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The
world of technology has changed tremendously
since you were born, twenty years ago or so.
Back then many women working in technology
spent their time bringing everyone coffee,
or perhaps taking notes as the technical men
talked.
At most companies today, technical people
take their own notes (on a laptop) and brew
their own green tea. And women with degrees
in engineering, computer science, IS and IT
make up an increasing percentage of the technical
workforce.
This is especially true in software development,
an arena that impacts every other facet of
technology. Some of today’s new women
software developers say that if gender has
had any effect, it’s been to open doors
for them. The most important thing, according
to these women, is taking opportunities, getting
experience, and proving yourself every step
of the way.
For this article, Diversity/Careers interviewed
eight bright young women just starting their
careers in software development and related
technologies, and four women who are well
along in their exciting careers. We hope you
enjoy their stories.
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| Lisa Dahilig is an application developer
in the internal consulting department
of CNA. |
Lisa Dahilig:
apps development for CNA
Lisa Dahilig is just completing her first
year as an application developer in the internal
consulting department of insurance provider
CNA (Chicago, IL).
Dahilig’s primary challenge has not
been her gender, but her youth. “One
of the hardest things I’ve had to overcome
is the fear that people aren’t taking
me seriously,” she acknowledges.
When she completed her BS with a double
major in information and decision science
at the University of Illinois-Chicago last
year, Dahilig interviewed at several companies.
CNA clicked into focus when she met her future
manager. “I liked the fact that she was
a female in a director position. You don’t
see that too often,” she says.
Her first six months on the job were spent
in CNA’s “boot camp” mentorship
program. Her apprentice mentor, Mohan Putcha,
guided her and helped her develop her career
goals. After boot camp, she moved into her
present position, where she codes for Web-related
projects using languages like VB, Java script,
Perl, SQL and HTML. She’s been involved
in planning Web-based projects too.
Dahilig also helps out as a college recruiter
and high school mentor. The most important
thing she stresses with her high school students
is the importance of hard work. Technology
changes so quickly, and “If you don’t
keep up with it all, you’ll be left behind.”
She says she has learned a lot by observing
her boss and other higher-level women at CNA.
“I can see that it’s hard to get
to the management level as a woman. You have
to work long hours and be extremely dedicated.
But many do make it,” she notes.
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| Alice Williams-Obleton. |
Alice Williams-Obleton
is a software engineer at IBM
Working mother Alice Williams-Obleton designs,
develops and tests middleware for customers
at the Poughkeepsie location of IBM (Armonk,
NY).
She
became a software engineer for IBM after graduating
from Norfolk State University with an BS in
computer science in May 1997. She was recruited
through Project View, an IBM program that
brings highly qualified minority job candidates
to recruiting events that help them locate
their special niche at IBM.
From the very beginning, says Williams-Obleton,
IBM went out of its way to welcome her. The
company supports affinity groups for women
and for African Americans, among many others.
Many company seminars feature women in leadership
roles. On a more practical note, IBM also
provides flexible scheduling so Williams-Obleton
can spend time with her two children.
In the future, Williams-Obleton would like
to be an IT architect, providing overall solutions
and working more closely with the clients.
Networking, she says, will help her get there.
“It’s a very important tool,”
she explains. “You need to have a plan,
find the people who can help you achieve it,
then act.”
There’s plenty of room for her at
the top. Company spokesman Jim Sinocchi notes
that 22 percent of IBM’s management team
are women, and 60 percent of those women are
working mothers.
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| Laina Grabowski. |
At Unisys, Laina Grabowski
works on a new operating system
Software engineer Laina Grabowski says her
work at Unisys Corp (Blue Bell, PA) over the
last year has been quite a change from college
life. “The learning environment is different,”
she explains. “You have to be much more
independent. You have to go after things and
be able to ask questions.”
