISION again, spending 6 weeks in
Europe, so we decided that I would start as a part-time contractor and when I got back to the
States I would begin full-time work. It’s been a learning curve figuring out time zones and
schedules, but so far it’s working out, and I must admit I feel pretty clever being the dancer
pulling out her laptop and writing some code.
Work/Family Balance
I do not yet have children, but work-life balance is an issue for anyone in a field known for
crunch time and production issues. I heard once that there is no such thing as balance, and
that’s probably true. When my husband and I were young and green and full of energy, it was
especially hard. I recall a period of time that he would come home as the sun was rising, to
shower and get back to work, because his startup was getting a demo ready for funders. It was
so much easier once we started working on the same team; yes, you’re still working long hours,
but you at least get to eat together. Now, we both work remotely, so even though we are on
different teams and projects, working unusual schedules, we see a lot of each other. But it also
means there isn’t much separation between work and home life, and there can be a feeling that
we should always be working. But the upside is that I can work from home, from the dance
studio, from Greece, from Starbucks, or wherever I need to be, and I can work in yoga pants
too. At this point in life, it’s a great way to work.
Advice to Women
First, be fearless – not reckless, of course, but literally do not act out of fear. Be ready to take
risks and be confident in yourself, even if you don’t have everything figured out yet. Do things.
Seek out opportunities, and if you don’t see any, make one. You absolutely never know what
will happen when you do, but as long as you keep your head along the way, it’ll probably turn
out better than you could have imagined. Likewise, if it isn’t working out, don’t be afraid to
admit it and move on. Surround yourself by people who inspire you. Speak up. Try something
new. And most importantly – learn what a pointer is, inside and out, whether you think you
need to or not. You never know when it’ll come in handy.
Lulu Fou,
Commercial Director, Accenture
“There’s a science and art to running a business. The hardest
part is the people side, which is also the most rewarding part
of the job.”
Education
B.S. in Computer Information Systems, Cal Poly Pomona
Background
I first became interested in computers when I was in High School. Computers were a mystery
and you could use computers for everyday applications. It looked like the field to be in and like
it could be a good career.
Both my parents were from the old generation and were computer illiterate. My Mom was a
great mentor and encouraged me to pursue my interests in the IT field. She is my greatest
influence. My greatest business sense and people skills came from my mother’s worldly
experience.
Career Path
I’ve been with Accenture for a short 20 plus years. The experience that I have received and the
opportunity to serve my clients helped me get to where I am today. I love a good challenge and
I am very passionate about what I do and giving more than my all. I love learning and I was
always hungry to take on challenging and stretch roles. Each assignment helped me grow as a
person. When I do what I love and work with people that are high caliber and we’re all doing
something that is meaningful to serve our client, it was very rewarding. Time flew. In addition,
I was very lucky to have worked with a few very supportive executives. I’ve learned a lot from
them and they have helped me shape my career here at Accenture.
My faith, my family, my husband, and my little girl have all helped me during my career! You
need a family support structure and an understanding husband to get through tough times.
Praying is the secret weapon!
I never felt success until I came so close to failing. Working at Accenture we dealt with very
complex problems and many tight deadlines. I probably remember crying at least two to three
times in my first assignment at Accenture. One time, I was under an incredible amount of
stress. I was facing a deadline. I had 8 hours to figure out how to run year-end processing so
that we could generate a file for NASA through a new system that we had just built. If we did
not meet the deadline, the client would not be able to get funding for the next year. We had all
been working 70+ hours for 6 months. The new system that we just built and implemented was
in production for a couple of months. We now had to run year-end processing for the first
time. The key lead who knew the system had left the company. It was up to me, a new analyst
and a manager having to figure out, for the first time. How to run year-end processing
accurately and to generate this budget file that needed to be sent to NASA under a hard
deadline was beyond stressful. When we finally, successfully generated the file with 10
minutes to spare, it was such a big relief. I never felt the sense of achievement and success
until I came so close to failure.
Current Job
I am a Commercial Director for Accenture. I am responsible for managing and supporting some
of the largest clients in the Health and Public Service group in California. My area of focus is the
commercial aspects of managing the contract and our subcontractors, delivering the financial
results, and managing the project management office for the account.
I always aspired to manage the business side of IT projects. The first 18 years of my career have
been in building and implementing systems. There’s a science and art to running a business.
The hardest part is the people side, which is also the most rewarding part of the job.
I love it when we solve complex problems where there’s a win-win solution. Some days, we
face problems that are outside of my control and influence.
Work/Life Balance
Know your boundaries. It’s challenging to have two full time jobs and more. I have a great
family support system. Before my daughter started elementary school, I had an out-of-town
assignment, where my family and I moved up to Northern California. I made it a priority that
we would move back to L.A. for her to start Kindergarten and I would slow down in my travel
commitments. After moving back to L.A., I was still getting out of town assignments, but I was
able to make it work by flying up to my client 2 days a week and getting work done remotely
the remaining week. The key again was that I was producing results and I worked with people
that were flexible and supportive. All the out of town assignments required 4 days onsite. I
was able to work remotely, because I convinced the teams that it’s results that are important
and I made it work.
Advice to Women
I have advice on the glass ceiling. More often than not, I see a lot of high caliber and brilliant
professional women who make choices to hold themselves back due to personal priorities. I
respect them for making those choices. If you are at a time in your life where you want to
pursue more challenging opportunities and move up the executive ladder, you’ll need to assess
your commitment, experience, and the opportunities offered at your company. It is not easy to
move up whether you are a man or a woman, because those opportunities are limited. My
advice is to do your research and see if you can find an influential mentor who can take you on
as a protégé. If you have the capabilities, executive presence, and can offer to your company
what others cannot, then there will not be a glass ceiling issue for you. However, if you feel
that the opportunities are not there for you, then you’ll need to readjust your expectations and
maybe even move on.
My personal advice on life is to be happy and relieve your burden of guilt. Know your values
and what’s important to you. Make your choices, reassess and change if you need to rebalance
your priorities. We are human beings, not super heroes. Find time to recharge. If you find
yourselves overwhelmed, it’s ok to say ‘no’ occasionally and it’s ok to ask for help. Sometimes I
find myself taking on a lot of commitments. Often, I feel like saying ‘no’. However, there are
often more things to do than enough people to do all the things that need to be done. I will say
‘yes’ and do as much as I can. Why? The more I give, the more I get back.
From my personal experience, I find that a key element to success is my attitude. When I am
presented with opportunities and challenges, I am there 200% to give it my best. If and when I
am down, I find a way to pick myself up, ask for help, or find some way to overcome those
challenges. So, SMILE more.
My advice on getting a job in today’s market is to be patient and be resourceful. Participate in
student activities; Use technology and social network to your advantage; work part-time;
volunteer; and make connections. The jobs won’t come to you. You need to go to the jobs.
Zenobia L. Bomani,
Sr. SW QA Analyst - Test Engineer,
Strategic Link Consulting, Inc.,
Adjunct Instructor, ITT Technical Institute
“I was the daughter who fixed her bike chain and flat tires, and
conveniently destroyed the spare refrigerator with a kitchen knife.
I was the only one allowed to touch my father’s stereo equipment.”
Education
Bachelors of Science Network and Communications Management, Cum Laud
Masters of Arts, Adult Education and Training
Background
I am artistic, animated, musically inclined, enjoy writing, and a mother of three. I became
interested in the “mechanics” of things when I was a child. This is worth noting because often
young girls are less exposed to “how things work” than young boys. Sons are more likely to
begin to tinker with machines, small appliances, helping fathers or older brothers. Daughters
are less likely to be exposed to fixing bikes, cleaning vacuum cleaners, changing flat bikes tires,
or poking around the lawn mower to see how it works. Daughters may be more likely to follow
the pattern of mom’s more domesticated experiences, in the kitchen baking, helping with
younger siblings, or helping with chores. I was the daughter who fixed her bike chain and flat
tires, and conveniently destroyed the spare refrigerator with a kitchen knife. I was the only one
allowed to touch my father’s stereo equipment.
Early exposure to the mechanics of things that may be more traditionally a male role increased
my confidence, but more so fed my curiosity. My early hands-on experiences reduced my fear
of trying things that were mechanically inclined. I began to think about how a radio was wired,
changed the needle in the stylist of the record player, and was the first one to grab a hammer
or screw driver to try to fix a broken item around the house.
I think that the lack of male help, in terms of fixing things around the house, spurred on my
drive to do these things myself. My father was the last person who would pick up a hammer. I
laugh at this now as I write. So I think in a way he was indeed an influence on my mechanical
inclinations. At the time I didn’t think I would be in computers. However, as I look back and
understand what contributed to my career, it makes sense. I was very good at art in high
school, tied for first with the best male artist in the school. As it turns out, many artistically
inclined people find themselves in technical jobs. These skills are linked very closely. Many of
my colleagues have been in or are still in bands, have opened up museums, or left technology
and pursued music careers on their own. One such former HP colleague of mine is Ken Ford,
who has several releases as an electric jazz violinist. In terms of influences, many artistic
people are naturally drawn to IT fields.
Career Path
My career began I would say officially at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). My
position at that time was an Executive Assistant in the Owned Real Estate division. There was a
program that we were using to create newsletters and at the time there was only one person
who knew the software and he was leaving. This would cost us the ability to do the newsletter
and loose our computers. I volunteered to learn the software and complete our newsletters. I
took a few very basic computer classes. Those on-the-job (OJT) classes would be extremely
antiquated today, but they started me on my way.
As many will do in their lifetime I encountered job loss. In my search I was offered a temp
position as an Administrative Assistant in the Relocations Department of Hewlett-Packard (HP).
I must admit, I was intimidated at first, afraid that I wouldn’t measure up. But many times our
fears are our own and far greater than the reality we face. My success grew from old fashioned
persistence, a willingness to learn, tenacious character, and a good work ethic. My work was
noticed and I was encouraged to put in for a full time job. I did. And I hammered away at the
chance to get an interview with the newly acquired Internet Systems and Security R&D
department, formerly Security First.
My interview was a panel of engineers who had been mangers, developers, programmed Unix
systems and servers, routers, protocols, patch panels, and had opened the first online Internet
bank. I gave it my best in that four hour interview, and continued to call every two days or so
to see if I was still in the running. I knew relatively nothing about computers, security, Unix,
servers and the like, which was discouraging for the hiring manager. I later learned that the
man who would one day be my boss encouraged his supervisor to hire me, saying “I just think
she can do it”. And I did.
My first six months were extremely exciting to me. It felt as though a door had opened to a big
play room of information, knowledge, and toys. I learned fast – ordering NIC cards, drives,
software, servers, routers, hubs, switches, cables, and more. I shadowed our systems admin
relentlessly and asked questions of every developer available. Again, old fashioned tenacity
and excitement about my job and where I was prevailed. My original manger had moved on.
My new manger was very happy with my work and asked if I was interested in moving from a
non-technical roll of support to technical. I agreed to perform 50% of my time testing our
software releases, installing the operating systems and configuring their connectivity to the
networks, and 50% of my time on my current job. I was expected to give 100% to both. And I
did.
But the journey was not handed to me that easily. By this time I was a single mom of three and
widowed. I worked full time for HP and the company had one requirement to be met before I
could be considered for a technical position. I had to sign up for college and complete my
associate’s degree before I got a promotion. I submitted a proposal to my manger requesting
to work a split shift that allowed me to come in early, attend classes for two hours four days a
week, and return to work to finish my day. He accepted it, and I started courses. As I stated, it
wasn’t handed to me. Life happened.
At one point, I was faced with completing my education or postponing it and using the
adversities that were currently in my life as a reason to take a break. I was under a lot of
pressure. I thought about the decision to quit - to quit? And do what? I asked myself. All my
problems and others would still remain. All I would accomplish was getting older with no
degree and same problems. So I decided that the only thing that would stop me from
accomplishing my academic goal was death. Other than that, I saw no reason to quit. Life is
going to go on with or without you, with problems in tow. Quitting will not make your
problems go away. I was tired sometimes, sometimes depressed, but I didn’t quit.
I completed my degree work, finishing my Associates Degree in Business. About a month after
completing I got that great call. My manger left a message on my home phone saying “You did
it. Congratulations, you’ve been promoted to QA Engineer”.
Today I am a Sr. QA Analyst or Sr. QA Engineer. Sometimes the rolls are a bit interchangeable.
My training and education were centered on computers, technology, and hands-on exposure. I
began with many OJT courses, CBT’s, and continuing my education at the bachelor’s level in
Networks and Technology. One memory that stands out is how my academics allowed me to
add correct terminology and structure to the roll in which I was currently working. Instead of
just performing many of the mechanics of the job, I learned the life cycle, the processes
involved, and associated hardware terms. I began to speak the language with more confidence
because I was learning the terminology. I was exposed to servers, B2B and enterprise systems,
software, development processes, and hardware prior to my bachelor's degree program. The
labs and hands-on experience that I received during my continued education enhanced my job.
There was always help in my career. There was always someone around who would give you a
hand or answer a question. This is because we have all know that you have to start
somewhere. No one came into technology knowing everything. Each engineer had his or her
knowledge to contribute that helped develop my skills. Many times it only required me asking
the questions to get what I needed. Furthermore networking not only means attending a social
gathering of like minds, it also means getting the word out about your career goals. On the job,
I let others know that I was looking for advancement and that I was willing to volunteer on tasks
outside my job scope. Networking opened the way for my promotion. Others were informed
of my goals and helped me along the way.
I also made use of company professional diversity groups. I joined and later served as president
of HP’s Black Employee Network, and joined HP’s Women In Technology. Networking with
other diversity groups helped to support transitioning out of the company during the dot com
bust. Layoffs, mergers, even getting fired, are inevitable. The best defense is to have a strong
network strategy. After 2000 employees were laid off from HP, many like me got jobs within
three to five months because of who we stayed in touch with. A former employee can lead you
to a recruiter or a job opening that can help get back on your feet. My former team mate
provided information on job openings at Accenture and at least four from my team were hired.
Later I left Accenture to work for ISS. I found that ISS had hired half my team from HP in
various roles including my former manager because of our security backgrounds. Networks and
keeping good relations is very important.
In my most difficult times of unemployment or job seeking, friends and a support group were
almost priceless. Job hunting can be difficult and depressing in these times. Support helped
keep my spirits up and a positive outlook. It also spurred on ideas that helped my job search
and increased my network.
I love being assigned a challenging task and getting it done. Recently, there was a big change in
structure at my organization – new manager and several new team members. The new
manager was not embracing commercial SDLC solutions to manage defects and test strategies.
This meant that all the work put into the previous solution was now shelved because each
license could run a thousand dollars for each engineer on our team. Open source solutions
were free, but I was fairly inexperienced at command-line software installations and
configurations. However, my research proved to be very productive as I located an exact open
source solution that would perform almost identically as our previous commercial solution. I
presented the proposal and my proposal was well received. The next daunting task was now
trying my hand at installation and configuration from the command line. It took time, it took
asking for help, but the results were very rewarding. The installation and configuration was
successful. I saved the team a great deal in terms of cost and found an excellent replacement
for our commercial SDLC testing solution. What makes this a great example was the
opportunity to put together a brand new solution that saved the company lots of money in
terms of licensing, while I increased my skill and knowledge as well.
Current Job
As a Sr. QA Analyst or Sr. QA Engineer, I have numerous projects with a core set of duties. QA
Engineers examine documentation and formulate test strategies to verify the project under test
has met the business requirements. I work in partnership with developers. As they develop
pieces of the code, I perform tests to see if the code works or if various defects are uncovered.
I log those defects and wait for the developer’s response so that I can regress the test case to
validate the developer’s fixes. Once I complete a cycle of testing I alert the team that the code
or project is ready for release or deployment to a live environment. A QA Engineer can test
anything from software solutions and web pages to servers, routers, security appliances, mobile
phones, iPads, etc. Anywhere technology is developing, it will need testing.
Moving into QA was a great transition for me. It allowed me to move from a non-technical roll,
into a technical one, and exposed me to a variety of technologies and opportunities with many
popular technology, software or hardware companies. I enjoyed learning how things worked. I
also enjoyed the challenge of entering a field that was mostly male dominated. I felt as though
I had an opportunity to join a unique club where I was valued for my knowledge not just a place
holder in a company. Today, as I stand in front of my class at my part-time job as an adjunct
instructor, I’m reminded of how I am in a field where women can expand. It’s very enjoyable
to see the pleasant surprise on peoples’ face when I tell them what I do.
My fulltime career has taken me through turbulent release cycles and high stress environments,
new projects or ones currently in the market that only require minor releases. Companies such
as Turner Broadcasting or CNN can be very demanding working many hours to meet ever
changing deadlines and requirements. You may be working on several different projects at any
given time. You may end up in a moderately paced health care or insurance company whose
release cycles are more scheduled and the teams has more stable engineering standards and
procedures. Flexibility is the word of the day in any environment because things are constantly
changing for QA Engineers – deadlines, new last minute requirements, etc. If you can’t be
anything else day to day, be flexible.
In my career, I definitely had to prove myself where a man may not have had to go to such
lengths. It has been more difficult to get more challenging assignments depending on the
mentality of the manager. Unfortunately, you may have managers that feel they should assign
women engineers softer tasks. This is unproductive for women because it hampers their skill
development, while male counterparts get the accolades of accomplishing harder tasks, and
subsequently get promoted. To combat this dilemma, I have sought out male counterparts
who are comfortable sharing their assignments with me, and also share in the rewards. This
acknowledgment has helped to move the barriers aside, gain respect, and be recognized in the
tech field as an equally skilled subject matter expert. Oh and always, always sing your praise,
don’t’ be afraid to acknowledge your accomplishments. On paper in your performance reviews,
in an interview or wherever you have the opportunity to put the spotlight on your
accomplishments, humbly get it in there!
To stay current, take advantage of learning opportunities that exist outside of the traditional
school/classroom setting. Online learning is becoming very popular in terms of self teaching.
Many successful engineers decide to learn a particular new technology that provides a business
solution on their job. This self motivation approach to learning saves the company in terms of
training. Many companies are adamantly focused on budget cuts. Training and education
reimbursement is very rare now. So pick up a book or log on to the web. Search for a topic
that you are curious about or that you think would provide a business solution for your
company. This can open the door to some great accolades and possibly a promotion even in
these tight economic times.
Work/Life Balance
I raised three children throughout my academic pursuits and my career. Sometimes I had to
take them to work with me. Other times I shared my work with them, let them see what I did
all day, or read my school projects or assignments to them as a practice audience. There are
other ways to survive with children, such as reaching out to friends. Find a parent who is
juggling career and school and offer to watch their children on your free time in exchange for
them to do the same. Planning is also crucial. Dinner was cooked every other day or every two
days. I stuck to a Saturday chore day and grocery shopping day. Finally see if your employer
supports flex time. Getting in early and out early helped me take far less time off from work
and get late doctor or dentists appointments scheduled for the children.
