For women launching a career in technology, the journey can sometimes be an arduous climb. Is it getting easier? At Atmosphere 2023, our Women in Tech panelists and young women in our Airhead community shared their views on the topic. Hear from one of them how a passion for tinkering, STEM classes, and a handful of inspiring mentors can help the new generation of IT girls find success.
At HPE Aruba Networking’s flagship event, Atmosphere, held at the end of April, I was delighted to participate once again in our engaging and delightful Women in Tech session. This gathering is a place where women come together to hear inspiring stories and perspectives and network with industry peers at all levels and functions, relating these experiences to our own journeys.
This year, the discussion featured a panel of impressive women, including guest speaker Caroline Johnson, otherwise known as Jet Girl. One of the first women to fly a combat mission, Caroline recently made headlines as an author, publishing her popular memoir, Jet Girl: My Life in War, Peace, and the Cockpit of the Navy's Most Lethal Aircraft, the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The panel was well-received and was certainly a highlight of Atmosphere 2023 for everyone on the panel and in attendance.
Shortly after that panel, some of my team members and I had the opportunity to catch up with a few of the younger, female members of our Airheads community. (For those of you not in the know, Airheads is our networking community with more than 185,000 members).
I love having the opportunity to chat with female network engineers, as I’m passionate about encouraging more women to consider—and hopefully pursue—a career in technology. I believe it’s really important for young women to read and learn how other women launched their successful careers in technology, and what it is they are doing on a daily basis to excel in their roles.
Robotics, STEM and Being an IT Girl
So, with that in mind, I wanted to share (with permission of course!) the conversation I had at the event with Lauren Cline from Cedarville, Ohio. Lauren graduated from Cedarville University and then landed a position at the university as a network analyst.
I started off by asking Lauren what it was that first attracted her to a career in technology. Like most successful tech experts, she told me that she had always had a passion for asking why—and how—things worked. “I was always tinkering with things,” she said.
Lauren’s passion for technology began at an early age, as she was introduced to robotics in middle school. “Then I started taking STEM-focused classes, and I was already way ahead of everyone else,” she added. In high school, she wasn’t flipping burgers and making fries. Instead, she landed an internship opportunity with a healthcare IT company. “This really opened the door to an IT career for me.”
Expertise, Support, and Belonging
Women in a historically male-dominated technology environment often hit career hurdles, so I wanted to hear about Lauren’s experiences and see if things might (hopefully) be changing.
“Most of the time, my biggest challenge is feeling like I belong,” she shared. “Expertise isn't always received as an authority, even though I know what I'm doing.”
Although Lauren is still writing the first chapters of her tech journey, she offered solid advice for other young women looking to dive into a networking career. “Ask questions. Seek out opportunities for yourself, and very importantly, find a mentor,” she said. “Women who mentored me made all the difference. Seek out an ally who can support the introduction of something new.”
As we ended our conversation, Lauren shared with me the one thing that she knows now and wished she had known earlier, and it is an astute piece of advice for everyone in tech: “It’s okay to not know everything.”