While earning her BSCS at Penn State University
(University Park, PA), Grabowski worked part
time as a programmer one summer and interned
the next. She found it a great advantage to
be familiar with the working environments
of several different companies. “I probably
would have been directionless if I hadn’t
had the opportunity to get introduced to the
business world before going to work at Unisys.”
After being in the minority as a female
in Penn State’s engineering program,
Grabowski anticipated that the working world
might be somewhat sexist. She also worried
that software development might be the wrong
field for a people-oriented person like herself.
Both concerns subsided during her internship
with Lockheed Martin Federal Systems (Owego,
NY). “At the time, my manager was the
only woman in management within her department.
She showed me that the world of technology
wasn’t the old boys’ club I thought
it was,” Grabowski recalls. “She
also helped me see the more personal side
of engineering.”
Grabowski’s work involves designing,
coding and testing the user interface for
a new operating system feature being developed
by Unisys and Microsoft. She says it’s
exciting to work on the cutting edge of technology.
Unlike Lisa Dahilig, Grabowski finds it
an advantage to be the youngest person in
her department. “I’m working with
people who have been developing cutting- edge
technology for so long – people who have
always been ahead of the game. I’m truly
fortunate to be coming in at this time,”
says Grabowski.
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| Software engineer Rebecca Pizzolatto is
developing a Web-based project for Lutron.
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Rebecca Pizzolatto:
GUI technology at Lutron
Project software engineer Rebecca Pizzolatto
works with graphical user interface (GUI)
technology at lighting system developer Lutron
(Coopersburg, PA). She has worked for Lutron
for a year, and is currently developing a
Web-based project that will let businesses
control all the lights in a building from
one intranet location.
Pizzolatto has BS degrees in CS, chemistry
and math and an MS in chemistry, all from
Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA). She received
her masters in May 2000.
She says that Lehigh helped her with more
than just knowledge. “College helps develop
your problem-solving skills, which are extremely
important in software development,” she
explains. “College trains your brain
to think in this manner.”
The most difficult thing in the working
world is the corporate structure, says Pizzolatto.
Lutron is a lot more structured than college,
she notes. Work/life balance is also a challenge.
“There’s never enough time to finish
what I have to do at work, and never enough
time to do what I want to do in my personal
life,” she says with a smile.
One of the great influences in Pizzolatto’s
life was a college advisor. “She believed
very strongly that female students should
get the same encouragement as males.”
For Pizzolatto herself, “I can’t
really say whether my gender would make a
difference or not, because I’ve never
been a man, and have nothing to compare it
to!”
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| Surekha Surendran, senior technical developer,
works on Delta databases. |
Surekha Surendran:
“tangible software” at Delta
Delta Airlines is, of course, a common carrier
that owns and flies jumbo jets. But it takes
behind-the-scenes work by Surekha Surendran,
senior technical developer, and her colleagues
at Delta Technologies (DT, Atlanta, GA) to
make the airline accessible to the public.
Right now Surendran’s team is working
on developing an easily accessible database
of reference information for Delta’s
customers – information such as ticket
availability, types of airline partners available
for connecting flights, lists of airports,
etc. Surendran says the amount of information
to be referenced makes this a very ambitious
project. Although this data seems mundane,
Surendran says it is the superset of data
that forms the basis of many other IT projects.
It would be difficult for Delta Technologies
to function without its basic reference information
as a starting point.
Surendran became fascinated with technology
at the age of ten, when her family traveled
from India to visit Disney World. In particular,
the display of futuristic technology at Epcot
Center blew her away. Back in school, she
signed up for her first computer course, and
was hooked for good.
Surendran graduated in 1991 with a BS in engineering
and computer science from Madras University
(Madras, India). In 1994, she completed her
masters degree in computer science at Arizona
State University (Tempe, AZ), then went to
work for software developer Bear Creek Technologies
(Birmingham, AL). She started with Delta in
December 2000.
Surendran particularly likes her work at
DT. “It’s tangible software development.
We work right near the airport, so we see
what we’re working on every day. The
terminal is a constant reminder.”