On many of my jobs I’ve been able to work from home. This flexibility has allowed me to be
accessible and available for my family. It has been a life saver for my work/life balance. This
has been one of the greatest rewards of working in this field. Since development and technical
issues are pretty much on demand or 24/7, employers embrace more flexible schedules or
work from home options. This is a win-win in terms of employee retention and turn over, and
keeping family connected.
For fun I enjoy getting out on the town – music, dinner, dancing. And love taking family on
vacation.
Advice to Women
I also make sure I get some healthy me time in by jogging a couple miles a few times a week
and work out. That way I can allow myself that slice of apple pie and ice cream I’ve been
craving. On occasion I may play hooky from work and have a pajama day with a good book.
These are my rewards for hard work. Reward yourself sometime for your hard work. These
things are important. Always take time to take care of you.
Know that you will get there. In terms of pursuing your education or getting that promotion,
don’t worry that it didn’t happen on the precise date and year you wanted it to. Keep at it! It
will happen at the time it needs to happen. As you complete a small goal that is part of the
bigger picture, celebrate that moment. Acknowledge that you even took another step today to
get to your goal and dream. And it’s OK not to be perfect the first time out. Women seek
approval constantly and we worry if we are doing right the first time. Just ask any man and he’ll
tell you he rarely if ever thinks about that. He just goes at it. So take some queues from them,
just go at it. Let the mistakes mold you and embrace them. If you didn’t make a mistake
maybe you didn’t learn anything.
Be CREATIVE and PERSISTANT! Network. Don’t be afraid to stand out. You got to show you
really want that job and you are willing to do whatever is required to get it. You may take a 3
month pay cut, work for free for a month while they try you out, work full time for part time
pay for 3 months on a trial basis. You can introduce these options in an interview or cover
letter. Remember though as hard as it is to get a job don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Whatever you say you can do, be ready to back that up. You can talk your way into a job but
the performance will help you keep the job. And again sing your praises! Yes you are all that
but who would know it if you don’t believe it? Enjoy your accomplishments and bask in the
sunshine of them whenever you can.
Valeria Silvestri,
Digital Media and Communication Manager
“The biggest challenge of my job is also the most
rewarding—helping clients realize their vision. Translating
the customer’s business requirements into strong, reliable
design requires a delicate marriage of the customer’s needs
with the project’s feasibility.”
Education
High school diploma (Sc) Plinio Seniore (Rome)
Degree (Philosophy and Art History) Università “La Sapienza”, Rome
Post-degree (Communication Researches, Mass Media) Università “La Sapienza”, Rome
Professional diploma (Computer Programming) Regione Lazio Certified
Masters (History and Multimedia) Università Roma Tre, Rome
Background
Probably because my hometown is Rome in Italy, I’ve been always interested in art and
exhibitions. Philosophy furthermore is a personal interest I have had since I was a teen.
However, at the end of high school, I seized the occasion to attend two enlightening after
school courses in computer programming and theater.
Career path
After I graduated in philosophy with exams in history of art, I was awarded a post-graduation
diploma in the field of Communication. There, I saw the Internet for the very first time. That
was when I realized that it wasn't possible for me to go on without a deep knowledge of new
technologies, especially the Net. So I threw away my exhibition project on women painters in
the XVI century and involved myself in this adventure, beginning again. Later I started working
for a big telecommunications company, where I got to get inside the secrets of the computer
machine, earning, in the mean time a programmer diploma. Then I thought it would be a pity if
I couldn’t rescue my humanistic studies. So, I attended a master’s program in multimedia
history. My aim was to become a content manager and to get a job working on the Web. The
turning point for this was the encounter with an Italian seasoned politician, Silvia Costa. She
was my mentor so I could enter the world of women's studies, working as digital expert in
related groups and associations. She herself asked me to cover the role of Web project and
content manager in her regional electoral campaign in 2005. This experience brought me the
same role in a bigger challenge: the national political election, where I was in charge of the
Italian Democratic Party leader's Web site (the primary party on the left side of the political
overview) in 2006.
In this task, I projected the whole structure of the site and supervised the work of the graphic,
the programmer and the content manager, while maintaining the relationship with the client
and working side by side with the party’s web TV, creating short versions of their videos
interacting with the editor.
It was a very hard job, with a staff to manage and a lot of responsibility, and in that context my
professional responsibilities grew. I became a broadcasting expert, collaborating with very
skilled Web TV professionals. The next year I was involved in a very interesting project, an
international conference on biology under a feminine point of view. That prepared me for an
exceptional opportunity a few years later. In 2009 I was asked to be executive producer, writer
and host of a Web TV broadcast for an Italian-American channel. Unfortunately, this experience
had a short life, for it was not easy here in Italy to find collaborators skilled enough to support
my work. On the other side, however, after my experience with Web TV, I was highly recruited
by companies seeking those skills. However, I took a year in 2010 coming back to my always
missed philosophical studies and taking a few job interviews.
After this, I got a job with a digital marketing agency, UTalk Marketing, as a trainer in the fields
of TV, gaming and mobile.
This company is a smart and light agency, that deals with innovation in marketing and has the
mission to update the client on new Web promotional opportunities. My work with them
consists of receiving their ideas in an already packaged lesson, and then reversing it into the
students’ mind. The students are client company employees. I think that a congruous number
of experiences is necessary to correctly judge anything, and I still need more time at this job to
see if I like it.
My ideal job in the future is strictly tied to new technologies, of course. But I have never lost
my interest in art, especially fine arts. I really hope to have the chance one day to join one
passion to the other. That’s why, in the meantime, I wrote a book titled “Art media
communication”. In order of a return to philosophy, well, I had the precious chance to be a
phenomenologist, where phenomenology is a philosophical discipline often used to understand
the behaviour of wire connections on the Net (communities, cyber cultures and so on). That’s
why I always feel like I’m inside philosophy every time I use my PC. That said, I sometimes just
need to find a slice of quite time to face the theoretical aspect of it, seizing the occasion to read
related books cutting it amongst the rush hours of an everyday life. However, I honestly
couldn’t ever think to the former element without the latter and vice versa.
Advice to Women
Actually, I’m naturally in love with everything that is new. I am definitely stubborn, but I can
figure out that my winning weapon has been an absolute absence of fear in facing changes, or
in destroying things or getting into trouble. So, don’t be afraid to get lost with codes and wires.
If you’re a woman you’ll always find a way to get by.
Dawn Chaffin,
Principal Program Manager, Oracle Corporation
“The interview came down to “Here's the lab equipment you'll be
maintaining – A PDP 11-35 which boots via toggle switches, 5 PDP
11/23 with RK05 discs running RT-11 and this PDP 11-44 running
RSX, think you can handle that? My answer was YES!”
Education
McLane High School – Fresno California
College Courses at various educational institutions
Background
Computers did not come naturally to me. I do not have a college degree having been brought
up in a dysfunctional family ending with my being removed from the situation when I was a
teen. I moved from relative to relative until at eighteen, I was put out on the street.
My teenage years were rocky, without the guidance or the opportunity to go to college. I did go
to Barber College and obtained a license but ended up spending my early 20's working clerical
jobs and attending college classes.
I married, had a child and spent three years taking care of my chronically ill son until he was
well enough for me to go back into the workforce. In taking that step back into the workforce I
never imagined it would change my life.
Career Path
As I neared my 30's, I wanted to get out of the house and back to work. I found a short term,
part time job as a typist in the graphics department at a large computer company and was
stunned when one day my manager asked if I wanted to learn about computers. Of course, my
answer was yes, intrigued by the idea of working on a computer. I had taken some Cobol
programming classes but found it not to my liking because the technology utilized 80 character
data cards and more than once I experienced the frustration of dropping them or mixing them
up so the program made no sense. My manager showed me the IBM 360 computer and
explained that I would be entering department data into a LU (logical unit) and retrieving the
printouts from a printer several buildings away – what a hoot a completely different experience
then entering 80 characters onto a data card. Entering data into this computer was as easy as
typing on an electric typewriter. It was more efficient because you could see what you input,
review your information and make corrections as long as you didn't hit the enter button. I
enjoyed the challenge and became fairly proficient within a couple of weeks. When my 6 month
contract ended, I was ask to take a position at the computer data center in Palo Alto, but
thought the drive was to long and so decided to look for something closer to home. Shortly
thereafter, I found a position doing data entry of the microcode for a IBM 360 competitor. This
was a whirlwind job with many hours of detailed work followed by many hours of the team
play. One morning we came to work to find the doors chained and padlocked. Apparently the
company executive had run away with all the money leaving more than seventy people without
work.
Determined to continue working with computers, I went on an interview for which I felt under
qualified. It was a Software Librarian position with a company that specialized in Shock and
Vibration analysis. I spoke with the manager for a while followed by a tour of the lab and
equipment I would be working with. We walked into the engineering computer area and I got
my first glimpse of the micro computers – these were much smaller than anything I had ever
seen; they were out in the open with no special air conditioning, no raised floor, doors that
opened to the assembly area and engineering offices. The interviewer allowed his arm to wave
around the room saying “Here's the lab equipment you'd be maintaining – a PDP 11-35 which
boots via toggle switches, 5 PDP 11/23's with RK05 discs running RT-11 and this PDP 11-44
running RSX. Think you can handle them? My answer was, YES!” I started the following week
and stayed with the company for seven years, building my knowledge and enhancing my
position, when I left I had built a state of the art computer room housing computers ranging
from DEC PDP-11's running RSX & RSTS, to VAX-11's running VMS and Unix.
I left the Shock / Vibration analysis business and went to work for a corporation making
Armored Personnel Carriers, spending four years working my way up from running the
manufacturing computer room to managing all engineering computers consisting of minisupercomputers, VAX-11 machines and all the manufacturing data collection equipment.
During this time, I moved into a management roll with thirteen employees. I found that
management is a profession that forces you to be involved, provide caring counsel, always be
on the lookout for what is right for the employee, while enforcing orders from upper level
management. This company was managed much like the military with many of the same
practices and processes, in the Eighty's few woman attained executive level and while I found
myself a manager, I also had to prove my worth every day because our General Manager was
not a fan of mine since I did not have a college degree. He once told me “Because you don't
have a college degree, you'll never amount to anything since you can't show that you
completed something”.
After four years of working in the defense industry an opportunity to take on a technical
support role in a plotter business came my way. I left the defense company to work for an
electrostatic plotter company. My computer knowledge helped me as I learned how to support
plotting software. This was hard work in an area of computer software that was new to me. I
was a greenhorn. But, as in my previous jobs, I was one woman among many men and I loved
it. I have found that men generally are giving. They want to work with someone who is willing
to learn and obtain a level of knowledge they have, they want to be able to converse about the
technical aspects of a problem and they don't care if the person overcoming a technical
challenge is male or female.
I spent seven wonderful years doing technical support of plotting software, working with
Electrostatic, Laser and InkJet plotters. In technical support you find a new challenge every day
and must have the tenacity to stick it out until a resolution is found. All the support personnel
spent many hours in the lab and on the phone working to resolve the unanticipated problems
or situations until the customer was up and running. It is not an easy life as your knowledge;
learning and retention capabilities are put to the test every day. It is rewarding work, giving you
a real sense of satisfaction when you find the solution to a catastrophic problem or easily lead a
customer through steps to resolve their issue. We worked hard, sharing our knowledge and
skills among team members so everyone could attain the right resolution for the customer.
Years flew by until a corporate consolidation took place virtually putting our division out of
business. Our manager had the foresight to see this consolidation coming and encouraged the
team members to take computer related courses so we would always be ready for our next
challenge.
One spring day, I went to a Career Open House, knowing that I would soon need a different job.
I put my resume in for a Technical Support position with the premier browser company of the
1990's and was given an interview on the spot. Having been successful at doing technical
support for plotting software, as well as managing the lab, I felt I could work on any operating
system with any application from Domain to Windows to Mac to Unix and I felt I could handle
any type of software problem this company could throw at me. Within a couple of weeks I had
an offer.
From the first day, I realized my challenge would be to gather the knowledge that the people
already working in this area had. To come up to speed as quickly as was needed I spent an
inordinate amount of time at the office working and learning 20 hours a day, going home to
change clothes and shower. This new arena caught me off-guard and humbled me, working as
hard as I could until I felt I had achieved some knowledge of the various packages. As a
Corporate Account Manager I had three accounts to support: one had a few open issues, the
second was fairly new with simple questions but the third had over 300 open issues with our
software suite. It took me many months to whittle down the volume of problems to something
that could be considered normal. Shortly after I had attained a moderately smooth running set
of accounts, another corporate buyout was followed by a partnered association that merged us
into two separate companies acting as one. Our challenge was to seamlessly support our
customers in a ever changing, ever evolving swirl of unclear business practices.
I moved from technical support to Enterprise Software Account Management (ESAM),
eventually handling the highest number of customer's being serviced. I had thirty two customer
companies in Canada, California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado. I was on the road
continuously with a new issue around every corner, running at an unsustainable pace for a
year, gaining knowledge no college course could teach.
Early in December that year, I got a call from our VP asking if I wanted to go to France for a
couple of weeks and could I leave tomorrow. I said yes of course, let me get the tickets and I'd
be on my way. I had never been to Europe, only speak English and knew nothing about
European customs but I took the opportunity as it came my way. For two weeks I worked very
hard at managing the customer, their expectations and demands, and reporting to my
management. I would need months to put things right. My VP asked for me to return home
and come back the following week prepared to stay for six months. I did this looking forward to
the challenge in front of me. I stayed in France for six months ending the time in a new position.
While in France I partnered with a man from the UK to manage all the software escalations for
Europe. Between the two of us we integrated ourselves into the technical support process; we
created clear channels for identifying problems and methods of resolution that satisfied our
customers.
When I came back to the US, I continued to work as an Escalation Manger. Changing companies
when the partnered company setup dissolved, I eventually becoming the Global Escalation
Manager in a 24/7 operation. This position was demanding and stressful with many on site
visits as well as tense customer conferences at all hours of the day. During my second year as
an escalation manger our company management decided that Software Escalation
Management needed to be a larger organization spearheaded by a group of people
disassociated with Technical Support. My position was eliminated.
I had not been out of work in over twenty years and I was devastated. The questions that swirl
through your head are never ending and the sleep you loose from worry is agonizing.
Fortunately the company had a 60 day reinstatement policy. If I could find another position
within the company during this period I would retain my benefits and seniority. Thankfully a
man I had worked with found that a new position was opening for a Customer Health Check
person. This position would work with a select set of companies on software issues which had
reached the Executive level.
I interviewed and was given the position, another change of direction in my career. This was an
exciting and demanding position speaking with the CEO, COO and many top sales people every
week, being allowed to give opinions about how we could resolve issues and following up on
decisions emanating from the meetings. If only the manager had been a different person,
someone who wanted to see her employees do their job to the best of their ability, someone
who did not push for me to spend more time on her projects then resolving customer issues, I
could have stayed there for a while. After just nine months I felt I needed to move away and
took on what I thought would be a good opportunity with a start-up group. The new group’s
mission would be to help eleven growth sites by resolving issues that prevented them from
thriving in the corporate environment. I took on the assignment, spent a year working on
spreadsheets and presentations until management figured out that this type of group just
would not work in the current environment.
Current Job
With the help of a female Program Manager, who did not know me but somehow believed in
me, I got an interview for a position in an engineering department (I mention this person was
female because in all the years of working in computers there have only been two times I have
ever been helped by a woman). The engineering environment is where magic is made by people
who enjoy creating software. My interviewing manager already had a bit of history with me
from my Escalation Management days and he had done his homework on my work habits and
integrity. We spoke while he ate lunch, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company allowing me
to walk away from the interview with the impression that I could have the job. Another twist,
this time I would learn the engineering business as operations manager. As I had discussed with
the interviewing manager, what did I know about business operations, I came from Technical
Support! I could learn!
Learn I did, I spent the next 5 years learning. I’ve learned about the financial aspects of product
development, technical aspects of product releases, and keeping technology relevant in the eco
system. I’ve helped manage our custom engineering group specializing in the customization of
released software to optimally perform on an OEM's hardware. I’ve enjoyed using all aspects of
my computer knowledge to function as a viable member of the management team. Recently
our company was purchased by a larger company and we spent many months integrating into
different policies and practices, finding new ways to run our business. It has not been easy, but I
look forward to what lies ahead.
Work/Life Balance
I have not been as great at work/life balance as I would have liked. I started back to work when
my son was very young; soon after wards I divorced and took up life as a single mother. My son
was literally brought up in a computer room, coping with a mother who worked too many
hours, missed school games and activities. I tried my best to give everything I had to both my
work and my child spending many nights and weekends working to provide for us. As I moved
from company to company my insecurities always drove me to prove I was good enough. To
strive for the thing just out of reach, the technology I didn't know, while trying to fulfill the task
of being a mother. Now that my son is an adult and I have years of working with computers
under my belt, I still enjoy getting into the depths of a project and loosing track of time, it just
doesn't have as many consequences as it once did.
Advice to Women
Stay in school and find a way to go to college, it's getting harder and harder to make it through
life without a degree. Learn to be aware of your insecurities but don't be afraid to jump in to a
new arena, if an opportunity comes along that piques your interest, grab it and learn everything
you can on your own or from anyone willing to teach – knowledge is powerful.
Connie Tuck,
Senior QA Engineer, Exelis Visual Information Solutions
“I like finding bugs. It’s like a game sometimes. I read
through bugs that other people find and also do some ad-hoc
testing (just playing with the software). Sometimes you find
bugs by accident and that’s fun too. “
Education
Studied abroad through high school (Chile, S.A.)
BS in Computer Information Processing, Barnes Business College -Denver CO
Certified Software Tester-Foundation Level
Production & Inventory Management courses - APICS
Various additional software development classes
Background
When I was a kid growing up in Chile in the 1980’s, a computer instructor stopped by our
house. He was offering classes for learning how to work with a computer and program in DOS.
My brother and I begged our dad to let us take the class. It was a whole new experience for me;
learning a new language that could allow me to tell a machine to do something! We learned the
basics: how to boot up, how to print statements on the screen (“hello world”), how to do some
simple math equations. The class lasted about 6 months, but left a lasting impression. My
brother ended up becoming a software developer. I took a non-traditional route towards
computers by working with them as a user and then getting into software engineering.
My parents were very influential in my upbringing. Both of them taught me the values of hard
work, education, flexibility, and more importantly: taking what you learn and making it work for
you. They re-invented themselves several times in their careers and I learned that you don’t
have to do what everyone else is doing in the same way. You can be original, flexible, and try
your own thing. Sometimes you make mistakes, but it’s important to acknowledge them and
move on. I took some risks in my schooling and my career, moving to another country and then
going from accounting into quality assurance. My parents and family were all very supportive,
which really helped. I think that it’s good to have someone who believes in you, but you also
have to believe in yourself and develop the tools to get to where you want to go.
Career Path
My parents were from 2 different countries: my dad was from the U.S. and my mom was from
Chile. My dad was in the Peace Corps and met my mom while working as an agronomist. They
became missionaries and we lived in Chile, Guatemala and the United States when I was young.
