Color outside the line, think out of the box, and do what you love!
Color outside the line, think out of the box, and do what you love!
While there aren’t many women in tech positions, we naturally support each other and bring women up at all seniority levels. I’m fortunate to have worked with women managers and colleagues who brought the best out of me.
My professional career began at a small TV station in Sydney in broadcasting.
Broadcasting, in general, is very much a male-dominated field, and women do specific roles, such as Project or Facilities Management; I was one of the few women doing a technical broadcast role. With a desire to expand my horizons and pursue new opportunities I decided to move to the US to further my career journey. Watching the evolution of automation dramatically change the manual processes of Broadcast television in a short period of time fueled my interest in Broadcast Engineering. I devoted a lot of time outside of work hours to learn all I could in the area, taking short courses and shadowing broadcast engineers at the facility. With the crazy hours and limited opportunities, my future as a broadcast engineer was not meant to be, so I set my sights on high-tech and started a position with Vubiquity as a Media Manager.
At Amdocs, women empower women
Vubiquity - an Amdocs company, exposed me to a completely different world and environment. I was surrounded by amazing women, managers, and colleagues who always asked me what I wanted to do and what I was interested in and encouraged me to do good work. I felt the focus was on my development, getting knowledge and training in my area of interest, and I customized my role accordingly. I got great mentors who helped me build my expertise. My managers always found the time to give me all the support I need to grow and learn.
Learn and never limit yourself
During my professional technology journey, I have always looked at the development cycle and sought to understand the whole process. That was the only way for me to understand my stakeholders better, and it’s one of the biggest reasons for my success in the different areas of work I chose. My inner quest of always finding an answer to “Why are we doing it this way” brought me to the world of automation and improving workflows as a Business Analyst, close to the processes. The power to make a workflow or system function better when you understand the underlying needs and requirements is something I’ve grown to really love about my work. At Amdocs, I learned how Business Development and Technology complement each other, ensuring features aren’t developed in a vacuum and deliver business/operational value.
"I am an autodidact (self-learner) who has always followed my passion for learning new things. If I’m interested in something, I put myself out there and try to find a way to learn it. As women in tech, we naturally support each other and bring women up at all seniority levels. I’m fortunate to have worked with women managers and colleagues who brought the best out of me."
No pain, no gain
When Amdocs acquired Vubiquity, it was amazing for me. It opened a whole new world of learning opportunities. I believe that learning, particularly as it pertains to career development, is a way in which we invest in ourselves and help seed future opportunities.
After working with Warner Brothers on my first project under Amdocs, I was promoted to my first product role. The environment was heavily male dominated, but I was fortunate that Amdocs has the same culture of pushing people up and encouraging them to maximize learning opportunities. The product world at Amdocs was an exciting change for me, and I’ve gotten to participate in thought leadership that drives the company.
There is still a long way to go.
Along the path of my professional journey, I too faced burdens from colleagues. Some ideas I presented were treated differently than those offered by men, this demotivated me initially, but I took a piece of great advice from a colleague to never hide and to own up to my work and ideas.
If I were to advise all the women around me, it would be: “if you want to get something, get it!” never limit yourself; put yourself out there and see where it takes you.
While there aren’t many women in tech positions, we naturally support each other and bring women up at all seniority levels. I’m fortunate to have worked with women managers and colleagues who brought the best out of me; now, I’m mentoring other women to color outside the line and create their path to success!
I still have many things I want to achieve and learn, so I don’t feel like “I’ve made it,” but I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve been presented along my career path.