More than 50 percent of the technical team
at DT is made up of women, she notes. “Software
is the perfect field for women, the ideal
environment to prove your resilience. It is
a true test of your intellect and skill.
“It’s inspiring and encouraging
to know that the number of women in the field
is increasing every day.”
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| Lisa Poole of ACS State Healthcare is
developing a state Medicaid system.
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Lisa Poole works on Medicaid
at ACS State Healthcare
After graduating from Troy State University
(Troy, AL) in May 2000 with a degree in CIS,
Lisa Poole interviewed with only one company
– ACS State Healthcare (Atlanta, GA).
As a programmer/analyst, she is currently
working on the company’s newest Medicaid
system.
Poole says she learned as much at the company’s
three-month training program as she did in
four years of college. School provided the
basic knowledge and skills, but it took the
training to put it all in perspective. “After
developing my first program, it suddenly hit
me that it was actually going to be used somewhere,
instead of just being turned in to a teacher,”
she says with a laugh.
Poole became interested in computers during
high school, and she chose the IT field because
she loves a challenge. “I love when there’s
something wrong with a program and I have
to go in and figure out what it is,”
she says. “I know that drives a lot of
people crazy, but it appeals to me.
“I think it’s great to be a female
in IT because there are so few of us. I think
I automatically stand out over a male doing
the same thing!”
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| At International Paper, Deena Rembert
does Web-based IT implementation.
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Deena Rembert: at IP, a PM for IT
Deena Rembert was a junior in CS at Tennessee
State University (Nashville, TN) when she
learned that the Inroads intern program in
Memphis, her home town, had internships to
fill with International Paper (IP, Memphis,
TN). She wanted an internship, Inroads had
some, the home setting was nice – but
they were looking for high school seniors,
not college juniors.
That didn’t deter Rembert. She called
the intern coordinator directly, talked her
way into an interview, and got the job. She
did so well at it that before she graduated
in May 1995 she had been offered, and agreed
to accept, a full-time position with IP. Clearly,
that internship put her on the road to success.
Rembert has since obtained an MS in engineering
management from Christian Brothers University
(Memphis, TN). She is now a project manager
at IP, implementing IT to streamline human
resources services at the company. She works
primarily with Web-based applications, doing
business-to-employee translation.
“It was difficult at times to work
with people who didn’t necessarily want
or respect the ideas of a female,” Rembert
recalls. “At the same time, I was given
many opportunities in this organization.”
She finds project management exciting.
“Things are constantly moving,”
she says. “You learn how to deal with
ambiguity, because often you have to figure
things out on the fly. You have to be able
to move with the wind, and be prepared to
go whichever direction it’s blowing that
day,” she says.
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| Naila Sobhan supports J.D. Edwards’
One World line of products. |
Naila Sobhan: starting out
at J.D. Edwards
In 1995, Naila Sobhan left Bangladesh for
the first time to attend college at Oklahoma
State University (Stillwater, OK). In 1999,
she graduated with a BS in MIS, and found
a job as a programmer/analyst with e-commerce
software provider J.D. Edwards (Denver, CO).
Sobhan is positive about her experience.
“America has given me independence. I’ve
become a totally different person since moving
here,” she says.
But the first few months at Edwards were
admittedly overwhelming. “I did not know
what to expect,” she recalls. “The
internal terminology they used didn’t
make sense to me. At my first few technical
meetings, I was so confused that I didn’t
understand a word.”
It was nobody’s fault, she hastens
to add. Every company has its own internal
structure, does things its own way, and uses
its own language. In the final analysis, you
just have to learn and adjust.
Part of the learn-and-adjust syndrome was
getting used to her mentor at Edwards. “He
helped the most by giving me a hard time,”
she says, laughing. “He didn’t cut
me any slack. That really motivated me!”
Being a woman and a Bangladeshi has never
affected Sobhan’s relations with her
colleagues. But her age sets her apart a little.