We moved to Chile when I was about 10. I went to school from 5 th grade through high school in
Chile and became bicultural and bilingual.
In the late 1980’s, Chile had about 12 universities in the entire country. Everyone had to take a
test (similar to the SAT) and the Board of Education would tell you what to study based on the
results. I really wanted to be a sound engineer, but the results came back with “you should be a
dentist, an English teacher or a biologist”. So we came back to the U.S. so that I could go to
college and choose what to study.
I really enjoyed accounting in college, so I went to work for a financial company (First Data
Corp-Integrated Payment Systems) and somehow ended up working in money transfer
operations, then other accounting departments. Then I got married and my husband had a
small plastic-injection molding business. I did the bookkeeping, financial statements and tax
work on the weekends. Eventually I went to work at J.D. Edwards and my job in accounting
transitioned from an international position into a clerical job. So my boss helped me find
another position. The company really needed people with experience in manufacturing
accounting and I was a perfect fit with my experience in my husband’s business. So I moved
into Quality Assurance (QA) and loved it! I have been in QA in different roles ever since.
I’m curious by nature and love to learn. If I’m not learning something new I get bored easily.
Any learning is good, whether it’s a new programming language, how to make jewelry, or
general topics (science and history especially). At every company, I tried to work in different
roles or different teams and learn as much as I could about what they do and how to do
different jobs. I was in customer service and worked as an account manager for international
money transfers. I volunteered to help the Release Engineer at one company so that I could
learn how code is built. Because of my Spanish, I attended focus groups and beta projects with
customers and listened to their questions and issues. I read the documentation, manuals and
white papers about how the software was supposed to work. I would ask questions and work
with developers and other testers to show me what to look for in the code. I read several books
on software testing and software development best practices. I also learned about logic and
critical thinking; and conversed with product managers to understand what we were supposed
to deliver to the end user. Right now I’m learning about remote sensing and hyper-spectral
image analysis for my current job.
After finishing high school in Chile, coming to the U.S. was very tough. I had to relearn English,
relearn the culture, adapt to the food, adapt to the climate, customs and pop culture. The rest
of my family was still in Chile. Even though I was staying with extended family, it was a very
solitary time, but it made me stronger and put my values, ethics, faith and education to the
test. It was the best way to find my self-worth and make goals for myself. If I could make it
alone as a high school graduate trying to figure out that first job, I would survive the
professional world.
The lessons I learned stayed with me: work hard, learn as much as you can where ever you are,
be positive, be flexible, learn to work well with people, volunteer to help with other jobs or
projects to enhance your skills, and don’t let other people intimidate you or put you down
because you are different.
The other big leap of faith was my career shift. I worked in the financial industry for almost 10
years in many different positions. I could have moved into a financial analyst role or eventually
become a C.P.A. But I decided to try software development because it sounded fun and it was
very different from anything I had done. What really helped was working at a very good
company where people were trained well and were mentored on the job. That made a huge
difference in how quickly people could ramp up and contribute. I worked with one guy,
Michael, who really helped me learn the basics of testing. That inspired me to also share what I
learned with other people. Since then, I try to help out new team members so that they don’t
have to figure it out alone. I enjoy being a mentor as well as learning. It feels good when you
can share what you’ve learned with someone else and help them succeed in their job too. That
makes your team much stronger and also reinforces your own learning.
Current Job
I’m a Sr. QA Engineer, which means I’ve tested software for a number of years. My job requires
a strong background in software testing best practices, good communication skills, strong
organization skills, experience with testing software in different ways, and the ability to read,
understand, and sometimes write code. The job also requires having an eye for detail and the
ability to try breaking software in an intentional and methodical manner, sometimes
repetitively.
I plan what to test and how to test it based on our company’s product requirements and
development planning. I write test artifacts for my work output: test plans, test scenarios and
defect reports. I do different things to our software, either thru code commands or with mouse
and keyboard interaction, including installing it, loading files, running thru different processes
and checking the results of those processes to see if they are correct. I work in an office with a
team of developers, product managers and other testers.
I’ve been in software testing for over 10 years and have seen all kinds of development
organizations, either as startups or established companies.
I was attracted to this position because of the way Exelis VIS works with the customer in mind.
The Engineering organization sets goals of excellence for their employees and they are rigorous
about the skills and people needed on the job. I like those challenges where you have to think
critically and use technology as tools, not as the end goal. The biggest reasons I was attracted to
this position were the people who work here (including managers) and the way they build
software. If you’re going to be doing something for 40+ hours each week, you better be doing it
with people you can enjoy and work that is fun.
I like finding bugs. It’s like a game sometimes. I read through bugs that other people find and
also do some ad-hoc testing (just playing with the software). Sometimes you find bugs by
accident and that’s fun too. I like having a list of things to test and finishing those tasks. And it’s
cool to be able to show other people in the company what we’ve built when we’re finished with
a new product feature. I also enjoy mentoring others and helping them to develop ideas on test
scenarios or other aspects of their work.
It seems there is never enough time to do all of the testing you would like to do. That is one of
the big challenges with software testing. At some point you have to ship the software. The key
is to make sure you’ve tested what everyone agreed upon and that all of the most important
areas are covered. It’s also important to communicate so that everyone is up to speed on the
remaining issues and whether they are a product risk or not. No software is 100% bug free. But
it must be acceptable and usable. As a QA Engineer, you find and report, but everyone is
responsible for the quality of the product.
The other challenge is that as a tester, you are the bearer of bad news. It’s not fun to tell a
developer that there is a bug and that the product is bad. But it must be done. The key is to
deliver the message clearly and professionally, using facts and clear steps to show the problem,
not just opinions or a hunch.
Work/Life Balance
I know how easy it is to focus so much on your job that everything else falls to the side,
sometimes because of deadlines or customer critical issues.
I couldn’t do it all without my husband and my children. My husband is my guardian angel; he
keeps me tethered to reality.
I was working in Quality Assurance at one place where I was working so hard that I was burning
out and spending a lot of time (14-16 hours a day) away from home. He was the one to step in
and say “it’s time to move to something different because this isn’t working out for you”. He
and our children were very supportive and that made a tough decision a lot easier. There were
trade-offs (mostly monetary), but it was worth it to spend time closer to home.
I’ve learned early in my career to keep work problems at the office and personal issues at home
as much as possible. My manager is very supportive about work-life balance, which is great.
I have three amazing kids, ranging in ages 8, 11 and 13. We juggle as a family to do things
together and we all pitch in at home with chores and cooking. Everyone helps out, whether
cooking or setting the table or doing the laundry and cleaning. Our big focus is on getting tasks
done together and quickly, then doing the fun stuff. As the children get older, there are more
extracurricular activities, so some days are very busy. We make time on weekends to
decompress.
I used to take work home all the time, especially when I was a manager. I deliberately moved
back to a role where I could contribute as a tester because I wanted more time for my family.
Now I turn off the work phone at the end of the day and don’t check work email from home
unless it’s critical or we have bad weather. But it takes discipline to leave work at work. It’s very
easy to get sucked into checking your email all the time!
I enjoy gardening, cooking, reading and doing craft projects (knitting, sewing, making jewelry). I
try to get out with a friend to the movies or to lunch every so often. I also enjoy spending time
at home with my family, sometimes just talking or reading and listening to music together.
Advice to Women
1. Believe in yourself. Fake it if you have to, until one day you wake up realizing you’re not
faking it anymore.
2. Sometimes the road to what you want isn’t a clear-cut path. You can forge a new path
for yourself by learning as much as you can and seeking out opportunities to contribute
and show what you know.
3. Don’t be afraid to try new roles or tasks at work, even if they are not in the job
description: you’ll learn more about the company, meet new people (especially other
team managers) and see what else is out there.
4. Networking is essential. Be part of a core of friends in the same industry. Join a forum or
focus group if you don’t know anyone in your industry. Use tools (like LinkedIn) to build
a network of professional contacts.
5. Be honest, be ethical, have integrity. No one can steal your values from you.
6. The toes you step on today might be attached to the backside you might have to kiss
tomorrow. Treat everyone with respect and professionalism.
7. Go back to school or take a new class. Find ways to add to your resume, whether as a
new job, personal project, or through volunteer contributions. Don’t let your career
achievements get stale.
1) Make yourself marketable by highlighting what you did for the last company where you
worked. Now is not the time to be overly meek or modest. Share what you can do
without sounding like you’re just bragging. Bring facts or metrics to specifically support
what you did that was good.
Ex: I was responsible for x% increase in revenue by working with ABC regional accounts.
2) Listen to what the recruiter is asking for in the job description and decide whether you
can do it (be honest) and/or whether you can get the skills to get the job done.
3) Don’t dwell on the rejections. It’s their loss and probably a sign that it wouldn’t have
been a good personality fit anyway. Focus on moving forward.
4) Know the company you’re interviewing. Interview them as much as they interview you.
It always amazes me when I ask a candidate what they know about the company and
they don’t know anything. That’s not acceptable in the internet age. Have questions
ready so that you walk away from the interview with a good feel for whether it’s the
place for you.
5) A job is more than just a paycheck, so make sure it’s a place you want to work for and
that you won’t feel your personal ethics compromised. That said, you can’t be too
choosy, so make the best of where you are. Turn challenges into opportunities to
enhance your resume.
6) Be willing to look (a lot) for a job. Don’t wait for that perfect job, get something so that
you can have steady income and then plan the next move as an upward move. An entry
level position is at least an opportunity to show a company what you can do. Make your
goals known to your boss and others, and seek out ways to make progress on them in a
positive way.
7) Stay current in your industry and in technology news in general. Be positive and believe
in yourself.
Rose-Marie Gonzalez,
Manager Systems Engineering,
Raytheon Corporation
“I was approached and offered a position, in another department,
as an IT Project Manager. I open my mouth to say “No, are you
crazy?”, but that is not what came out of my mouth, instead I said
“Let me think about it.”
Education
BA Mathematics, La Sierra University, Riverside, California
MS Applied Mathematics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
MS Managing Information Systems, California State University, Los Angeles
Background
Computers and technology was not my thing. I loved math and the beauty and playfulness of
numbers, elegant proofs, the aesthetics and delight of manipulating numbers and formulas to
identify patterns and the satisfaction of solving a challenging problem.
The most intriguing aspect of math for me was seeing how it applied to everything: science,
engineering, art, and music to name a few. I became interested in music, not to be a concert
pianist as my father, but attracted to the patterns and mathematical nature of the music. I
have no musical aptitude, but can have fun with the piano and harp by applying musical
patterns and rhythms that are amazingly mathematical in nature.
I was fortunate to have parents that fostered my imagination and encouraged me to follow my
heart. My mom is the most amazing person I have ever met. She is an engineer by nature, and
through the years, she constantly amazed me with her continuous inventiveness to address
everyday tasks. At 65, she started using computers and became very computer savvy. My
father, an avid learner himself, always encouraged me to pursue higher education in the field of
my interest.
Career Path
I immigrated to United States from Colombia, to start college. It was not easy to immerse
myself in full time studies, learn English, understand a new culture, and work multiple jobs to
pay my college costs. When I completed my BS in Mathematics, I decided to continue my
studies and pursue a Master’s degree in Math. I was very excited and approached my favorite
math professor to ask him for a letter of recommendation. He proceeded to close his office
door, and for the next two hours, tried to dissuade me from pursuing a career in mathematics,
because it was not the right career for me being woman. This only fueled my desire and I
continued with my plans, now also motivated to prove him wrong.
I was not only accepted for my master’s degree, but was able to pay my education though a
Teaching Assistant scholarship. As I completed my Masters, I started planning to continue my
education and complete a PhD in Mathematics. That summer, after completing my degree,
some friends invited me to stay at their home in Orlando Florida, while they took a two month
vacation. One day while reading the newspaper, I saw an ad for a full-time math instructor at
the University of Central Florida in Orlando. I decided to apply for that position.
I not only got the job, but I also got a part time job teaching at the local community college.
These jobs confirmed what I had already found though my teaching assistant job, that I loved
teaching. However, after teaching calculus (my favorite subject) for the 9th time, I decided that
I needed a more challenging job, and that a PhD in Mathematics might not be the best route.
After a very rewarding year of teaching, I returned to California, not to pursue further
education, but as an employee of Hughes Aircraft, Space and Communications. Although I got
the job because of my math degree, my job was using the computer to developed satellite
information algorithms and satellite data processing software. All of a sudden, I had to become
a software developer and become familiar with the inner workings of a computer. It was not
natural for me, but I soon realized that computers were my allies and I could focus on the
formulas and the results while having the computer do the heavy lifting.
I worked at Hughes for close to 5 years, before moving to New Jersey for a couple of years.
There I worked at GE Astro Space in Princeton, and then I came full circle back to California to
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. All these jobs were directly working with satellites and their
data using computers as the main tool. So, I decided to return to school and earn a master’s
degree in Managing Information Systems.
During this time, my career took another turn and I became a Systems Engineer. This was a
perfect match for my skills and I found a challenging project where I could contribute. I also
moved into a leadership role. As the development phase of the project was coming to an end,
and I was wondering what my next project would be, I was approached and offered a position,
in another department, as an IT Project Manager. I open my mouth to say “No, are you crazy?”,
but that is not what came out of my mouth, instead I said “Let me think about it”… after much
thought the answer was yes. It was not a decision that came easy, but I have never regretted it.
There is nothing boring in an IT career. There are constant challenges with delivering quality
work with minimal funds, meeting tight schedules, keeping multiple customers happy, juggling
priorities and conflicting requirements, looking for new opportunities to grow the business, and
staying on top of ever changing technology. The best part of my IT career is that I get to apply
all the skills I developed while pursuing a career in math: solving complex problems,
recognizing patterns and capitalizing on common attributes, and applying the rigor necessary to
see the tasks through successful completion.
Current Job
I currently work at Raytheon as Manager. I love my job because I never know what my day is
going to be like. I’m involved both in the front end of the business and the more day-to-day
activities. The front end of the business involves: research and development, growing the
business by responding to Request for Proposals (RFPs) and finding new opportunities for
growth. For the day-to-day activities I manage IT projects from concept definition to product
delivery and maintenance, and everything in between. I’m directly responsible for various
NASA IT projects and also support other government agencies and internal Raytheon work. I’m
responsible for successfully delivering IT applications that meet the customer’s requirements,
are easy to use, and are delivered on time and within budget.
In order to deliver quality products on time and on budget, it is not enough to have the right
technology and knowhow; success has a lot to do with the never ending effort to discover and
eliminate the main causes of problems and continuously making things better and more cost
effective. So, I have turned into a continuous process improvement advocate both strategically
and tactically. I have a Six Sigma black belt certification and lead both internal and customer
engagements, and train and mentor others. In addition, I have served as a manager of the
Enterprise Process Group (EPG) and also as campaign manager for CMMI (Capability Maturity
Model Integration) appraisals.
Work/Life Balance
I have a very strong work ethic, and tight family bonds and values. I spent most of my life
working to excel professionally and at the same time be the perfect daughter, sister, friend,
wife and mother. The truth is I never achieved all my goals, at least not simultaneously, but
rather learned and practiced to “focus on the journey, not the destination”, to find joy not in
achieving the goals set, but rather enjoying the journey and each step of it. I can truly say that I
have enjoyed every moment of my journey.
Advice to Women
Don’t let anyone, absolutely anyone, even yourself tell you that you can’t do something. If you
set your mind to accomplish a goal, you’ll have the internal fortitude to achieve it through hard
work. Things do not “just happen”, but if you stay focused and work hard at it, they will
happen.
Cecile Guerra,
Program Manager,
The Capital Group Companies, Inc.
“Working at McDonald’s which helped pay for my college
education, I was guided by a lot of managers, most of them
women, who taught me how to multi-task, manage my
resources effectively, plan and forecast. None of these were
technology related skills, but they are skills that I use very
frequently today.”
Education
B.S. in Computer Information Systems, Cal Poly Pomona
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands
a temporary surrender of security.” – Gail Sheehy
Background
When I was asked to participate and contribute my profile/biography for the Successful Women
in IT book, I had very mixed emotions. The idea of being labeled successful felt very weird to
me. I’d rather label myself as an IT Journeywoman; someone who has travelled from one place
to another to gain experience. Someone who will share their lessons learned to anyone who
would benefit. I think this description far better suits me, so it’s in this mindset that I write my
biography.
I wanted to major in something that is business oriented that also focused on technology.
While scouring college books, I happened upon the Computer Information Systems (CIS)
program at Cal Poly Pomona. Even though my computer experience was limited to the BASIC
programming class and word processing using the Apple IIe, I thought that it would be an up
and coming field. My mom was not too thrilled with my choice, but years later, I would hear
her talk very proudly of the career path that I had chosen.
Career Path
Out of college, I started out as a COBOL mainframe programmer. It wasn’t exactly what I would
call glamorous. But then again, I’ve always had the attitude of using experiences as learning
opportunities. I was a maintenance programmer supporting personnel applications. I learned
so much about the complexities of supporting county government; Union job titles vs. nonunion job titles, doctors and their specialties, differences between safety officers, etc. People
think that you have a cushy job when you work for the county. While this may be true for
some, it definitely was not the norm. We had to make do with the resources available to us and
I learned the importance of setting priorities because funding wasn’t always available for
projects.
I moved on to working for a defense consulting company, which was interesting because of the
rules and regulations associated with working on government projects. I’m now working for a
financial company and I’ve been here close to 15 years. My early years with company were
spent on supporting applications which leveraged my mainframe, database and server
experience. I was promoted to managing the Output Management Team after interning in the
position for about a year. I held this position for 10 years. I learned so much about people,
technology, and project management during this time. A couple of things stand out for me: an
engaged customer will make software projects run smoother and one needs to keep adding to
their skills tool kit. In the early part of 2011, I was provided the opportunity to manage a
resource management program. I’m also using this phase of my career to focus on my selfdevelopment. With each assignment or project, I add every lesson learned to my tool kit. One
of the common denominators to every successful project I’ve worked on is developing and
nurturing relationships with the people on the team. Learning how to take things in stride has
helped me in many stressful situations.
The Value of Mentors
My mom was my first mentor. She grew up helping manage her family business; a Chinese
bakery and restaurant. From her, I learned about the importance of customer service, building
a network, doing things 110%, and money management. I was also born with cleft palate and
she drilled into me that this deformity should not be used as an excuse not to excel. My mom
stressed to me that I can do anything I set my mind to. It was because of her encouragement
and guidance that I did not have this pre-conceived notion of what women can and cannot do.
Working at McDonald’s which helped pay for my college education, I was guided by a lot of
managers, most of them women, who taught me how to multi-task, manage my resources
effectively, plan and forecast. None of these were technology related skills, but they are skills
that I use very frequently today.
While at Cal Poly, the teaching staff made themselves highly available to students seeking
guidance. Some were nurturing, others were firm; all had one goal in mind, to see their
students succeed after graduation.
