CTG Promoting Career Growth for Women in IT

By Alexandra Suder and Caylor Feeley

The biggest take-away from CTG’s participation in the RVATech/Women conference last week? Women are empowered to drive career growth in our IT industry.

Courtney Ferrell, the master of ceremonies, began the all-day event at the Science Museum of Virginia with an encouraging perspective on the creativity needed in the technology industry. She pushed the idea of finding inspiration, away from the desk and with the community. Ferrell reminded the attendees of the importance of women involving themselves within the community groups of: Richmond, other women, and the technology industry. 

                

The five keynote speakers brought strong records of success in technology. Throughout the Oct. 6 event, each shared a different perspective on the power of women in the technology community – with the lessons including:

• Yvonne Wassenaar, CIO of New Relic: Women must overcome personal fear to reach the fullest career potential in the tech industry. She encouraged the presence of more women leaders in the industry, as the current state of women leaders is caused by a perception problem.
• Laishy Williams-Carlson, CIO of Bon Secours Health System: With her experience in changing careers, Williams-Carlson encouraged all women to create and know their own personal career brand.
• Jocelyn Mangan, Chief Product and Marketing Officer of Snagajob: Mangan encouraged women to see value in every aspect of their career, to push past judgements that often follow them as they make career decisions, and to always love their job.
• Joey Rosenberg, representing Women Who Code: Breaking news from Rosenberg was that Women Who Code has officially been established in Richmond. Throughout her presentation, she encouraged women to applaud other women as they tackle the male-dominated industry of technology. Rosenberg gave CTG a shout out during her presentation because half of our company’s employees are women!
• Dr. Karen Rheuban, M.D., professor of pediatrics at University of Virginia. She shared with us the exciting innovations in technology that allow for telemedicine.

Our CTG employees attended different breakout sessions. One session focused on building ideas in a real-world setting through the use of Legos, while creating an environment that opened the mind to ideas and communication. The second session introduced the concept of intrapreneurship and how to use this concept in the workplace, where you act as an entrepreneur within the enterprise. The final breakout session explored the changing world of virtual reality and augmented reality, with a look at privacy concerns and how the VR/AR affects the technology, business and personal spheres.

We and our female colleagues are inspired and motivated by what we learned at this year’s RVATech/Women conference – and we’re looking forward to doing our part to continue to build empowering communities within the technology industry. With an understanding of community comes inspiration and with inspiration comes innovation. Keep your eyes and ears open!

Alexandra Suder and Caylor Feeley run CTG’s marketing department.

Doing My Part to Close Gender Gap in IT (Part II)

By Carley Wessler

Earlier this week, I wrote about gender experiences throughout my career, including the strong women I’ve encountered in jobs from education to manufacturing to now IT.  

The first visual encounter I had when I entered the Convergent Technologies Group office was a picture of Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman with CTG's two owners, John Monahan and Jeff Garell. According to Forbes magazine, Whitman ranks as the ninth most powerful woman in the world for 2016. That is no surprise, as she came up in the professional world by way of Hasbro, Walt Disney and EBay before joining HPE. Her voice is heard in many ways be it her position as CEO for HPE or as board member for SurveyMonkey, Procter & Gamble. When Whitman speaks, people listen. Her experience, poise, intelligence and ability to lead leave no doubt that she is paving the way for not just women in IT but in every discipline When I attended the Richmond Technology Council’s TechJam in July, the first thing I noticed was that I was only one of three women at our lunchtime event. Both the topic, “Cyber Security,” and the presenter, Jake Kouns, were engaging, and the program really made you think about how secure our homes, work and more truly are. 

That afternoon, I went to the Carpenter Center for a viewing of “CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap” where the tables were turned as I was surrounded by women.

This rousing documentary draws attention to the void in the number of women software engineers and the reasons for that gap. The film focuses on the contributions women have made and the disparity of women in code. The film boasts: “There will be 1.4 million jobs in computing 2020. Twenty-nine percent will be filled by Americans – and 3% of that 29% will be filled by women.” 

“CODE” features interviews with Danielle Feinberg, Pixar’s director of photography, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith. These two women provided incredible insight about their feelings of being women in their field and sharing what they believe it will take to close the gender gap in IT.

Right here in Central Virginia, we are tackling the future role of women in IT during RVATech/Women on Oct. 6. My female co-workers and I will attend this event, with some accomplished female speakers: Laishy Williams-Carlson, CIO, Bon Secours Health System; Joey Rosenberg, Global Business & Non-Profit Leader, Women Who Code; Jocelyn Mangan, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, SnagAJob; Karen Rheuban, Professor of Pediatrics, UVA Health System; and Yvonne Wassenaar, CIO, New Relic. I am looking forward to hearing from them and being surrounded by more outstanding and innovative women in IT at this event. 

In the meantime, I come to work each day in a place where I am valued as an equal.  With the help of my supervisors and peers at CTG I am able to further sharpen my skills and knowledge as not just a person in the IT field but as a woman in this industry.  I believe, as a woman, that I have to take extra steps to be taken as seriously as men in a male-dominated discipline. I never want to leave the impression that I am anything less than the best at what I do. I do it for my family, and I do it for the women that came before me and those that we are paving the way for in the future. I smile each time I encounter another woman in IT and I feel pride as I encounter more and more female executives and CIOs. 

All good things come in time, and each day I am leaving no doubt that I’m joining with other women to break down barriers in all professional arenas. 

http://www.codedocumentary.com/ 

Carley Wessler is an account executive with CTG.