Women in Tech 2022
ivision is committed to tapping into our team members’ highest potential and passions, and this allows for an incredible range of perspectives around our team. The women at ivision have been integral in every step of our success, in the past, present and future. Today, we’d like to share some of their stories entering and navigating a largely male-dominated industry, as well as advice they have for women looking to kickstart their tech careers.
Linda Chow, Sr. Principal Consultant
I started my IT career journey at Merck as a Windows administrator. During my eleven-year tenure, I learned the importance of customer service, process definition and financial stewardship. I made the move “to the other side of the table,” commencing my consulting career in Cloud Transformation with Dell EMC and developed a specialty in Strategy and Architecture consulting at Roundtower and Ahead. In 2021, I joined ivision as a Sr. Principal Consultant with 22 years of technology experience in Healthcare, Government, Financial, Defense, Automotive and Retail across strategy, process, automation, design and improvement, data center and merger and acquisition.
Why did you choose a career in technology?
Thinking about why I chose a career in technology, I find that tech jobs promote innovation and development, encouraging people to think of new things and see new possibilities. I like seeing the tangible benefits immediately and value of my work. Technology thrives on innovation. Working in tech allows me to evaluate problems and create solutions. I can solve real-world problems to make an impact. Win-win!
Who/what influenced your decision to explore a technology career?
My older brother and parents influenced me to pursue and explore a career in technology. In high school, the internet was brand new, and my parents bought the family our first computer. Having access to the internet and tech at a young age fascinated me. My brother studied computer science in college and would share tech concepts he was learning. Both influenced and fostered my decision to pursue tech in college and develop a tech career.
What advice would you give women or girls wanting to pursue a career in tech?
Tech is a great way to make your ideas happen. There is nothing more fun than seeing results quickly.
Tech is not difficult. There are many different types of careers in tech: coding, support, administration, sales and consulting. You can be a woman in tech without knowing how to code. Many apps exist today to bypass building and achieve the same results. There are many people and programs available to help you. Explore, find and pursue tech areas you are drawn to and excel at.
Lauren Noeltner, Jr. DevOps Engineer
I always had a million different ideas of what I wanted to do for my career, from being a veterinarian to a professional artist, so I spent a lot of time bouncing from one area of interest to another. I spent most of my twenties exploring and growing my interests outside of my day jobs, and eventually I decided that I wanted to attend a web development bootcamp run by Georgia Tech. Suffice to say, I loved the bootcamp and the skills we learned while attending. I continued to develop small projects after graduating and started applying for positions in web and software development. About six months after graduating, I had the opportunity to interview at ivision, and here I am!
Why did you choose a career in technology?
As someone with a background in arts and languages, a career in technology may seem surprising, but what initially interested me so much was that developing projects and applications allowed me to use a lot of my skills and interests in one area. When developing a project or writing code, it appears purely analytical from the outside, but in reality, it’s all creative problem solving on top of some aspects of design. I was surprised to find that the way I always felt about making art ended up being the same as the way I view coding and development. In both, you start with an empty canvas and solve a series of problems in creative ways until you have built a final product of your own design. Additionally, both allow a degree of variety in topics that I find very appealing. One day I could paint a landscape and the next, a portrait. One day I could write code to automate a task and the next, build and design a webpage. When I have the flexibility to be creative and make something, either physical or digital, I am happy.
Who/what influenced your decision to explore a technology career?
I’ve always liked making things, so everyone from my past who encouraged me to follow that desire all deserve credit. I also have a very close friend who started working in tech long before I even learned to code, and she was a major influence in getting me to decide to attend the web development bootcamp in the first place.
What advice would you give women or girls wanting to pursue a career in tech?
I have a few:
- My main piece of advice would be that imposter syndrome is real, but it is not *true*. Most often when people are doubting themselves, they know more than they think.
- Times are changing and there are more women than ever working in technology, so, as hard as it can be, try not to be intimidated by the stereotypes and antiquated ideas that technology is a male-dominated profession. You are there for a reason and your voice matters, so use it!
- I hear a lot of people say that they shouldn’t work in tech because they aren’t “technical” or “analytical” thinkers or don’t like hard sciences. If an art geek like myself can learn to do it and enjoy doing it, anyone can. Don’t limit yourself based on preconceived notions of what you are “supposed” to be like. Variety in interests and experience among members of a group make the group stronger.
- If you can use it, you can learn to build it too, and if you can build it, you can learn to build it as well as or better than anyone else. All you have to do is start.
- When learning and practicing, make something that you would want to use, even if you think you would be the only person who would. Incorporating your other interests into your work can only help you and makes the learning process so much more fun. You don’t have to make the same boring website clone that everyone else makes at one point or another. Put your own spin on it. Spice it up. Have fun. With the proper knowledge, there is no limit, so push it further.
Erika Pennetta, Engineer I
I have graduated from Devry university with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications. After graduating, I joined British Telecom company as help desk analyst for a new client with VOIP and Networking. As we grew, more clients were included and we have extended our help desk for 13 years. Within the last three years, I became a network engineer for new clients, and I was included in migrations and further configuration changes. I’ve been working in ivision as an Engineer 1 for two years and learning all new technologies in different client environments.
Why did you choose a career in technology?
I choose this career in technology since there are not as many women in the field and there are so many challenges to learn from. Also, it does have a work-life balance and workplace flexibility. As a mom and wife, we can balance the following tasks and tech jobs allowing the flexibility of working remotely.
Who/what influenced your decision to explore a technology career?
My kids and husband. I wanted to show them that I can continue to learn every day in the technology world and that they keep pushing themselves they can do it too.
What advice would you give women or girls wanting to pursue a career in tech?
My advice to give to women who want to pursue a career in tech is to never stop learning and to keep going forward after any mistakes and learn from them.
Shelley Frazee, Sr. Account Executive
I feel very blessed reflecting back my career journey. As many start off in their early twenties, one is not sure what they want to do when they grew up. I had an opportunity to move from Ohio to North Carolina for my start as a processor in the mortgage business. I worked hard to be promoted to sales and since then I have always been in a sales role.
Why did you choose a career in technology?
When the mortgage industry crashed in the early 2000s, I leveraged my network to find a new career path. I was offered an opportunity with a small technology service provider. That was my intro to selling technology.
Who/what influenced your decision to explore a technology career?
I have always worked hard and focused on my network throughout whatever industry I was in. I have several wonderful close friends in my network that helped me get into technology and since then have continued to build an amazing network of peers/friends and influencers that I can always reach out to for support, as well as return that support to them and others as I continue to prosper in my career.
What advice would you give women or girls wanting to pursue a career in tech?
Now is definitely a fantastic time to get into tech for women. It is amazing looking back on my experience first starting in technology. It was evolving with women entering technology however it was not at all as supportive for women in technology as it is today. There are so many executive/C-level roles now lead by women.
Looking to join this team of incredibly talented, uplifting individuals? Check out our open positions today!