At my first job working for Los Angeles County, I had 3 very different mentors. My first mentor,
Roger, focused on financial management. Roger was assigned to be my programming buddy
within the team, but he taught me so much more. He taught me the importance of paying
myself first; how to maximize my retirement contribution. I remember telling Roger that 5%
should be enough because I wasn’t making that much money and he replied back that it’s not
enough until I see blood. I am forever indebted to Roger because if it wasn’t for him, I would
not have the money in retirement that I have today. My second mentor Art, taught me that
little things did matter. At that time, I was assigned to the maintenance team and part of the
responsibilities included making changes to bonus rates for different employee tables. This was
a very routine task, but Art impressed upon me that what we did made a difference for the
employees who would benefit from our code changes. Last but not the least, my third mentor,
Dolores, taught me about the value of listening to your customers. She was one of our key
customers for this application re-engineering project that I was working on. Many times, I
would get very frustrated because we had to deal with so many exceptions which always
impacted the code I had to write. I found that when I took the time to listen to Dolores and her
requirements, I did much better. Dolores knew the “business” and it was my job to translate
that and enable the technology to meet the business requirement.
Today, I have a lot of informal mentors that I reach out to for guidance. They have been a great
sounding board for me and help put perspective where I may not have information to make a
decision. So why am I making a special effort to call out the importance of mentors? Mentors
are very important in one’s quest for personal growth and development. Mentors can be a
sounding board, identify resources to help you solve a problem, or even provide constructive
criticism when needed.
Work/Life Balance
I am married with 3 children. I travel for work and there have been times when I have to work
long hours. My husband is also in IT and has a more demanding job, in my mind, than I do.
Right there is a recipe for guilt – of why do I have to work, of not being able to spend time with
my family. I do have a phenomenal support system that relieves me of my guilt. My husband’s
parents are a key component of our lives and their presence truly enriches the family
experience for all of us. My husband’s support has also been very critical. This has been
especially been important to the peace of mind when I travel. I’ve also learned to stop feeling
guilty because I love working and I love what I do. I use my work travel time as my “me” time;
my time to recharge. If I’m not happy, then my family will not be happy.
I found many creative ways to be involved in my children’s activities. For example, for the past
4 years, I’ve taken on the role of den leader for my 11 year old son’s Cub Scout pack. It sure is a
lot of work for me, but it gives me time to spend with him. I’ve taken my teen-ager to a couple
of activities where I was part of a speaker’s panel and this has given me the opportunity to talk
to him about career goals. I volunteer with my daughter’s Girl Scout troop and lead some of
their activities. See, it’s not about the quantity but the quality of time I spend with them that
counts. Every once in a while my daughter asks me why I travel so much for work and although
it can be a difficult conversation sometimes, it has allowed me to be more transparent and
explain to her about my job and responsibilities.
I have several items on my list of advice to women who are seeking a career within IT or any
other field. Here they are, in no particular order:
Work on having a good solid financial foundation. Stop keeping up with the Joneses.
Stop the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck and invest your time and energy on
building a good financial foundation for yourself. Unclear on where to start? There are
a lot of excellent resources available on the internet to get you on the right path.
Never stop learning. If you’re currently employed, make a goal of learning a new skill or
two every single year to add to your tool kit.
Pay it forward. Be a mentor, volunteer, serve other people. When you stop being preoccupied about what you can and cannot do and focus on how you can make a
difference in someone’s life, you will live a much richer life.
You are the captain of your own ship. You are the only one that can set your course.
Sometimes you may want to or need to take a detour. Detours are okay, they may give
you additional information for your journey.
Count your blessings every single day!
Have fun in everything that you do!
Your attitude determines the outcome of every event.
Fear is okay, but don’t let it stop you from trying new things.
It’s okay to make mistakes, but you need to learn from them.
Have a good network of friends. Having friends has been great for my soul!
Family is very important. Make every minute count with them every single day.
Jeanose Lexima,
Graduate Student & IT Consultant
“I believe to reduce poverty globally, we must use the most
powerful weapon and that's education. The most powerful
tool we have to educate those underserved today is
technology.”
Education
BS, in Information Systems 2003, American University, Washington DC
Masters, Public Health Informatics (2012), University of Illinois Chicago
Personal Background
My family of 14 immigrated to the United States from Haiti in 1993 and spoke no English.
Thereafter, I got exposed to computers. I purchased my first computer with my own money. I
earned the money on weekends, working my first job as a dishwasher. Although, I was still
learning to speak and write English in school, my computer somehow became my best friend
and helped improve my English. By the time I graduated high school, it was clear what I was
going to study in college.
During my first year in college, I determined that computer science wasn’t for me and I was
going to major in information systems. Being the first in my family to get a four year degree in
the United States, one thing that I lacked was a mentor. My parents cherished education and
pushed me very hard. That is part of the reason they came to this country with us. Thus, we had
teachers and friends helping my family. If I had a mentor in High School and College, my career
path in the IT world may have been different. With a mentor, I may have found a niche in IT
that I truly love and am passionate about. Yet, I am happy to be where I am today in my career.
To satisfy my need for using technology to improve the status of women, I founded
womenonchange.org.
I have a heart for fairness and social justice and thought of becoming a lawyer. Law may have
been my path instead of technology. Not having a mentor can be a good or bad thing in my
opinion. However, I believe a mentor that exposes and shares information, challenges you can
teach you a great deal. I have a passion for information, which helps my curious mind. What I
loved and still love about Information Systems is the "Information" and how “technology”
allows us to see the beauty of it. Therefore, I believe everyone should have access to good
information for education purposes.
Career Path
2003 was one of the worst years for students graduating college in my opinion. After
graduating from college, I landed a full-time help desk consultant position with a private equity
firm in Washington DC. I have been working as an IT consultant for IT firms that perform
contract work for the government of the United States. I have worked as an IT consultant
serving CIO offices at the Department of Education, House of Representatives, Veterans Affairs
Administration, Health Human Services, Department of Homeland Security and Department of
Energy.
The IT projects that I have been and continue to be a part of in the government face high risks,
too many times due to lack of leadership and failure to work together, just like we see in
congress today. If you look at the Federal IT Dashboard http://www.itdashboard.gov/, you will
get a good indication of where our IT projects are. This could be another book, ‘Saving IT
projects in the Federal Government’.
The government consistently solves complex problems and face challenges. My job serving
different agencies have been to improving processes or services to the general public. In the
government, you are either providing service or you are developing a product. I have always
been on the service side of the government. I have not faced a big challenge since I have been
working that allows me say “Ah ha, I have reached a point of success.” Success can be
measured in so many ways. That “Ah ha” moment for me would have to be a time where I feel
like I am making a difference and enjoying it daily. I continue to seek challenge as an individual,
while working for companies. I am still searching for my soul in the technology field, a field that
I love. I think I will find my soul (career path) in IT when I am able to make a difference in the
lives of underserved people through the use of technology.
Current Position
I am currently pursuing my graduate degree in public health informatics, while working as a
consultant to the Veterans Affairs Administration. This role involves working with IT project
managers on health benefits portal initiatives to effectively manage risks. My role also includes
assisting project managers with requirements management, acquisition and project
engagement support to solve complex problems face in projects.
Another role I have is to focus on what I believe and am passionate about. I believe before the
world can achieve things, such as reducing gender, race and socioeconomics inequality, more
women around the world must be in involve in making decisions in their homes, work,
government and society as a whole. The more gender equilibrium we have around the world in
decision making, the more we are able to work together as people. In addition to going to
school and working to pay bills, l have founded a blog at http://blog.womenonchange.org/ so
that I can share my ideas and what I believe with those who believe in the same thing.
I believe that to reduce poverty globally, we must use the most powerful weapon and that's
education. The most powerful tool we have to educate those underserved today is technology.
Work/Life balance
Work life balance I have learned is relative to which company you work for and who you are.
Flexibility to do your job anywhere is something that many companies are testing. The fear of
trusting someone to work outside the office is a challenge for employers and employees.
Telework is here and it is only getting better. Both employers and employees have to trust
each other to deliver quality work and I think the earlier that firms adopt it, the better off they
are.
For now, my work balance includes taking time off to do the things I enjoy even if I have to take
leave without pay, which I have done many times regardless which company I work for. I think
the more senior you are in your company, the more flexibility you have. If your employer
knows your work and values it, they are willing to be more flexible with your time in the office.
I enjoy traveling and visiting family and friends and, I find time to do just that. I am always
looking for the next challenge in life. I work, go school, blog, and volunteer as much I can. I
believe that you only have one life to live and you must live it the best way you can.
Advice for women
My advice to women is to never stop learning and don’t let anyone box you in. This world is
great at boxing women into specific categories, viewing them as workers, instead of decision
makers. Women need to fight those stereotypes.
Find a mentor, someone who believes in you, but you must believe in you FIRST. If a mentor
doesn’t believe in you and challenge you, you are better off without one. The earlier you can
find a mentor, the better. I also like to say not having a mentor is not a bad thing. However,
surround yourself with people who challenge you and themselves. Lastly, if you are not happy
learning and applying what you are learning, do not stick around for the sake of money. This is
not easy, I have been there.
You can find Jeanose Lexima’s non-profit work at:
http://www.facebook.com/Womenonchange and http://blog. womenonchange.org.
Mimi Thai-Chen,
Strategic Program Leader, Managed Care Strategy and
Execution, Apria HealthCare, Inc.
“I left the firm after my daughter was born with to achieve
work life balance. This turned out to be the right decision. I
worked for a small local consulting firm selling and managing
consulting engagements, and gained invaluable experience in
entrepreneurship.”
Education
Master of Business Administration, Pepperdine University, Culver City, CA.
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
Background
My parents put great emphasis on education. Attending and completing college was a must in
our family. Being a Vietnamese/Chinese immigrant family to California in 1980, my parents
believed that providing their children with education enable them to make a better living in the
U.S. I was about 17 years old and English is my second language (ESL). We settled in Temple
City, Southern California, and a small city east of Pasadena. I went to Pasadena City College
(PCC) for my ESL training and completed my college general education at PCC; I then
transferred to University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USC) and completed my Bachelor
of Science at USC.
Language and Art were not my strength at the time, but I was pretty good in Mathematics and
Analysis. In 1980, the computer field was growing; mainframe and midrange computing,
languages like COBOL, FORTRAN, Assembly and PASCAL were popular. Personal Computing was
in its infancy. Data Processing, Computer Information Systems, and Computer Science were
“hot” majors in many universities. Also, there were many job opportunities once students
graduated from these majors, many of them with great pay at that time. So majoring in
Computer Science was a natural fit for me.
Career Path
Recognizing the importance of differentiating myself during job searches and interviews, I
worked several part-time jobs at the PCC Information Technology department and USC
Computer Information Technology department. Throughout my college years, I served in
various capacities including computer operator, help desk specialist, and code developer
assisting several professors in their research efforts.
After graduating from USC, I worked at Rockwell International Corporation as a software
engineer developer for a couple of years. During this time, I performed various functions
including application development, system operations and maintenance, and user support.
Through this work experience, I developed great analytical skill, problem solving ability, team
work and interaction with others. The aerospace industry boomed from early 1980’s to mid
1980’s. The computer industry was also growing. There was lots of demand for engineering
and computer hardware and software expertise. During my years at Rockwell International, I
was lucky to have a good manager who mentored me. He told me that I was smart and very
capable; however, in order to be a successful leader in the corporate world, I needed to reduce
my English ascent. People would perceive me differently. So he enrolled me in the ESL classes
that Rockwell offered for their employees. I also spent two years at UCLA in an accent reduction
program.
My interest turned to High Tech business operations. I had the opportunity to work for Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC), the second largest computer company after IBM in 1980s. DEC
made its success in mid range computing technology. My role was in sales support; basically
interface with clients, recommend technology solutions and work with the sales executives to
close the sales. This role gave me the opportunity to learn the computer business, to use sales
technology solutions, service and interact with customers. I continued to develop my
management and leadership skills. At the same time, I completed my MBA from Pepperdine
University. I made many friends at DEC and still keep in touch with several today. There were
also informal mentors who helped me and guided me along the way.
During the early 1990’s, the computer hardware market matured. Computers became a
commodity. The computer industry went through consolidation. The more profitability
businesses were in software and consulting services. I went through a transition and worked for
Ernst & Young Management Consulting firm. I performed several international consulting
engagements for financial service clients and traveled aboard in the United Kingdom and Far
East. Internet technology was booming and the use of the World Wide Web (WWW) was
growing. I continued to learn and expand my Internet knowledge through hands on experience.
I continued to develop my leadership and people skills, and was promoted very quickly to
Senior Manager. Of course, a couple of informal mentors guided me through the process. I
developed close working relationships with several partners and other senior managers within
the firm, and earned a strong reputation for achieving high quality work and results, managing
profitable engagements, bringing values to clients and building strong client relationships. I
networked within the firm and various professional organizations. I left the firm after my
daughter was born with to achieve work life balance. This turned out to be the right decision. I
worked for a small local consulting firm selling and managing consulting engagements, and
gained invaluable experience in entrepreneurship.
During the Dot Com years in the early 2000s when the economy was growing, I worked for IBM
Global Services as a practice leader selling, managing and delivering eBusiness services;
Business to Business (B2B) and business to Consumer (B2C) solutions to IBM’s customers. I
gained valuable experience and this also enabled me to teach many of the eBusiness courses at
California Polytechnics State University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) at the time. Teaching at Cal
Poly Pomona gave a sense of giving back to the community and help the students by sharing my
experience. As the Dot Com companies got into financial trouble, Sept 11 2001 disaster took
place; the US economy went into recession. Many U. S. companies were impacted by the
down turn of the economy; many companies restructured, reduced costs and resources, this
included IBM. I was in transition, at this time, my son was born. I took some time off to focus
on my family, regrouped and re-focused on my career and personal interests.
I started working again when my son was eight months old. In 2003 and 2004, Program
Management, Office and Portfolio Management were growing fields in IT. This was means of
managing and ensuring that IT spending and investment are strategic aligned with company’s
business goals and objectives. This was an emphasis for many companies to ensure the return
on investment (ROI) for IT spending or projects. As the economy started to growth again, the
real estate market and financial services market were booming specially the mortgage business.
I served as PMO director for a manufacturing company and financial services companies.
In 2005, because of my management consulting experience and proven track record of leading
and managing complex and large initiatives for organizations, I had the opportunity to work
Kaiser Permanente. This was a great opportunity for me to gain health care experience. I led
and managed Medicare IT initiatives for Kaiser, and was responsible for a budget of $250M+
over five years ($40M to $70M annually) with a team of 200+ members. I continued to lecture
part-time at Cal Poly Pomona as this is what I enjoy.
Current Job
The U.S. economic from 2007 through 2010 was poor shape. The nation’s unemployment rate
was at its highest; between 10-11%, California’s unemployment rate reached 12%. This
impacted many businesses in the U.S. Many companies restructure, downsize and reduce cost.
This was no exception for Kaiser Permanente. After having worked as a Director for six years at
Kaiser Permanente’s Information Technology (KPIT) organization, my position was impacted by
organization re-structure and downsize. This happened before the holidays in 2010. Once
again, I took advantage of the time-off, re-organized and reprioritized my focus; I traveled with
my husband and kids, and spent time with my family in the Far East during the holidays, I
volunteered at my son’s school consistently for a few months; this was something that I
couldn’t do while working full-time, I re-connected with many friends from the past. I also
spent time job searching. Recognizing the challenges of the current economic climate, I made a
goal for myself to be flexible in the level of compensation and position, and the kind of role
during the job search. I focused my search in the Health Care industry realizing that there is
demand due to government regulations and compliance.
After six month of job search, I landed on my current role as a Strategic Program Leader at
Apria Health Inc. I lead, manage and execute key strategic initiatives for the organization.
Examples include implementation of strategic agreements and contracts with health plans for
Home Medical Equipment (HME) and services to help the organization increase market share,
and operational improvements projects to help the organization reduce costs.
My current position gives me an opportunity to get exposed to the home health business and
services which I did not have before. My day-to-day work activities vary depending on the
projects that I am leading. They range from developing strategy, problem solving, performing
analysis, fact findings, providing project leadership and management, project execution,
solution presentation and progress updates to the company’s executives and working with
them to achieve the company’s business and financial objectives. Basically I’m responsible for
improving operations, increasing revenue and profitability, and growing market share. What I
enjoy the most of my work is that every day is different. The challenge is keeping up with
industry and market changes. So I network within and outside of the company, make friends
with experts and leverage on their expertise and participate in various conferences as needed.
Work/Life Balance
Managing work life balance was a priority for me after my daughter was born. I quit working at
Ernst &Young (E&Y) LLP due to the high demand of travel schedule, the intensity of my
responsibility as a Senior Manager and constant client demand.
I focused on my professional career for many years, and realized there are many other aspects
of my life such as family, friends, and community that are just as important. I felt that I needed
to growth in these areas. Achieving work life balance was not easy but achievable. I had a very
supportive spouse who is a great partner and shares many of the family responsibilities. I also
built a supportive system with our neighbor friends where we help each other with our
children. After leaving E&Y, I worked for a small and local consulting firm for a year and started
to lecturer at California Polytechnics State University, Pomona. This arrangement allowed me to
work with local clients, stay close to home, and get more involved in the community where I
live.
The key to be success at work life balance is to clearly understand your priority at the moment,
what that priority means to you, and stay focused. It also means that you need to redefine
“success” for yourself, knowing to say “no” when it’s appropriate and stay committed.
Advice to Women
The technology field is full of excitement, innovation and creation. This also means there are
always many changes in this environment, and it is a very competitive and fast paste. My
advice is that you should enjoy and have passion for your profession, and determine if the
technology industry is the right profession for you. Having perseverance, flexibility to adopt and
ability to transform are necessary to be successful in the high tech industry. The other
important things are to understand the market trend and employment demand, and to realize
where the opportunities are, and position yourself to capture the opportunity.
Gabrielle Capolupo,
Sr. Director, Juniper Networks
“I had actually promised myself two things when I left college…1) I
would never work in an office and 2) I would never work with
computers. I have violated both of those promises to myself and
couldn’t be happier about it.”
Education
BA, Cum Laude, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
MBA, San Jose State University
Background
I literally had zero interest in working with computers until I was placed by a temp agency into a
telecommunications company. After graduation from UMASS, I had planned to move to
California to establish state residency and then attend graduate school for a film degree. I did
manage to move to California, achieve state residency, and go to graduate school, but never
managed the graduate film degree.
When I first moved to California, I was living with my Dad’s cousin and had little, if any, money
to my name. I had driven from Boston to California by myself, and everything I owned was
comprised of what would fit in my little car. I was 23 years old at the time. I went to a temp
agency so I could at least earn money to put gas in my car. I took the agency’s placement test
and scored a perfect 100%. They had asked me to put items in alphabetical order and do some
basic math! It was that simple. I couldn’t imagine anyone not scoring a perfect 100%, but they
seemed to be quite pleased with me. I was then sent to a company called Novell, which at the
time (1988) was the leader in networking technology. I knew nothing about it, the industry and
until that time, had never touched a computer. I had actually promised myself two things when
I left college…1) I would never work in an office and 2) I would never work with computers. I
have violated both of those promises to myself and couldn’t be happier about it. While working
at Novell, I developed my interested in computers. I stayed for seven years. I did manage to get
my graduate degree during this time as well, but it wasn’t in film, it was an MBA :-).