“When I started working, I had a hard
time relating to the people around me because
they were talking about their kids and their
mortgages, and all I had was a pretty bare
apartment,” she remembers.
Nevertheless, Sobhan truly enjoys her job.
Right now she’s spending about 80 percent
of her time providing support for J.D. Edwards’
One World line of products, and 20 percent
of her time coding. She says she has always
loved computers, and hopes to stay right where
she is for quite a while.
The voice of experience
To prepare this article we interviewed eight
bright young women just starting out in software
development and related fields. You have just
read their stories.
Next, we talked to four women who are well
up the career ladder. Some are still relatively
new to their current positions; some have
enjoyed years of successful experience at
their companies. These women in software development
management have a lot to tell you about getting
there.
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| After getting her PhD in computational
chemistry, Lin Koelmel moved into predictive
software at HNC. |
Lin Koelmel
engineers software at HNC
Lin Koelmel is a senior software engineer
with HNC Software Inc (San Diego, CA). The
company specializes in “predictive software”
that uses AI and neural network technology
to predict human behavior patterns from databases.
Its fraud-detection software is used by retail,
banking, telecommunications and e-commerce
companies.
Before joining HNC in March 2001, Koelmel
worked as a member of tech staff at Nuera
Communications (San Diego, CA), as a senior
software engineer at Clinicomp International
(San Diego, CA), and as a scientific developer
at Biosym Technologies (San Diego, CA).
Koelmel obtained her PhD in computational
chemistry from Northeastern University (Boston,
MA) in 1990. She became aware of HNC in 1991,
when the company received an award given by
the University of California-San Diego for
Falcon, its credit-card fraud-detection system.
Koelmel was impressed, and put HNC in her
personal database as a company where she might
like to work.
“You want to pick a company with the
potential for long-term growth,” she
advises. “Even more important, choose
one that has the right corporate culture for
you.”
Koelmel considers her boss an important
element of HNC’s enjoyable environment.
It’s been great working for a woman with
a software engineering background. “Because
there aren’t as many females working
around you, it’s easy to feel like an
outsider at times. It’s nice to have
a boss who understands me,” Koelmel reveals.
The most difficult problem is maintaining
the balance between work and home, Koelmel
says. “I have to always keep in mind
that there are two very important parts of
my life: my work life and my personal life.
If I let one part drop, both will fail, and
I will pay the consequences.”
Peopleclick’s Kelly Walton
directs software development
Three years ago, Kelly Walton was just the
fifth person to come on board at Peopleclick
(Raleigh, NC), which makes business solutions
and tools for human resource applications.
She was hired to lead the development of all
software products. The department now totals
more than 300 people nationwide, and she is
its director.
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| Kelly Walton. |
Walton says she was drawn to the company
because she felt it had great potential. “It
was something to be built and nurtured.”
Walton graduated in December 1992 with
a BS in electrical engineering from Virginia
Tech University (Blacksburg, VA). Before Peopleclick,
she served as a manager and software developer
at Seer Technologies (Cary, NC), helped develop
software for the Pentagon at SAIC (Washington,
DC), and worked in government contracting
with Lockheed Martin (Washington, DC).
Walton believes there are definite differences
between how her male and female colleagues
approach their careers. “In general,
women tend to be more soft-spoken than men,”
she explains. “That’s where women
sometimes get short-changed. The squeaky wheel
gets the grease, and oftentimes, that’s
not a woman.”
When Walton is hiring recent grads, she
looks for skills and internship or co-op experience,
of course. Even more important to her is to
identify people that she feels will be results-oriented
like herself. “I want employees who are
self-starters. You can’t afford to sit
back and wait for someone to tell you what
to do.”
She views mentoring as an essential part
of her responsibilities. “My goal is
to make myself obsolete,” she says with
a smile. “When you give employees your
support and they are confident enough to make
their own decisions, everybody benefits.”
