This is the third event with which I have been involved as an attendee or a moderator focused on women leaders in tech and beyond. I recently moderated a private event for Emory University as part of a TrailblazHER program. I definitely see a trend! Women really getting out there to share their stories and support their peers and emerging talent with their very real experiences. This event, Wednesday, October 16th was hosted by Databricks, moderated by Allyson Wilner of Databricks at the AWS offices in the Seaport District in Boston. The buzz began long before the event with a line going out the door to enter the office building. Pretty impressive security. Those who depend on AWS for their IT lifeblood should feel good about that.
The introductions were fun and revealing with speakers doing a 3-minute summation of their roles and one personal factoid. Those are always the most fun and give us a chance to find common ground. From gardening to beating one’s husband in golf, each speaker went beyond thew walls of work in a fun, engaging way – many also raising young families. With only 45 minutes to spare to attend this event, I picked up some tidbits from the speakers that are worth amplifying. Several speakers answered each question, so highlights are below:
Today’s Key Skillsets
- Technically speaking, handling and understanding all aspects of massive data – especially governance.
- Learn to use Excel – a key to everything and still relevant after all these years – thank you MS!
- Constant Curiosity about tech trends – For example, what was known as a “large language model” we now know as ChatGBT – so what’s next? Machine Learning?
Soft “hard” skills
- Communication, maintaining relationships especially with coworkers – how to do on remote world?
- Having thick skin! And don’t take it all personally. As a manager or peer, learn to give direct and caring feedback.
Self-advocacy
- This is always tricky – finding the balance between being egocentric and showcasing your skills and personal brand.
- A key to accessing leadership and sponsors is to follow the company strategy to see where leaders are going – understanding their priorities. That will be generate a healthy conversation.
- Never be afraid to ask when you need help
- Remember it’s better to be well respected vs. well liked!
- Everyone has challenging moments – so keep a folder of “attagirls” for reference so you can give yourself a boost or use them in a review.
Advocating for your team
- Amplify their voices & help and encourage them to build personal brands!
- Find opportunities outside of normal channels and encourage your team to grab them.
- Don’t worry about having every qualification for a post or a job – go for it. Research shows that men are more likely to do this than women, so reverse the metrics.
Advice to younger self
You cannot predict the non-linearity of your career. There will be times you will make changes, times to hold and times to accelerate – so be prepared to step back and review. Certainly, having a child will force you to evaluate things.
The long-term goal of women should be to look at the bigger social picture of education, child-bearing, and careers. There is a much bigger challenge that goes beyond an individual. It’s very clear in the medical profession and several use cases were discussed demonstrating that it’s there are many factors working against one to go to medical school, have a family, and make a living
And finally, not so surprising, #Work-Life integration is the new way of managing competing priorities. Work-life balance is a myth! Many thanks to the dedicated group of women that took time to tell their stories and share their experiences!
Moderator: Allyson Wilner at Databricks
Panelists:
Kate Shamsuddin Jensen from Definitive Healthcare
Shailja Dedakia from Capsule
Vida Ha from Databricks
Amy Winter from Tripadvisor
Sarah Cooper from DraftKings Inc.
Leave a Reply