My Dad’s cousin was the first influence I had in my career. He was an incredible man with the
wisdom to tell me to shoot for the stars, so no matter the outcome, the journey taken would be
the best possible route. A few of the people in my life prior to him had encouraged me to not
try anything too hard because then I wouldn’t have to deal with disappointment. I am glad I
never listened to them.
Career Path
I started out at Novell as a back-up receptionist. Of course this was the temp position I had
planned to take only for a few weeks. This was in the days before voicemail or cell phones, so I
only got calls when the main receptionist at the front desk couldn’t handle all of the calls
coming in to the main trunk. I didn’t even sit where people could see me, but rather in a small
corner of a hallway with just a small desk and chair. The one thing I did, however, was talk to
many, many people (those that called and waited on hold and those that walked by my little
corner of the world). Many seemed to be surprised to see me reading the kinds of books I did
during the times the phone wasn’t ringing, as the previous occupants of my chair, had usually
read romance novels or gossip magazines. In fact, while I was still a temp, my choice of books
(Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables) was the thing that prompted one of the VPs to ask me to
interview for a permanent position. I got the job and moved from my receptionist job to a
position in customer service. By the time I started, I had a leg up on the others in my
department, because I knew so many people in the company from speaking with them on the
phone. I knew who they were, what office they were in and their job roles. That proved to be
very, very valuable when I began solving customer problems. I started grad school within the
year of arriving in CA and stayed in that customer service job for a year or so while beginning
work on my MBA. I was promoted to an Operations Analyst after creating many new processes
and procedure based on the information I gathered from being a Customer Service Rep. I was
then promoted into a position of Program Manager and then took a position as a Product
Manager once I finished my degree.
A professor I adored (and one I still keep in touch with today) advised me to change companies
after graduation, as my current company was likely to just keep paying me the same as they
always had. He was right, and I moved to Cisco, after they had called me several times. I
interviewed for several positions, but was offered the one I least preferred. I turned it down. A
few months later, when the position I had originally wanted hadn’t been filled, they offered me
the job. It was in software engineering. Again, something I knew nothing about, but was eager
to learn.
From there, I became an engineering manager, learning what I needed to know along the way. I
eventually moved up to a third level manager, managing both software and hardware
development. At one point, I had about 60 people reporting to me, many with PhDs. I wasn’t an
engineer, and never tried to compete with them on things I obviously knew little about, but I
was really becoming a professional engineering manager.
During this time, I had many bosses. Some were horrible and some were wonderful. All
contributed in one way or another to my journey. One boss in particular, who had randomly
been assigned to be my mentor the first the day I joined Cisco, has been a factor in my life to
this day. I ended up working for this manager directly three times, at two different companies
for a total of about 6 years. I indirectly worked for him for another two. By far, I have spent
more time with him than any other manager in my career. Good working relationships with
management, I believe, it one of the true keys to satisfaction in any job. A bad manager can kill
a great job, and a good manager can make anything bearable.
Knowing when to ask for help, knowing when to admit you don’t know something and being
confident about what you do know really helped me out. Also, you must have respect for what
other people do, and they will often return that favor. I am not a software engineer, but have
spent most of my career managing software engineers. They can do things I will never do, and I
do the things that they often can’t or don’t want to do. I have enjoyed a very good working
relationship with nearly all of the engineers who have reported to or worked with me.
Everyone faces difficulty at work. Over the past 23 years in the industry, I have had my fair
share of tough situations. Some range from idiotic statements from higher ups who think they
know everything and are bent on proving it to you and some are from making stupid mistakes
and not being easy on myself. I do have very high standards and I hold myself to them more
than others. So when I do something stupid, that isn’t to my standard, it can make for a pretty
bad day. It happens. Spending time with friends and family after work always seems to put
things back into perspective.
I’ve had many of these great days as well. But I will narrow it down to the days when I have
witnessed one of my employees doing something amazing, whether it be work related (like
getting promoted) or something personal, like completing the 500 mile AIDS bike ride. Just
awesome!
Current Job
When I first came to Juniper, I was in charge of all OS software releases. The role was not
positioned well and it was a very trying position. After three and half years of what was
honestly my most difficult job ever due to mostly political reasons, I transferred to work for the
Junos CTO. I spend half of my time providing project support for a team of Distinguished
Engineers and the other half of my time managing the Juno’s Architecture Board, which is also a
team of five Distinguished Engineers. I am thrilled to be part of both of these groups.
My current manager is brilliant, funny and so very easy to get along with and work for. Also, the
job is about ‘doing the right thing’ as far as software goes and that is extremely attractive. I
have to follow up on issues and navigate the sea of processes and procedures for getting things
done with regards to the software development the team is working on, while allowing the
engineers to focus on the technical issues. In addition, I have the opportunity to bring value
based on my previous roles and experiences in this industry. My last company is a competitor
of my current company and about 15 years older. Given that, a lot of the issues we encounter
now are things that were previously encountered and often solved. My previous experience in
software packaging, code integration and software release are relevant to the issues of a
growing company, which characterizes Juniper.
The people with whom I work really appreciate me doing what I do for them. I didn’t see a lot
of that in my previous role. It is far less stressful than my past role as well, given the demands
are not 24X7,which they previously were.
Everyone thinks that working with all of the Distinguished Engineers must be so easy, but its
still about herding cats! Really smart cats, but cats nonetheless. But I keep reminding myself it
is because of people like them, that people like me have careers  . Teams need professional
engineering managers regardless of the titles of the people in those teams.
I spend a lot of time reading about the things the engineers talk about. I Google search
everything I hear them discussing but am not familiar with.
Given my role working with these architects, they are always investigating new things like
coding tools, new programming languages, etc. so listening to their conversations and the kinds
of questions they ask is enlightening. Many of the engineers keep me in the loop as well, as it is
often beneficial to get an opinion or view from someone who has a different perspective than
they do.
Work/Family Balance
I don’t have any children, so work life balance is a little easier for me than for those with them.
However, it is often just assumed that people without children can work longer hours, or pitch
in over the weekends meaning we often end up with an even greater burden than most. It has
taken me many years and getting older to realize that no one will ever tell me when to go home
or stop working. Only I can control my work life balance. It is still a challenge, but as you get
older, priorities of friends and family move up higher on the list than they were when I was
younger. As you get to the point in your life when you start to lose parents and friends, it is
really an indication of where time needs to be spent and that help put things into perspective.
I used to take work home, for many, many years. But as I got older, it became easier to
separate. I have a rule that I never leave email unread, ever. I address each and every one every
day and either file it, respond or leave it in my in box if it needs follow up. But taking care of it
leaves me to go home each night without things hanging over my head. I do check email
regularly when I am home, but I find that it a way to not come back to the office on a Monday,
or after vacation with a huge pile. I often find I can relax better when I know what is waiting for
me as opposed to just dreading what is.
I have someone come once a week to take care of the yard and a house cleaner than comes
every other week. That helps me not to spend weekends doing chores, so I can spend more
time with my friends and family. (We also have someone who comes twice a month to take
care of the hot tub. We thought we could do on our own, but after having the tub sprout some
orange mushrooms and paying a fortune to have it thoroughly cleaned out, we decided to leave
it to a professional!)
I love to cook. I really enjoy making big dinners for my friends and having everyone over to hang
out. Our friends as also very into the wine scene and we often spend weekends checking out
new wineries in towns nearby. Northern California has a huge wine industry!
Advice to Women
Be open to possibilities. You may think something is completely wrong for you or that you may
have no interest in something, but you will never know where it might lead you until you try it.
You can always decide later that you really didn’t like it and move on, but how can be sure
without trying something? I could never have predicted where I am now nor how much I would
love doing what I do, but I am so glad I followed so many opportunities that were presented to
me.
Stay connected to the people that you meet along the way. There are many ways to do this
today using social networking, etc. I still keep in touch with many of those people whom I met
while chatting with them while they were on hold and that was 24 years ago. Many of those
went on to work for other highly visible high tech companies and have been instrumental in
helping those opportunities materialize.
Christina C. Wade,
Web Developer, Freelance Consultant
“The biggest challenge of my job is also the most
rewarding—helping clients realize their vision. Translating
the customer’s business requirements into strong, reliable
design requires a delicate marriage of the customer’s needs
with the project’s feasibility.”
Education
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with emphasis in Computer Information Systems
and Marketing Management, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Background
It is difficult to identify exactly when my love of computers started. Computers have been
present throughout my life for as long as I can remember. My mother was a computer
programmer, and from an early age, she always encouraged me to become as computer literate
as possible. As a child, every morning before school my mother would allow my siblings and me
to play games on our family computer. I was formally introduced to computers in the first
grade as a technical component of one of my English classes. By then I had already mastered
typing and was able to fly through my assignments, while many of my peers had never even
used a computer before. I always enjoyed classes that utilized computers more than those that
did not. When I entered high school, I was finally given the flexibility to decide my academic
schedule. I enrolled in elective courses with art, graphic design, and animation focused
curriculum. I also took a telecommunications and web development class. This course taught
me the basics of HTML and CSS, while illustrating the importance of the ever expanding
technology industry. By the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to major in Computer
Information Systems. As a nationally ranked local university with one of the oldest Computer
Information Systems department in the West, California State Polytechnic University Pomona
was my first choice. Cal Poly Pomona exposed me to a broad curriculum in a comprehensive
hands-on learning environment.
During my freshman year, I took a Java programming course as part of my required curriculum.
With the exception of HTML and CSS, I previously never had any experience with an object
oriented programming language. Through this course, I learned the value of object-oriented
and robust programming. I continued taking web development classes, matriculating into
intermediate Java, database, and internet security courses. These courses laid the foundation
for my SQL, Visual Basic, ASP, and PHP skill set development. They also improved my HTML,
CSS, and JavaScript skills, as I began to think about developing cleaner, smaller, more
maintainable code. To date, one of my favorite courses was Multimedia Web Application
Development. This class cultivated my programming and universal design knowledge and
acquainted me with W3C, Section 508 and WAI compliance standards. It gave me an
opportunity to work with Mac and Windows hardware and software, to create fun and
interactive websites and applications. Finally, it taught me the importance of designing with
the user’s accessibility in mind, a skill I practice on a daily basis. I thoroughly enjoyed these
courses. My dedication to Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” philosophy can be reflected in my
academic affiliations. I became a member of the invitation only Beta Gamma Sigma Honor
Society, Golden Key International Honour Society, and Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor
Society. I was also recognized multiple times on the College of Business Administration Dean’s
List and the President’s Honor List.
As a student, I immersed myself in extracurricular activities within the Computer Information
Systems department and College of Business Administration. It was through this involvement
that I was able to further develop many of my technical, interpersonal, and professional skills. I
served on the executive board of the Management Information Systems Student Association
(MISSA) for two years. While working as the Chief Financial Officer, I created, maintained, and
monitored the budgets for MISSA’s general and Information Technology Competition accounts.
As Vice President of MISSA, I oversaw all events, communication, and organization
development. I supervised individuals, coordinated weekly meetings, and maintained the
organization’s budget. I also planned the 2010 CIS Alumni Banquet, developed workshops for
the Cyber Security Fair, and hosted tutoring sessions for students. For two years, I served as an
executive representative for the United Business Student Senate—voting on issues affecting all
4,700 majors in the College of Business Administration, and organizing collaborative events
with other organizations on campus. While Web Development Case Director for the
Information Technology Competition, I worked on everything from generating sponsorship, to
developing a press release, participating in interviews, and marketing the event throughout
Southern California.
Career Path
My growing knowledge of the employment of technology to present information piqued my
interest in web development. I am an artist at heart—infatuated with various genres and
modes of artistic expression. Web developers are just a different type of artist. Our medium is
our computer and our message is the world. I have always been a conceptual thinker, a
generator of creative ideas, and a self-starter, who can quickly adjust from working
independently to developing with a team. Mastering an array of programming languages and
design techniques at Cal Poly Pomona taught me how to seamlessly blend form and function,
while reinforcing my passion to work in a creative environment.
My career decision was also influenced by the rapid expansion of the information technology
industry and businesses’ increasing reliance on the Internet and web based applications.
Information technology is ubiquitous in every façade of today’s world. In order for businesses
to survive in the ever-competitive global economy, it is imperative that they develop the digital
environment that their current and potential customers demand. Websites enable
corporations to sell, advertise, and promote on a larger and less expensive scale than any other
medium. Thus, professional web developers will always be needed to design, launch, and
maintain web pages that capture each business’ individualized needs. There is something very
rewarding about creating functional and aesthetically pleasing websites for my clients. And, I
have the patience and motivation to devote large periods of time to doing just that.
Contemporary web developers are required to be knowledgeable in a variety of web
developing and application developing languages, proficient in web authoring tools, clientserver applications, and expert in implicit familiarization with graphical software. As the
industry progresses, there is a certain expectation that new media will do the work of the old. I
love learning new languages, programs and tools, and strive to become ever proficient in the
technologies relevant to my career path.
I started receiving many website development requests before I graduated. In addition to
designing personal websites, I interned for a mobile application corporation, and even worked
as the webmaster for Cal Poly’s Golden Key International Honour Society. One of my most
meaningful positions was interning for my alma mater. As the Web and Graphic Designer for
Cal Poly Pomona’s Career Center, I overhauled the Career Center’s image to reflect quality,
professionalism, and efficiency. I actively worked with the Associate Director of the Career
Center to increase corporate sponsorships, raise student recruitment rates, and assist in the
center’s marketing campaigns throughout the school year. I proposed the facility, website
layout and design changes necessary to re-brand the Career Center and make it more utilitarian
and user friendly to it’s over 100,000 visitors. My improvements included redesigning the
center’s website, developing online graphics, and creating physical marketing materials.
Throughout the process I even participated in weekly executive meetings to with supervisors to
review changes and track progress. To date, my changes continue to increase the number of in
person and online patrons the Career Center receives.
The availability of projects, adequate compensation, and flexible schedules are enticing factors
to any web developer. Most satisfying to me, however, is the knowledge that my expertise will
be able to make the lives of one of my clients and their consumers, just a little bit easier. With
the wider adaptation of programming standards and advances in HTML5 and CSS3
technologies, now, more than any other time, it is good to be a web developer.
Current Job
As a freelance web developer, I am involved in all stages of website production for my clients.
Accordingly, I must be highly motivated, able to learn quickly, and welcoming and persuasive in
order to foster clients and generate business. I am also organized enough to work on a variety
of challenging projects, capable of identifying and navigating unexpected problems, and able to
manage group dynamics to achieve a client’s goals. I participate in a variety of design,
implementation, and maintenance tasks on a regular basis. Some of the design tasks that I
complete include creating business data models, management structures, and web based
applications that fulfill the client’s and their user’s needs. I develop and implement web pages,
client-server applications, and database models that are dynamic, and adhere to the ethical
standards of design. I am also responsible for quickly and effectively modifying the design to
meet the client’s needs, providing feedback and suggestions to team members, and
participating in research and development of technologies. Finally, for my maintenance tasks, I
ensure the product is running properly, and provide documentation and training services to
clients, permitting them to continue to operations long after the project is completed.
The biggest challenge of my job is also the most rewarding—helping clients realize their vision.
The prevailing mantra in the business world states that, “The customer is always right,” and the
web development industry is no exception. Translating the customer’s business requirements
into strong, reliable design requires a delicate marriage of the customer’s needs with the
project’s feasibility. My ultimate objective is to design a superior quality product that surpasses
my client’s expectations.
Work Life Balance
Since my position allows me the freedom to work from home, maintaining a happy work life
balance often poses a unique challenge. As with most web developers, it sometimes seems like
I am constantly thinking of new ways to make my code more efficient, new graphical features
to engineer, and different marketing techniques to use. Fortunately, prioritization is essential
to the success of any entrepreneur. I frequently ask myself, “What I do I want to do, and why?”
And, set tactical and strategic objectives to accomplish goals in an organized and time-oriented
fashion.
Advice to Women
Always ask yourself what you are doing to better yourself personally, professionally, and
socially. Leverage your interpersonal skills with your technical abilities to meet significant
people and foster relationships. Whether your goal is completing your degree, getting a
different job, or achieving a personal milestone—be more efficient with what you already have
and you will accomplish more.
Stephanie Smith,
Director, Ravenhaven Media
“Another tool our team built allows blind kids to
visualize simple pictures. One day a kid from Puerto
Rico was “listening” to a picture of a hurricane on a
map. He said, “Wow, it’s bigger than my whole
country.” It gave me a new way to understand his
world.”
Education
BA, English, Texas State
MLIS, University of Texas Austin
Background
My Dad was a military pilot and I grew up following his career around the world. Our family
followed the jets like high tech nomads. We understood the mission and the tools on the flight
line to make it happen. As a military brat or “third culture kid” I grew up outside my passport
country. That experience provided an immense cross-cultural perspective for me. What was
once a small subset is increasingly the norm as more kids grow up outside their parent’s home
culture and become global citizens.
After undergraduate studies I began working in libraries. It was there I discovered an interest in
setting up and using emerging computer systems. The first PC’s in the library were suitcase
sized plastic boxes with 2”x2” screens. They didn’t have a hard drive. You had to boot them
with 5.25” floppy disks. (Go to a museum, Google it.) I figured out how to use Bitnet on the
VAX to send an electronic message to my sweetie in another city. Email! I knew it would be
huge. One library was a patent repository and I helped work the kinks out of a computer
system for inventors to do patent searches.
Career Path
I got an undergraduate degree in English/Anthropology and then after working at a couple
different libraries, I got a Masters in Information Science. I worked as a reference librarian
with a woman mentor for a while and then went into systems development.
In graduate school I volunteered for a NASA research project to investigate the automatic
description of visual information. That project led to an invitation to join a NASA software lab
building information systems. I accepted and we built an electronic library system and an
information system based on WAIS.
Someone in the lab got wind of a CERN project where technical papers had references
embedded as numbers. You could type the number at the prompt and be redirected to the
reference. That was amazing. But wait, there’s more… Not long after that a GUI came out of
the University of Illinois called X Windows Mosaic. FTP, Archie and Gopher were good, but this
was great! We jumped on the technology, installed a server and coded the first page for the
Johnson Space Center. The Web had begun.
Those were heady days and development morphed into building online Internet tools. By this
time I was working with an amazing computer scientist and our team created a lot of tools. We
built a meta-crawler to feed our text based search engine, an information repository tool for
collected crawler data and worked with Ames Research Center on a groundbreaking streaming
media testbed which was later used and refined by commercial interests.
We turned our sights on instructional technology and built a real-time interactive study game, a
kid friendly 3D robotics workbench and an automatic visual information system. We released
MathTrax, the Math Description Engine (MDE) and the MDE Software Development Kit as tools
for kids to learn math. Recent projects involve virtual world development and mixed reality
event broadcasting.