At Seagate, Lyn G. Lane
manages global development
Thirty years ago, when Lyn G. Lane started
in the business world, a woman had to fight
for every opportunity. Lane is now manager
of global development at disk-drive maker
Seagate Technology (Longmont, CO), and justifiably
proud of the years of hard work she put in
to get there.
She began as a teletypist, which was treated
then as more or less a secretarial position.
As a divorced, single mother, she realized
she needed more marketable skills.
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| Lyn Lane, who began as a teletypist, now
directs global development at Seagate. |
Her opportunity came in 1981. She learned
that telco Mountain Bell (Denver, CO) was
offering training in computer programming.
She took the test to enter the program, and
was one of the few people accepted. This first
success led her up a career path that included
technical and management roles at Mountain
Bell, U S West Advanced Technologies and U
S West (now Qwest), in Denver and Boulder,
CO.
She arrived at Seagate in March 2001. As
global development manager, she is responsible
for the development and communication of a
company-wide set of IT policies, standards
and processes. She develops and implements
systems to track and support the processes
across the enterprise.
In retrospect, Lane sees that that first computer
opportunity was the pattern of her success.
Every time a new opportunity became available
she jumped at it. She was even happy to take
on volunteer work in order to gain the experience
that would help her advance.
Lane says that she’s happy to see
more women in technology these days. But even
with all the strides taken to advance gender
equality, she thinks that corporate America
has a long way to go.
“Most women in top management are called
directors. Now that’s very nice, and
I like it myself. But you’ll find that
most men in similar positions seem to be called
senior directors. I would guess that it’s
not all equal!”
The only way she sees to change things
is to do what she did – fight your way
up the ladder and into a management role.
And for starters, “Get out there and
network, get hands-on experience, and prove
to them that you can do it!”
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| In her managerial role at Aventis, IT
VP Diane DeMarco travels all over the
world. |
Diane B. DeMarco:
IT VP at Aventis Pharmaceuticals
“Don’t be too aggressive in your
first job,” says Diane B. DeMarco. “More
than anything, you want to find a job that
you enjoy and where you can excel. If you
enjoy what you’re doing, the promotions
will come.”
DeMarco should know. She loved her first
job, as a clinical research administrator
at pharmaceutical giant Aventis Pharma. She
has worked there for more than twenty years
in roles including systems analyst and senior
director of information systems, and is now
VP of the e-business innovation group and
IS commercial operations. She acquired her
development skills on the job, and got her
associates degree in business management from
Arcadia University (Glendale, PA) in 1980.
DeMarco is proud to be part of a company
that is doing so much to improve people’s
quality of life. In her managerial role, she
travels to countries all over the world. Her
responsibilities now include the supervision
of IS strategy worldwide, including the push
for an e-business portfolio, the management
of a Web Competency Center for Web development
in three countries, and the design of technologies
for new business models.
When DeMarco started there were far fewer
women, in pharmaceuticals or in software.
“Even now, I’m still one of the
few women sitting at the management table,”
she says. “But I believe being a woman
has opened a lot of doors for me.”
Recently, DeMarco was given a Tribute to
Women in Industry (TWIN) award by the Central
New Jersey YWCA. The award honors women for
their business leadership.
Making it
Clearly, it’s easier for a young woman
to get into software development today. Schools
know now that women can learn the technology,
and companies have seen that they can do well
in IT.
The problem in every good technical career
is getting a toehold on the first rung of
the ladder. So take the advice of the women
who know. Be sure to learn all you can in
your chosen field, work hard, get good grades,
and pick up valuable practical experience
through part-time work, co-ops and internships.
Send out a lot of resumes, attend a lot
of job fairs, study the advertisements in
Diversity/Careers. Demonstrate your
commitment at the interview. Be positive but
not aggressive.
Software development is a field absolutely
loaded with wonderful opportunities. Good
luck in your exciting career!
D/C
Laura
Martin is a freelance writer based in McAllen,
Texas.
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