Each development experience is a combination of our team’s knowledge base, better hardware
and newfound skills. The machines get smaller and more powerful. The ability to reach and
collaborate with others is broader. I find my body of work a logical progression but in some
ways unforeseen.
Current Job
I currently develop online educational tools for students. I design the tools, develop education
tie-ins and figure out how to glue it together to make a sound learning experience. I really
enjoy hearing about kid’s experiences when they use the tools I’ve helped develop. One tool
called MathTrax helps blind kids learn algebra using tone graphs. I like that some kids who
might not have gone to college learned math skills and went on to get a degree. Another tool
our team built allows blind kids to visualize simple pictures. One day a kid from Puerto Rico was
“listening” to a picture of a hurricane on a map. He said, “Wow, it’s bigger than my whole
country.” It gave me a new way to understand his world.
Work/Family Balance
What can I tell you? This is tough. I get better at balancing work and family the farther I go in
my career. When I was starting out I didn’t have any job flexibility so I couldn’t participate
much in my daughter’s school day and my husband and I would trade out pick-ups when she
got sick. We did find a rhythm and strategies like one of us would work close to the homecare
location and we took turns going through graduate school so someone could be around. Now
I have more seniority and structure my work to telecommute. I lean to agile teams that value
and respect time off. Sharing responsibilities with my husband and working with a compatible
team helps me interleave work and home.
Advice to Women
Big Picture: Things have really improved since I began my career. I’d say there’s still some work
to be done on pay equity and positions of leadership. See how you can make a difference on
that.
Projects
There are lots of variables on a project. Often, the big three are people, time and money. If
one of those variables shifts during your project, adjust the others.
To-do List:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Work hard.
Do your best.
Keep your word.
Prioritize.
Split the housework.
Don’t take your laptop on vacation.
Jacqueline Dilberian,
Manager Web Design & Development
Largest Regional Bank in Southern California
“But if I had to pinpoint the moment my love affair with
computers began, I would have to say it was the day my
father brought home a Leading Edge Model D. With no hard
drive on board, it bore a 5.25” floppy disk, a whopping 256
KB of RAM, and DOS.”
Education
BS in Business Administration (with emphases in Computer Information Systems and Electronic
Business) from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Background
I’ve always been interested in electronics. My parents were electronic engineers. From a very
young age, I remember spending hours with my father, in his workshop, where he would
answer my questions about all the interesting tools he was using, explain how things worked,
and let me play with oscilloscopes or metal shavings. But if I had to pinpoint the moment my
love affair with computers began, I would have to say it was the day my father brought home a
Leading Edge Model D. With no hard drive on board, it bore a 5.25” floppy disk, a whopping 256
KB of RAM, and DOS. As I grew, and technology began to mature, I spent my hours exploring
the power computers had to offer.
If I had to think back to any one person, it would be my high school C++ instructor. He helped
introduce me to the software side of the equation. Had it not been for him, I probably would
have gone into electronic engineering like my parents.
Career Path
When I first graduated high school, I decided to pursue a major in computer science but I soon
discovered that I wasn’t passionate about my core classes. I knew that I loved computers, and I
thought that the software side was what I wanted to spend my life doing, but it just wasn’t
adding up. I even took on a part-time job in tech support and hated it.
So, in an effort to find my true calling, I decided to go on an academic hiatus from my major and
focused on finishing my general education requirements while taking classes in fields of study
similar to computer science. The game changer was a pair of summer class I took at a local
community college for Dreamweaver 3.0 and Fireworks. I’d found my passion again. I soon
began taking on pro-bono web design clients to expand my experience base. As I got busier
and busier with my new-found hobby, customers offered to start paying me. That’s when I
realized I could make a career out of this. I started a web design company in 2002 and all was
well for several years.
Unfortunately, as the economy started to decline, more and more of our long-time clients
started going out of business and new business opportunities were getting slimmer and
slimmer. The customer base was no longer large enough to support our business. I began
looking for temporary opportunities to help make ends meet for a few months, while the
economy could recover. But as it became clear that the recession would last longer than most
expected, a career began taking new focus.
Originally, I started working at a bank on a 3-6 month contract as a Web Designer to fill-in for
another employee while she was on maternity leave. When my contract expired, I was offered
a permanent position at the bank and about a year later, I was promoted to a manager. As my
team began to grow, so did my passion for my job.
Current Job
I currently manage the web presence for a large regional bank in Southern California. My
responsibilities include overseeing design, development, and copyright for all aspects of the
corporate websites, microsites, email marketing campaigns, branded documents, and animated
graphics. On an average day, I leverage my team’s strengths to optimize our department
workflow, work with management, corporate compliance, and legal counsel to ensure the
accuracy of all the material we release, liaise with vendors to meet business goals, and
coordinate with other business units to ensure all projects are being completed according to
their requirements.
At first, I was looking for an easy job I could do by day while trying to keep my business afloat
by night. However, as I became more familiar with the duties of my new role, I found
improvements that could be implemented to streamline projects and make campaigns more
efficient. I love knowing that every day I’m helping our customers because every time they visit
our website, we provide them with the tools and resources they need to keep living in their
homes.
I think the most challenging part of my job was a brief period when I had an extremely
insubordinate employee working for me. He made it very clear that he felt women should stay
home to cook, clean, and take care of men. Needless to say, not only did he have a major
problem with a woman working in the IT industry, but having to report to me was absolutely
unacceptable for him. There was no end to his tactics. From simply claiming he never received
my emails or refusing to work on projects I assigned him, to intentionally jeopardizing projects
under my supervision, he would stop at nothing to make every day just a little more unpleasant
for me. On a weekly basis, he just didn’t bother showing up to work, not to mention calling in to
notify me of his absence. When he did come in, he would arrive an hour late, take a two hour
lunch, and leave an hour early. In addition to his already long list of offenses, he was known for
missing every deadline, often pushing deliverables months past their due dates, intentionally
making code changes that would cause the live customer website to fail, getting into fights with
fellow co-workers in the middle of the office, and taking very loud and disruptive personal
phone calls several times throughout the day. It was a very trying time for me, but I kept my
cool through it all and in the end, he decided to leave the company before the completion of his
forced termination proceedings.
Work/Family Balance
Work Family balance can definitely be challenging at times. I make sure to always go above and
beyond and put in more than is expected of me at work. At the end of the day, I draw a very
clear line between my work and personal life and I try to make sure that line is never blurred. I
don’t bring my personal life to work and I try not to bring my work life home. That being said,
everyone in the family is clear on the fact that I do have to be flexible in the event of a crisis. As
critical staff, I can be called in 24/7/365 regardless of time or day. Luckily, critical issues, such
as one of our websites going down, seldom occur.
Advice to Women
Always be fair, work hard, do your best, and don’t let others make you doubt yourself or your
abilities.
Maricel S. Camacho,
IT Executive | Consultant| Entrepreneur
“…create an unstoppable attitude of unwavering desire
and a relentless pursuit of accomplishment in your career,
matched with a humble spirit. It’s a magic formula for
success that has worked for me every single day.”
Education
B.S. Business Administration – CIS, Cal Poly, Pomona
EMBA (Executive MBA) – USC Marshall School of Business Candidate, Class of 2013
Background
When I first entered into college, I had no inkling I would finish my undergraduate studies with
a degree in IT. For the first two years, I thought I would be a Management and Human
Resources Major. Then, I stumbled upon a CIS 101 class which I found very challenging and
interesting. The challenge motivated me. The particular professor at the time was a very
difficult one, and I found myself taking a liking to the fascinations of typing on a command line
in MS-DOS. Finding myself truly engaged in the course throughout the whole quarter, I found
myself getting an ‘A’ grade in the class. Around that time, I also saw news excerpts on
television, explaining how IT careers would be in the top 10 careers of college graduates over
the course of the next five years. I recall watching Good Morning America one morning, seeing
the statistics displayed on television. Over the course of a short period of time, I put two and
two together and it made perfect sense that I should change majors, and that I would pursue a
career which would present me with challenging opportunities, in an up-and-coming industry. I
was very fortunate to be a part of the dot.com era which was about to reveal itself.
What made my particular journey even more challenging was the fact that at the time of my
undergraduate studies, I was also raising a new family. I gave birth to my first four children,
one per year, during my undergraduate studies. I worked tirelessly to achieve my goals, to
finish school and graduate by the time I turned 25. When I was pregnant with my 4 th child, I
was nearing graduation, only two more quarters away. I always tell people the story of my
determination to finish school despite the difficult odds, explaining the story of how I gave
birth to my 4th child and daughter, then had my now x-husband drive me to class up the hill the
very next day to attend my Advanced C++ Course. I always see the awe in people’s faces when I
explain to them how, because I wore a large sweatshirt, the class didn’t know I gave birth to my
daughter the night beforehand, that is, until I made the announcement the very next day. Two
years later, after starting my IT career, I gave birth to my fifth child.
Career Path
When I was a child, I had a vision that someday I would be working ‘in a tall building, for a
company named IBM.’ I was always fascinated by the corporate executives in the ‘tall’ building,
and 20+ years later, no one could have told me that my very first job out of college would be
with IBM. I was truly excited. Although in my undergraduate studies I focused on a software
application development track, I landed my first job as an IT Specialist/QA Engineer. I thought it
would be an excellent opportunity to learn and have some rigorous training. I credit my current
success in an IT Career Path to the foundation and teachings I was fortunate to experience from
such a great company, one filled with truly talented professionals. At IBM, I played several
different roles over the course of almost five years, including that of a Consultant focused on
Client Delivery, specifically an IT Specialist, Application Integrator, QA Engineer, and Solution
Architect. As a result of my tenure with the IBM Global Services Division, I was very fortunate
to work on a wide variety of projects, varying in length and types of technologies.
As I continued to seek other opportunities in my career, I initially focused on growing in my
specialization as a QA Engineer. I acquired more responsibility in my positions working with
different companies, in varying capacities. Some were in the form of direct corporate work
such as with Sony, for example, while other roles were also doing consulting work for HP,
Toyota and smaller boutique consulting firms. Over time, as I continued to gain more
responsibility, I was able to gain momentum in my career, gaining more visible roles when
moving from one company to another. While I have had a breadth of experience working for
numerous clients in varying industries, the latter part of my 15+ year career has afforded me
the opportunity to work in the Digital Media, Ecommerce and Entertainment spaces. I have
been fortunate to gain experience in many different roles, in the form of a very hands-on
engineer, to lead, manager and director roles. In one of my most recent roles with a company,
the 3rd largest entertainment and e-commerce site in the world, I built and managed teams of
many IT Professionals, on a National and Global Scale.
Current Job
As an IT Executive, Consultant and Entrepreneur, the year 2012 has afforded me with some
amazing opportunities. I couldn’t be in a more exciting time in my career. I am leveraging all
my past experiences with my future goals, to continue to grow in an IT Career Path that is
extremely satisfying and fulfilling. I have three main initiatives which are all my ‘jobs.’ I am
currently a full-time consultant to Fortune 500 Companies, with a specialization in Digital and Ecommerce Implementations. I am also an Executive MBA Student at the University of Southern
California, attending classes bi-weekly. Finally, I am an IT Executive and Entrepreneur involved
in a startup collaboration, with plans to launch our company and E-commerce Platform in the
early 2nd quarter of 2012. Within the 30,000-foot view of my initiatives, my most recent
projects have been focused on Enterprise-wide Site Redesigns, in addition to providing
guidance to varying clients and corporations in the areas of general E-commerce, Enterprise
Architecture, Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Web Analytics, and Content Management.
The technologies I work with on a daily basis include many emerging technologies, integrated
with Enterprise-level Technologies and Best Practices. On any given day, I can be expected to
make high visibility Project-level and Resource-level decisions on the critical path, while also
having to be hands-on and test an application, query a database, or inspect system log files.
Work/Life Balance
The concept of Work/Life Balance must revolve around a person’s core values as a professional
and individual. You will find that in your life, they are truly intertwined. First and foremost, you
have to do something you love. I live my life to the fullest regard, because I love and respect
my life. I work, because I love to do so, and it gives me a definite purpose. It is the work that
helps gives me balance, so that I am able to come home to my family and be a role model for
my children. As a single mother of five children, I make every attempt to involve my children in
my day, even if it is just explaining to them what I accomplished and how my contribution made
an impact.
In all honestly, I operate with an extreme sense of urgency and fast pace every single day. It’s
not for everyone, but it is important to know who your ‘professional’ and ‘personal’ selves are
and be in tune with them constantly, making time to nurture each of your identities. While it’s
important to love what you do as a professional, it’s equally important to know your limitations
and your weaknesses. Work/life balance involves making time for almost anything. The
problem is never a lack of time, but a lack of understanding one’s priorities. If you spend
countless hours on a project, reward yourself with a nice activity, or time with your family and
friends. Know your body well, eat well, know your inner most spirit, and take time to rest when
your body calls for it. Only you know what you need. For myself, I enjoy eating healthy food
with an indulgence at times, running by the beach to renew my soul, reading a great book,
going to weekly Sunday Service, and spending time with my children and closest family and
friends.
Advice to Women
On the more technical side of things, make it a point to learn a new skill weekly, whether it is
exposure to a new technology, an area of the business you take an affinity to, or even have a
weakness in. In the beginning of your career, specialize like crazy. As you continue to advance,
gain broader knowledge of your initial specialization, but start to make progress towards being
a larger visionary. Use the skills you learn early on to learn, how to learn, then keep repeating
the process, building upon building your core skill-set in your career. I cannot say this enough -
have a mentor every step of the way. Find mentors, whether it be colleagues, friends, or
corporate gurus you read about in your list of most admired companies.
Success tends to breed complacency. It’s important throughout your career, to have a direction
for the present, as well as for two to five years from now. Constantly take the time to reassess
your skills in your career, keeping track of each and every accomplishment along the way. As
you continue to grow in your career and speak to other colleagues and professionals, be as
clear as possible in your interaction with them. Always offer to help them and develop as many
quality relationships as possible. Helping others will bring opportunity to you two-fold in ways
you couldn’t have even imagined.
In that same capacity, continually seek opportunity. Ask questions and seek answers, then you
will find your own. Also, regarding not so ideal situations, while there will be things and
situations in your career which you will not have control over, what you can control is your
response to any situation or event. Always find the good and silver lining in every outcome.
Learn how to fail and love failure as a way to grow into your next greatest role.
Finally, create an unstoppable attitude of unwavering desire and a relentless pursuit of
accomplishment in your career, matched with a humble spirit. It’s a magic formula for success
that has worked for me every single day.
Ruth Guthrie,
Professor of Computer Information Systems, Cal Poly
Pomona University
“We used a product called MASS11 on a VAX 780
mainframe computer. Since I could touch type, the
computer was super easy to use. They thought I was a
genius.“
Education
BA Mathematics, Claremont McKenna College
MS Statistics, University of Southern California
PhD Information Science, Claremont Graduate School
Background
When I was in high school my mother was very into computers. She was working on her
doctorate and I got to go to the lab with her and play on the computer. My mother has always
been a big geek and that really exposed me to a lot of things that I don’t think other people had
a chance to do.
What I remember most is ELIZA, the computer psycho-analyst developed by Weizenbaum at
MIT. You type things to ELIZA and she engages you in a conversation, asking you many
questions about yourself and what you think about what you said. It was a predecessor to
artificial intelligence that Weizenbaum abandoned because people took it too seriously. So
interesting! This ran on a mainframe that you actually had to physically dial a phone and stick
the headset into a cushy holder to make the connection from a dumb terminal to the
computer. We also had a Commodore Pet computer at our house that actually had cassette
tapes as an input device. Wow.
My first job after college was working at Aerojet Electronic Systems in Azusa as a test engineer
on satellite ground systems software. It sounds pretty impressive but, I didn’t know a thing. I
thought they would fire me. I had to ask tons of questions to the people designing the software
in order to write my test plans. The big bonus for me was that I learned to type in the 7 th grade.
None of the men knew how to type because that was a job for secretaries. We used a product
called MASS11 on a VAX 750 Mainframe computer. Since I could touch type, the computer was
super easy to use. They thought I was a genius.
Career Path
Aerojet was a medium sized aerospace company during the 1980’s. So, it was small enough to
know lots of people and to get a lot of experience. If you were willing to work, no one would
stand in your way. I worked on satellite ground station software test and algorithm
development. What really helped me advance was learning to speak in front of a large
audience. My first presentation was to about 200 people, including customers from the Air
Force and the Aerospace Corporation. I was so nervous, my knees were shaking. But, I got
better at it the more I practiced. Eventually, I was interested in moving into management. I
knew of an opening for an associate program manager and I simply walked into the program
mangers office and told him I was interested. Two days later, I had been promoted. It wasn’t
just dumb luck. I had worked hard and was well respected for that, so I think he gave me a
chance.
The new job gave me a chance to develop leadership and organizational skills. My boss had a
lot of faith in me and gave me a lot of responsibility. I had great people to work with and I
really enjoyed how everyone worked together to meet our big deliveries. There was a lot of
camaraderie and I got to work with very smart people. One thing I didn’t like was not being
heard. I’m a pretty creative person with a lot of ideas. I would find that at a lot of meetings, I
would give an option or have an idea of how to solve something and people would say, “His
idea was right on the money. I agree with what he said,” referring to a man sitting next to me
or someone else. It seemed like they could never match what I looked like to that good idea.
At first, I just kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to be rude. Today, I just say, “Hey,
that was my idea.”
Eventually, I had a woman as my boss. She was from the Air Force and was very direct and
honest and always advocated for her people. I learned a lot from her and eventually got her
job, leading a team of people to launch an early warning satellite into space. I had three older
men working as part of my management team. They didn’t quite trust me and would check to
see that I did everything. “Did QA sign off on that? “ “You know you have to track the action
items.” Of course, I knew and I’d just look at them and say, “Done, done and done!”
Eventually, they figured out I knew what to do. They were pretty fun to work with because
they brought a lot of history and quirky personalities to the job. I still go to happy hour with
them once in a while. Looking back, the technology was interesting. You may have had to read
a lot to learn something or experiment around a bit. But, ultimately what was rewarding was
the team work. All of us working long hours, together to accomplish something really great. I
loved it.
Current Job
I’m currently working as a college professor at Cal Poly Pomona in the Computer Information
Systems department. Many of my students come in a little intimidated by technology. They
have a sense that technology is mysterious and unknown. It is super fun to show someone how
to do something and see them realize just how simple things can be. When people learn to use
technology, it is very empowering. It is super satisfying to find a solution to a problem and
implement it, especially for a client. In our department students do an industry-based senior
project for a real customer. Usually, they are very nervous at the beginning of the term. When
I see them face that challenge and succeed, I remember my own career experience and how
much it built my confidence. It is very rewarding to see the transformation from novice to
expert and fearful to empowered.
Work/Life Balance
I am very poor and managing work and family. If you can solve this problem, there are a million
women waiting to hear what you have to say. I have three kids and while my job has been
quite flexible, it means that I’ve lost a lot of sleep working at 4am to get things done. It is like
having 2 full time jobs. From the research on gender and housework, it is clear that women
carry the bulk of the home responsibilities in addition to their full time jobs. People say to
prioritize, to take time for yourself, or to do less. But, you want to do a great job and you want
to be a great mom. Prioritizing does not help with that. If the kids are sick, need new shoes or
a ride to a friend’s house, odds are, it is the mom who is taking care of it.
I live close to my mother and my sister. That has been tremendously helpful, especially in a
crisis. In my career, all of my employers have been very flexible making accommodations for
sick kids and family emergencies. Of course, I had an established track record with the
company first. I feel lucky that they were so supportive. Really, they are lucky that I was willing
to be so flexible. I did find that working half time meant that you had a full time job with half of
the pay. You were still responsible for meeting your deadlines and getting the work done, you
just had to be twice as efficient.
Advice to Women
The best advice anyone gave me was “be yourself.” If you are a positive, open, fair person who
is willing to work, people recognize that and levitate to it. Also, don’t be afraid to throw your
hat in the ring. Often, if an opportunity arises, people may not even know you are interested.
Being pro-active and telling them what you want is great. The worst they can do is say ‘no’.
You’ve got nothing to lose. If they do say no to you, then the next time an opportunity comes
up, they will remember that you were interested and it might move you to the top of the list.
Louise Soe,
Professor, Computer Information Systems,
Cal Poly Pomona
“The method I learned as an artist has worked through all my
careers, not only for developing works of art, but also for
computer programming, writing dissertations, and teaching
students to create Flash animation for the web.
To me, it’s all art!”
Education
Ph.D., Management (Information Systems), Anderson School, UCLA, 1994.
B.A., magna cum laude, Computer Programming and Information Systems, California State
University, Long Beach, 1984.
B.F.A., magna cum laude, Painting and Drawing, California State University, Long Beach, 1974.
Background
I grew up in a working class family in northern Wisconsin. In my era (think Mad Men),
computers were very primitive, and women got married and had kids—I was one of the four
women in my high school class (with 50+ women graduates) who didn’t get married right out of
high school. I started out studying math and chemistry in college, but as the token female in my
math class, and as a failure at chemistry experiments (I was good at the theoretical part), I
switched my major to fine arts. I then got married (without a degree) and went to school part
time and worked as a secretary putting my first husband through graduate school. We moved
around a lot and eventually ended up in Southern California. By the time I finished my BFA
degree in 1974, I had several children, a second husband, and enough credits (fulfilling the GE
requirements of 7 different universities), for a couple of degrees. Am I an education junkie?
Definitely, yes! I continued doing graduate work in art, and then switched to a special degree
program in computer science/information systems so I could get a paying job in this wonderful
new computer field that was supposed to be very female friendly.
When I finished my degree, I was amazed at how many different kinds of companies were
interested in hiring me from aerospace and systems engineering to business information
systems. Probably employers liked the fact that I was mature and could write good English.
After I began working full time in industry, of course I went back to school and started an MBA.
Because I did well on the GMAT, and because my job was not going well just at the time
applications were due, I applied to Ph.D. programs and was accepted at UCLA. It was a life
transforming experience, to become so immersed in ideas, theoretical perspectives, and
research methodologies (I took 7 methodology courses, most of them statistics and I had not
had math for 25 years).
When I finished my PhD., my husband told me I had a terminal degree, which meant that I
could no longer go to school, but I had to find a job. Fortunately, a job opened up in the CIS
Department at Cal Poly. Because everything I had to teach was new to me, it was just like being
in school. I remember my first year teaching Visual Basic. I taught myself VB from the SAMS
Teach Yourself Visual Basic in 24 hours book, and kept one day ahead of the students. My
colleague, Bob Stumpf, taught me to say, “Oh well, It worked in my office” whenever my
demonstration flopped in the classroom. Since technology changes so rapidly, I still teach
classes where I have to figure out from a book what I am going to teach the next day. And I still
occasionally need to say, “Oh well, it worked in my office.”
Career Path
I think of my career path in terms of discreet stages, because my careers changed drastically
from one stage to the next. Actually, one career flows into the next. When I was an artist, I
developed a creative process that starts with figuring out what you are going to do (the idea or
problem), analyzing how to do it, and then designing the product, gathering the materials, and
executing it. Does this sound like the systems development life cycle? When I began studying
computer programming, my first professor, Wayne Dick at Cal State Long Beach, was a
theoretical mathematician, who specialized in number theory. The first project involved
number theory (and me with no math for over 20 years), but he used a method of analysis in
which we answered a series of “Polya Questions” that took us through the entire analysis
process This analysis was written and counted for 50% of the project grade. I learned his
method (it helped that I could write clearly), and discovered that the process was similar to
what I did when creating something in art. However computer programming seemed easier,
because the problem was already defined (the artist needs to define the problem herself). Later
when I became a systems analyst, I learned how difficult it is to define the users’ problems.
However, the method I learned as an artist has worked through all my careers, not only for
developing works of art, but also for computer programming, writing dissertations, and
teaching students to create Flash animation for the web. To me, it’s all art!
Current Job
My job as Professor in the Computer Information Systems Department at Cal Poly Pomona is
my best career yet! When I started teaching at Cal Poly, the visual Internet was just beginning,
and my mentor, Tom Athey, gathered us newer professors together and suggested that we
start a career track in web development. Since I had been a visual artist, he picked me to
develop the visual design and multimedia aspects of the courses. I had to work very hard to
learn multimedia technologies and web design, and develop courses, but I still teach newer,
improved versions of the same technologies and topics that I learned then. I try to introduce
students to the latest versions of whatever technologies we use, and insist they follow the
latest W3C standards, to prepare them for the future. Once the CSU started to emphasize
accessibility, I learned web accessibility and introduced it into my classes. We regularly bring
someone blind to demonstrate the importance of accessibility to the students. We find that
students benefit enormously from the experience – for some students it is the most important
thing they learn in the class. Tom Athey also passed the senior project class onto me, and I am
still using many of his methods. I also taught Rapid Application Development, which was
required of all majors in the late 1990s, and pulled a number of RAD methods into the senior
project class. Senior Project is a great class to teach, because students usually mature so much
through this 10-week experience. Shy students get their speaking voices, students regularly
learn new technologies, and more importantly, how to manage customers and how to manage
one another, how to document, and how to present their ideas so others can understand them.
This is the most satisfying part of teaching, to be able to see progress in a student in 10 weeks.
How do I know this is the best career stage so far? When I meet our graduates who are only a
few years into their careers who are doing so well, I feel as though we make a difference in
students’ lives. So many of them are so successful personally and professionally. They are
interesting grown-ups!
Work Life Balance
Work Life Balance has always been a challenge. It is very hard when one has children to balance
their needs with work needs and with one’s own needs as a person. I found that going to school
all those years and learning new things, really fed my own personal needs, by stimulating my
mind. One of my sons is disabled, and until I got him into external therapy programs, I had to
devote a lot of energy and time to his development. That was the toughest time for me, and my
burnout from that is one of the reasons that going to work fulltime was a relief. I think a lot of
women find that it is easier to go to work than to stay at home with the kids. The current
generation of women assumes that they will work outside the home, and indeed it has become
financially necessary that they work. Men now share more of that home burden than men of
my generation did. Fortunately, I have a lot of energy and self-discipline, I believe every
problem has a solution (very American approach, my husband says), my “it’s all art”
methodology works for many tasks, and I learned a solid work ethic as a kid. And of course it
helps to be a workaholic—a lot easier after your kids grow up and leave home. If I work on
something, I like to see that it gets finished, so my time and effort are not wasted. It helps to
put a time limit on projects, because work expands to fill whatever time is available. It can be
hard for women to accept “good enough” rather than “perfect” – it really helps me to admit
that “good enough” is better than “not finished.”
Advice to Women
We women, who participated in the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s, are
sometimes disappointed to see that young women today do not seem to recognize the
importance of what we changed for them. While they take for granted the improvements we
managed to bring about, they do not seem to realize they have to be vigilant so they do not
lose them. What we have learned in our research on women in IT careers is that women can be
and are very successful in IT work. Unfortunately, the numbers of women students we have in
our field continues its downward spiral. We are trying to turn that trend around.
Here is my advice to women entering or already involved in IT careers, much of it based on
what we learned in our research:
Build your professional network as early as you can, and then maintain it throughout your
career. We find that alumni from our program are more than happy to mentor our current
students to help them get started. While you are in school, build a network of alumni mentors,
to give you advice and help you start and build a better career. Join a professional organization
while you are in school and continue to build your network there.
Value yourself. If you are starting out in your career, try to choose a job and a workplace that
match your career objectives and values. Interview the employer about what they value. Ask
them about their work processes, and choose a place that uses some methodology to control
their systems, including testing, so you don’t end up fighting fires and being frustrated all the
time. Look at the advantages and disadvantages of working in companies that interest you. For
example, consulting firms provide serious, valuable training for women and have very
structured career paths, but they expect an extraordinary amount of work out of you. Startups
are unstructured, exciting places to work, but there is the risk that they may not survive. Try to
decide how you want to start and where you want to go. Ask your network of mentors for
advice. Look for a fit between what you want and the organization.
Be trustworthy. Follow through and deliver your work on time. Do simple tasks such as spell
checking to show you care about your work.
When you start out, look for mentors at work. Some companies provide mentorship programs,
but usually you have to find your own. If you are very lucky you will find one mentor who will
help you be successful and stand behind you for the long term, pushing you up the ladder.
Usually you will have a network of mentors, who serve different purposes and help you with
different kinds of problems. Make these mentors part of your network and stay connected
with them.
Figure out if you can tolerate being the token female in a male workplace. Since the best-paid
jobs are still in fields in which males dominate, you may need to be a token woman during part
of your career, especially if you are ambitious. You can do it, but you may need to be tough
unless you work in a place that has adopted newer female-friendly values. It is very difficult for
a woman to be a token in a crowd of men, both at school and at work. A group of males may
make you feel inferior, even if you are not. Do not accept the idea that you are inferior—realize
you probably are superior not inferior. Women students tend to believe that they are not as
talented as their male counterparts, even if they are.
Learn to take criticism and improve from it, often not an easy practice for women. Do not react
emotionally. Instead, step back and try to figure out why the criticism occurred, and then
remedy the problem so that it does not occur again. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes
the mistake is in the presentation of the work, not the work itself. Take risks while you are a
student so that you learn from mistakes in an environment that encourages learning.
Look on your career as a series of stages, rather than a straight pathway. If at some point in
your carrier, you want to have work/life balance, look for a position that provides it during the
years you need it. These jobs may be ones that do not provide promotional opportunities.
However, if you value time for your family when they need you most, taking such a position
may be the solution for that part of your career. Many men opt for this solution as well.
Try to have fun at work. Try to find work that interests you and gives you a sense of satisfaction and
happiness. A positive attitude relieves pressure and improves your own mood. If you start with a
cohort, continue to meet with them, and support one another. Enlarge your network to workers
(especially women) in other parts of the organization. It helps to understand how the organization
works, and gives you connections at times you may need them. Participate in bonding activities
with your peers, even if male bonding activities are all that are available. If your coworkers accept
you as “one of the guys”, that enhances your work/life. Our research showed that being part of a
work team provided some of the greatest satisfaction for women in IT. Celebrate your successes.
Chapter 2. Women in the IT Industry
The goal of this book is to provide women with an example of what a career in Information
Technology (IT) might be like. By providing profiles of women in a variety of different IT
careers, women can get a glimpse into what their future work may look like and what type of
industry they might be interested in working in. All industries have some element of IT and the
IT job market is great. Often IT careers have high pay, job security and opportunities for
promotion. IT jobs also offer a wide variety of choice in the type of work that is done. A
network specialist, a help desk support person and a business analyst have very different
activities associated with their jobs, even though they are all IT related.
This book gives women a chance to hear first-hand, from women IT professionals, about their
careers, challenges and success strategies. Having access to their wisdom, prior to entering the
IT market is invaluable in preparing for an IT work place with very few women.
In his State of the Union Address, President Obama called for US students to enter math and
science disciplines as a way to get fuel America’s innovation engine (Obama, 2011). The digital
economy is here and workers need to be highly skilled and educated in information
technologies. To satisfy the growing technology job market, more men and women need to
select technology majors in college.
Obama’s sentiments are borne out in Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) projections that
computing is a demand area for the future and that only 52% of the college graduates can
currently satisfy the projected demand in industry. This is an industry that women need to
participate in.
The IT Job Market
In today’s slow economy, information technology is one area that people are finding good jobs.
Information technology’s impact on today’s business is widespread. Companies need help
deciding what information systems they need, implementing them, using them and fixing them.
Technology changes rapidly and these systems need to updated continually. No wonder, future
projections for IT jobs are optimistic.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that of the fastest growing jobs in America, two IT
jobs made the top 20 (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition, 2010). Network
systems and data communications analyst was number 2 with a 53% projected increase.
Computer software engineers, was number 15, with a 34% growth projection.
IT jobs often make the top list of desirable careers because they have good working
environments, low physical demands, great pay and the jobs exist in every geographic location.
Growth in mobile applications development, wireless networking, cloud computing, and social
networking are creating job opportunities for IT professionals in many industries.
IT Jobs Get Top Rankings
US News and World Report (2011) – Top 50 Best Careers based
on job satisfaction, turnover, hiring outlook and other factors:
Computer software engineer, Computer support specialist
Computer system analyst, network architect. (Grant, 2010).
CareerCast rated 200 top jobs based upon income, work
environment, and job outlook. Software engineer was number
one and Computer systems analyst was number five (Light,
2011).
CNBC Best Jobs for 2012 – CareerCast rated 200 top jobs based
upon income, work environment, and job outlook. Software
engineer was number one and Computer systems analyst was
number nine (Perlman, 2012).
US News and World Report (2012) – Computer Programmer,
Systems Analyst, Web Developer, Database Administrator, and
Software Developer were in the top 10. (Graves, 2012)
IT jobs have high salaries. The salaries below (Table 1) are a subset of those reported by the
Robert Half International (RHI) salary report on information technology jobs (Technologies,
2011). RHI is one of the leading professional staffing and research firms in the world, with and
annual revenue of $3.18 billion. Data from the table below reports starting salaries from
national averages. Regional differences exist. For detailed information by state, the
Occupational Outlook Handbook form the BLS (http://bls.gov/oco/oco20024.htm) has
searchable indexes by state, occupational wages and projections, and descriptions of jobs.
Technology employment web sites, like Dice.com or Salary.com, also offer searchable salary
databases that list job types with regional salary data.
Women in IT
IT related majors at universities include Computer Information Systems, Management
Information Systems, Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Information Technology.
IT degrees can come from colleges of engineering, science, business or even information. All of
these degrees share a common attribute, the numbers of women seeking these degrees is
declining (Table 2).
Table 1. Salaries of a Variety of Selected IT Jobs 2011
Job Title
Salary
$45,750 – $59,000
$53,250 – $83,000
$46,500 – $68,000
$65,750 – $104,250
$99,500 – $137,750
$81,000 – $111,250
$50,750 – $76,750
$55,750 – 82,750
$68,500 – $98,750
$58,000 – $94,250
$53,250 – $82,250
$82,500 – $116,250
$76,000 – $109,500
$77,750 – $108,000
$63,000 – $88,000
$81,500 – $117,000
$48,500 – $76,750
$71,250 – $98,250
$68,500 – $93,500
$118,500 – $173,000
$134,000 – $217,000
Help Desk Tier 3
Systems Administrator
Desktop Support Analyst
Software Developer
Information Systems Security Manager
Network Security Administrator
Telecommunications Specialist
Network Administrator
E-Commerce Analyst
Web Developer
QA Associate
Business Intelligence Analyst
Database Administrator
IT Auditor
Staff Consultant
Project Manager
Technical Writer
ERP Business Analyst
CRM Business Analyst
VT of Information Technology
Chief Information Officer
Source: Robert Half International Salary Guides (http://www.rhi.com/SalaryGuides)
Table 2. Undergraduate Degrees Awarded in Specific Disciplines in Computing adapted from
the IES National Center on Educational Statistics
1987/88
Male
Computing and
Information
Science
Management
Information
Science
Computer Science
1998/99
Female
Male
2008/09
Female
Male
Female
68%
32%
73%
27%
82%
18%
58%
42%
61%
39%
74%
26%
88%
12%
During the 1980s, women became highly interested in Computer and Information Science
degrees. Women moved into computing because it was as a brand new area with lots of
opportunity and many women felt the glass-ceiling that existed in other fields might not be true
for IT. Well, it was true and the barriers that women faced continue to exist today, especially in
computing careers.
The numbers of women IT workers peaked at 36% in 1991 and has dropped to 25% in 2008
(Ashcraft, 2009). In executive level positions, women are underrepresented too. Table 3 (20
first Building Gender Balanced Business, 2009) shows the percentages of female executives for
Fortune 100 companies (253 of them) split across corporate functions. 5% are executives in IT,
much lower than other areas. If you do the math, about 12 women are in executive IT roles in
Fortune 100 companies.
Table 3. 2008 Women Executive Distribution by Discipline for Fortune 100 Companies
Number of Women
Executives (253)
45
35
55
12
27
79
Role
HR
Legal, Risk,
Compliance
Marketing,
Communications
IT
Finance
Operations
Percent
18%
14%
22%
5%
10%
31%
Yet, women who have stuck it out in IT or who came to IT careers from non-traditional areas
have been highly successful and have found rewarding careers in a wide variety of industries.
The truth is that many people are turned off by computing, not only women. The stereo-type
for computing careers is of unhelpful, socially awkward, geeky, white guys with pocket
protectors. When someone asks an IT person for help, they expect to get a snotty, arrogant IT
person who doesn’t listen and treats them like they are stupid. When something goes wrong
with the computer, people often blame themselves, thinking that they caused it or that they did
something wrong. For many people, working with computers is very intimidating. Calling an IT
person for help can leave a person feeling inadequate and helpless. Poor IT support can
compound this problem.
To some extent, the culture of IT is mirrored by academic IT disciplines. CS and IT departments
carry on a mystique by having a sense of pride in being ‘harder than other majors’ and in how
many people fail their first programming course (50% often). Men and women drop computing
majors because the view is that programming is too difficult. However, anyone can learn to
program. If you are beginner, you need to do more of it. More experience with programming
makes you a better programmer, just like everything else.
Since early courses in IT fields tend to be ‘kill and grill’, students drop out of IT majors, finding
the courses difficult and boring. However, as the curriculum evolves and the courses are
geared towards problem solving and read world contexts, IT gets more interesting and more
fun. Further, students may erroneously feel that people skills are unimportant in IT. An IT job
requires people skills, customer interaction and good communication. It is highly unlikely that
an IT worker today will simply sit alone at a computer and interact with no one.
Most undergraduate students in IT disciplines do not really know about the wide variety of
careers available to them. Most women do not realize that they bring a skill set to the table
that may make them highly successful and promotable in IT.
The IT classroom is especially tough for women. Imagine being an 18 year old woman and
walking into your first University programming class. You are the only woman, everyone is
surprised to see you, including your stunned professor – also a man. The men in the class are
already bonded, talking about Halo and drive-by-hacking. When this happens, women’s self
confidence fades. Women begin to feel that there is something different in them, that the men
have, that women lack, despite evidence to the contrary. It is discouraging for any beginning
programmer to enter a classroom where many students already have the skills that you are
trying to learn.
Why so Few Women?
Why so few women? That is a difficult question to answer. It has to do with culture,
perception and unconscious bias. These are problems that are large, embedded in colleges and
industries and are not easy to change. Several academics have theorized about the lack of
women in technological fields. Some thought the problem would fix itself, once enough
women enrolled in IT undergraduate degree programs, others felt that women simply did not
like computers. Thirty years ago, people said the same things about male-dominated fields,
such as biology, law, accounting and mathematics. Today, these disciplines have transformed
to include equal numbers of men and women at Universities and in the workforce. IT has not
accomplished this yet.
It’s the pipeline. Once enough women are earning degrees in technology, the critical mass will
fill the IT jobs to balance the labor force (Camp, 1997; Gurer & Camp, 1998; Soe & Yakura,
2008). In reality, just the opposite has happened (Soe & Yakura, 2008). The number of women
seeking undergraduate degrees in IT has dramatically declined. Camp (1998) describes the
‘Incredible Shrinking Pipeline’, giving evidence of the plummeting numbers of women between
high school and graduate school. Not only is the number declining, but over time, the numbers
of women at each stage of the pipeline is getting smaller. So, it is hard to believe that the
numbers of women in IT will increase once the pipeline has a larger supply of women, because
there is no promise of a growing supply.
Women don’t have what it takes. In 2005, Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard made
remarks that the underrepresentation of women in the sciences is due to what can be
described as a lack of “intrinsic aptitude.” If the president of a prestigious university believes
women are not capable, imagine how many employers feel the same way. When people think
about professional images of computing, a woman is not the person they envision. When
women see men so excited about computing, women begin to think they are missing
something in their personalities that would make them more successful. However, academic
performance does not show this to be the case. Often American women feel inadequate in the
computing classroom, even if they earn higher grades than the men (Katz et. Al, 2006). Malaysia
and India do not suffer from this illusion. In both these countries, women hold half or more of
the IT related jobs (Wikipedia). The computing jobs offer good employment and a safe working
environment. In India, some of the jobs could be done at home which worked well for women
with families. This shows, then, that women do have the brains and ability to hold technical
jobs. They just do not do it in this country.
There isn’t enough human interaction. Another fiction that keeps women from IT careers is
that IT jobs do not have any human interaction. Computers do things that people want and
need. The most essential skill to making this happen is communication, not programming. If
you are working a help desk, designing a mobile app or installing SAP at a giant company, you
will have to interact with people, work on a team, and use tact and diplomacy to get the job
done well. The stereotype of computer jocks, sitting alone at a laptop, only communicating if
you give them cookies, is funny in popular culture but not accurate when it comes to real work.
Software development requires talented communicators and boundary-spanners at every stage
of the life cycle. Better communication skills often lead to better products.
IT has a chilly climate towards women. Sadly, most of the research indicates that women do
not select computing as a career because of its “chilly climate” towards women (Soe and
Yakura; 2008) and continued subconscious bias towards women (Spertus, 1991). (Camp, 2002)
Subconscious bias means that people discriminate against you, not necessarily meaning to or in
an overt way; for example, describing girls as cute and boys as active. Or, in employee hiring,
often a man’s resume is viewed as accomplished and a woman’s is viewed as lacking, even if
they have the same qualifications. A woman may need to prove her skill on the job, while a
man’s qualifications are not questioned.
Why IT Needs Women
Not enough college students, male or female, are seeking technical degrees. A US talent
shortage is predicted for the high-tech job market. If more women opted for IT degrees in
college, it would significantly impact the lack of people filling the IT job shortage. Currently, the
‘computer jock’ mentality intimidates people and keeps more men and women from seeking IT
degrees. A more gender balanced classroom could have a profound effect on transforming IT
departments towards a culture of inclusion.
Women, are great consumers of technology. Women purchase more items online than men,
use face-book, and social media more than men do. Yet, when it comes to innovation and
development of technologies, women are glaringly underrepresented. Imagine all the neverdeveloped apps in the Apple Store, because underrepresented groups do not participate in
development. Yet, we know when development teams have diverse membership, they
outperform other teams. Teams with gender equity are more likely to be creative and
experimental in finding solutions. Ultimately, firms lose money by not capitalizing on a large
labor market with the potential to improve existing products and develop new ones.
In our own research (Guthrie, Soe, Yakura 2010) on the IT profession, many women identified
common career boosters that made them successful (Table 4).
Table 4 applies to men too. However, the IT industry is more forgiving of men than women.
Imagine a man who is territorial about his idea and has a forceful argument during a meeting
pushing his agenda. We might call him passionate or intense. We might even respect him for
his persistence. However, if we think about a woman doing the same thing, we would describe
her as hysterical or irrational. The rules are different for women and they may not be fair.
Most women in our research agreed that working in a man’s world was like learning a different
language. They may have had some difficultly at first but, once they knew what the rules were,
they did very well.
Summary
The IT job market is growing. IT jobs offer great salaries, mobility, good working
environments and job satisfaction. Even so, the numbers of women seeking degrees in
IT is shrinking. Much of the reason for the lack of women in IT is that work
environments are male dominated and daunting. Yet, women do succeed in the IT
profession, just not in great numbers.
Table 4. Women in IT Career Boosters
Career Building Skills Identified by Women IT Professionals
Customer Focus
Understanding
Politics
Networking
Education
Teamwork
Having a sponsor to
help with your
advancement
Having a little extra
IT success is largely defined by your ability to work with clients and co-workers
and to solve their problems. With computing, many problems exist and you will
need to take special care of your customers and help them through the tough
spots. You need to be a good listener and sympathetic to the client’s needs.
Typically, you only hear about IT when there is a crisis. Developing rapport and
trust with a client is critical to success.
Politics, unknown histories and personality conflicts are far more difficult to
manage than technical problems. Overwhelmingly, women reported
understanding politics and ‘not taking things personally’ as a success attribute.
Having a network of friends, co-workers and bosses is critical to building a career.
Having a personal and professional network that you can rely upon to find work,
find employees or seek the advice of can be very useful.
Taking advantage of informal and formal educational opportunities that firms
offer is a great way to stay technologically current and to learn new career skills.
Being able to communicate and work with others is key to every field. It is
especially critical in IT where business or discipline experts may have no
knowledge of IT. IT workers need to translate between people and technology to
solve business problems. Being able to do this clearly and without making the
client feel stupid or powerless requires patience, good communication skills and
lots of time.
Many successful women had a boss (usually a man) who actively gave them work
and opportunities to gain experience and exposure within the company. This
helped women build strong reputations and made them highly promotable.
Several women identified a lack of this as an indication of a dead-end job.
Many women reported that they gave the client something more. This meant a
little more personal care with the project, checking with them frequently,
debriefing after meetings, or adding a little extra feature to what was produced.
Something the client had not anticipated in service or quality that set the women
apart from other IT workers, something that indicated understanding of the
client’s needs.
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Chapter 3. Advice for Women in IT
This chapter is a summary of the advice that professional women in IT careers have given us
over the past five years. Through descriptions of their jobs, problems and triumphs, several
topics of career advice emerged.
Working with men can mean learning new ways to communicate.
Women need to learn to “let it go” and not take criticism personally.
Women need to speak up and develop more self-confidence.
Women should learn to promote themselves.
Networking is important for professional growth.
Everyone struggles with work/life balance.
Women need to keep their technical skills and continue to educate themselves.
Much of what can be learned from their experiences can benefit the IT careers of both men and
women. Many of the lessons from women in IT are applicable to non-IT work.
In the classroom, students are rewarded for doing well on assignments, and developing good
critical thinking and communication skills. While project classes do exist at universities, they
are typically different from what graduates may experience when they enter the workplace.
Speaking up at a meeting, calling clients to determine their needs, going to lunch with coworkers and making sure your boss knows what you’re doing are rewarded in the workplace.
Women need to build trust and alliances with people to make them more successful. For many
women, this represents a behavioral change. Instead of keeping a low profile and not taking
the professor’s time as they tend to do in school, they need to develop a high profile, so that
co-workers and bosses recognize their talents, both technically and socially.
A Different Language
Many women described facing similar difficulties when they first started their careers. Some
even suggested that organizations speak a ‘different language’ that they had to learn before
they could fit into particular jobs and become successful.
A great example of this is ‘getting the work done’ versus ‘invading someone’s territory’. A
systems administrator had a client that needed something done quickly. The male co-worker
responsible for the task was not available and could not be reached. After unsuccessfully trying
to find this person, the woman simply did what the client requested. When the co-worker
returned, he was very upset because he felt she overstepped her authority by taking over his
work. Both people have an understandable point of view. The longer range solution for this
type of conflict is to have co-workers articulate norms or rules of working, and trust each other
enough to allow for ‘getting the job done’, without offending co-workers by overstepping
unarticulated bounds.
Many younger women, new to IT, described having to prove themselves. Women spoke about
men being automatically accepted based upon their gender. A male colleague will not
challenge a new male hire, but accept that he was hired because he had the right qualifications.
Women felt that they had to prove themselves over some period of time, before they were
accepted at work.
Women also spoke about not ‘looking right’. The stereotype of an IT worker is that he is a man.
Women also felt that they were less promotable because people’s view of a group manager
was of a man first and qualifications second. Several women said they did not look old enough
to be considered for promotions, a complaint that men have in their careers too.
One woman, hired into a quality assurance job, was asked to work with engineering. The first
person she worked with in engineering, remarked, ‘How come they sent me an intern? Where
is the real person from QA?’ Would it be different if the QA Engineer were a man? Probably it
would be different. In this woman’s story and several others, the politics of niceness paid off.
She simply ignored the unfair remarks, did great work and was friendly and polite. Eventually,
she won engineering over to the point that they requested her on several other projects. This
is not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, several women were happy with their ability to turn a
skeptic into an ally by doing a good job. They enjoyed surprising people by not acting like a
stereotype of what was expected.
Letting it Go
As part of fitting into corporate culture, women described learning to ‘let it go’ and to ‘not take
things personally.’ Many of them described attending meetings early in their careers and
presenting ideas that were not adopted, despite their passion and advocacy for a new
approach. One woman described a male co-working as saying, ‘That idea is ridiculous!’ -- a
comment that could sound like a personal attack, if taken the wrong way.
After these meetings, women could not drop the sting of having their idea criticized. They took
the experience as a personal defeat and as a bad reflection on them. They fumed over the
meeting outcomes, and lost sleep thinking about how things could have gone differently. They
beat themselves up for losing.
After working for a longer period of time, the women observed that their male co-workers were
much more easy-going and not as invested in getting their ideas adopted. If a decision was
made to go in a different direction, the men accepted it and didn’t waste time with regret.
Whereas women took things very personally, men did not. If their ideas were not adopted,
they took it at face value as the manager’s decision and not as a reflection of the quality of their
ideas. Women were much happier in their jobs once they learned to not take things personally.
They learned that sometimes things go your way and sometimes they do not. Women need to
learn to not read more into a situation than is there.
Speaking Up
A frequent observation from women IT professionals is that women are too quiet and need to
work on their self-confidence. The same deficiency is seen in technology classrooms as in the
workplace. Often in class, women are quieter, less likely to volunteer answers, and less likely to
become group leaders.
In the workplace, women also need to speak up. Entry-level, women IT workers can be
tentative about sharing their ideas and perspectives. Once they become known as ‘quiet’, they
are less likely to be viewed as problem solvers and go-getters. When opportunities arise, the
quiet women are overlooked because they have not differentiated themselves from their peers.
Women run the risk of fading into the background if they do not learn to speak up and become
noticed for their contributions.
Women professionals found that when they spoke up and became comfortable asking for what
they wanted, often they were rewarded. However, they also stressed the importance of never
‘burning any bridges’ in their interactions with others. They tried to remain tactful and
diplomatic.
Women who were clear about what they wanted were able to get better assignments and
promotions, simply by letting their superiors know that they were ambitious and interested in
more challenging work. Usually, there was no downside to asking for what they wanted. The
worst outcome was that the person they were asking for an opportunity would say ‘no’. In fact,
the upside was that they were more likely to be offered future, opportunities as they became
available.
Another way that speaking up helps women is in gaining more flexible work situations. Women
with established work records, found that when they asked for telecommuting or flextime
work, more often than not, their employers accommodated them. Companies want high
quality work and they are willing to make concessions to ensure that this continues to happen.
Networking
Without exception, women in IT recognized the need to develop and maintain a professional
network. Most of them recommended that women should start building career networks as
early as possible. Professors, fellow students, co-workers, clients and bosses are all people who
could end up helping women in their careers. Women need to stay in touch with people who
know them and their abilities, because it may create opportunities in the future. Further, the
woman who is looking for a new job, will find that people in her professional network who are
familiar with her abilities, can inform her of jobs that are not even advertised..
Networking groups and professional organizations can also keep women current with their
technical skills or with skills required for specific industries. Technology changes constantly: By
the time a person masters one technology, a newer version is available. A product in which one
is an expert may become obsolete tomorrow. This is especially true for IT work. Women who
were promoted to managerial and non-technical positions still worked at improving their
technical skills and continued to educate themselves in technical topics, to keep themselves
prepared for the future.
While much research has been done into the inadequacy of formal mentoring programs,
women reported that their immediate bosses were instrumental in getting them started on an
upwardly mobile career path. A regularly identified person responsible for promoting women
in their IT jobs can be described as a ‘boss advocate’. Typically, these bosses recognized the
abilities of the women and advocated for them, by giving them high profile projects to work on
and by making opportunities for them to advance their careers. Overwhelmingly women spoke
about their early bosses being very supportive and open about discussing career problems and
opportunities. Many women still rely on those early bosses for advice and support throughout
their careers.
However, women cannot always select a boss advocate as their first boss, and those women
usually relied on a network of mentors. Women used different mentors in their network for
different purposes or at different times in their careers. A mentor in their network might be a
woman they met one time, a group of women with whom they regularly had lunch, or an
established colleague who could provide advice on technical or political issues in the
organization. Some women included role models as part of their network of mentors. Women
especially felt the need for a mentor during times of career transitions, such as promotions or
other new career roles.
Work Life Balance
Work life balance continues to be a problem for men and women at work. Family
responsibilities weigh more heavily on women in terms of housework and childcare. Women
do more housework, stay home with a sick kid more frequently and go to doctors and dentist
appointments more often than the fathers.
Women feel guilty whether they stay home with families or go to work. If a woman stays at
home, she feels that she has to continually justify her decision to raise a family. She carries the
guilt of feeling like a failure for not using her degree. If a woman goes to work, she has to
answer the guilt laden question, “Who is watching your kids?” and meet the challenge of
balancing children and the demands of an IT job. That is a lot of pressure and women find
themselves exhausted.
There is a stigma associated with having a family. Once a woman has a baby, she is seen as
being on the ‘mommy track’. This is a horrible term and the bias is obvious in that we do not
have an equivalent ‘daddy track’ term for man balancing work and families. A man is viewed as
a bread winner and a woman is viewed as a care giver. When a man starts a family, it is usually
good for his career. He is seen as a stable worker, that is the provider for his family. The
perception is that he is more reliable and promotable. Women are not perceived in the same
way.
Women with children may rush home at the end of the workday to pick up kids from school or
take them to soccer practice, rather than staying at work late, or hanging out with co-workers
and participating in bonding activities. A woman may find herself working through lunch to
ensure that she can meet family obligation after work. Co-workers and bosses may erroneously
interpret this behavior as an indication that she is no longer invested in work or that her job is
simply not a priority at this point in time. They may also feel that assigning the woman to less
important jobs, is helping her with her family obligations. Sometimes, that will be the case.
However, that assumption is not always correct. Women need to make their goals and
aspirations known to their bosses so that they do not end up on projects that are less
rewarding and low status for the organization. From the woman’s perspective, she is working
really hard and doing a great job because she wants to have a lively career and have a family.
She needs to make sure that her actions are interpreted this way.
Women with established performance records indicated that when they asked for exceptions
to accommodate family obligations, they usually got them. Employers were more than willing
to give them telecommuting schedules a few days a week, flextime or part time work. These
accommodations make life easier, because women are not stuck with a long commute, can
work earlier hours or during the evenings, and have the flexibility to pick children up from
school.
Women who were thriving in their careers had a lot of help. Most mentioned that their
spouses, friends and families helped them immensely with managing work and family. They
also suggested that women not be reluctant to ask for help. Women also need to realize that
sometimes, a job will not work out. It may be too stressful, too many hours a week, and too
much time away from the family. Spouses and family members may recognize the situation for
what it is before the woman does. Understanding personal priorities and work-life balance
issues at different life stages can clarify when a woman needs to make a career change.
Promoting Yourself
For many people, self-promotion feels awkward and self-serving. While some people seem
very comfortable telling everyone how great they are, most women feel a little embarrassed
about publically congratulating themselves about their accomplishments. However, there are
several things women can do to help advance their careers without feeling too braggadocio.
Women in our studies recommended, when working with a client, the importance of follow
through and doing a ‘little extra’ so the client adored them and valued their work. Sometimes
they gave the client some information on how to solve a problem, and then called them the
next day to follow up and see how their suggestions worked. If they had a teleconference with
clients, they called them the next day to see if the team met their needs. A little extra follow
through went a long way in building trust with clients. Women we spoke to were exceptional at
this because they were sincerely invested in the client’s success. They could listen to their
needs and translate those into reality.
Women were also very good at project management and creating work environments where
teams could succeed. They were somewhat modest about their accomplishments, always
indicating that the success was in putting the right people together and giving the team credit
for the work. Part of promoting your career is making sure that your bosses are aware of your
value and what you bring to the company.
Most women managers we spoke to, when describing their success, said that they were very
lucky. Only when you pushed them were they willing to admit that luck had nothing to do with
it. Hard work, smarts and a drive to succeed made these women successful.
Promoting yourself means: Don’t be reluctant to take credit for, and be proud of your
accomplishments
Recognition for Good work
The hallmarks of the successful women we encountered are quality and reliability, teamwork
and leadership, trust with co-workers and clients, resilience and promoting oneself with
humility and tact. Ultimately, to be happy at work, women want to be valued and recognized
for their contributions to the organization. All of these qualities will lead co-workers and clients
to trust and respect you.
Quality and reliability – Always do your best, and deliver what you promise
Teamwork and leadership – Respect your co-workers, above and below you and at the
same level, and provide a good example for others to follow.
Trust with co-workers and clients-- Build trusting relationships with co-workers and clients,
and listen to what they tell you.
Resilience – Do not give up and always be ready to learn from your mistakes. Learn to take
criticism without being hurt.
Self-promotion with humility and tact – Speak up and take credit for your own work, and
continue to offer your ideas. Ask for what you want.

Profiles of Women in IT

Transcription

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