The ETSU Computing Mentorship (ETSU-CM) organized a seminar on women in IT as part of its “Mentoring Monday” webinar series.
The seminar, which took place via Zoom, compiled three successful women in IT to discuss their achievements and challenges and to give guidance.
Shannon Bennett, an ETSU-CM member, asked the speakers to briefly introduce themselves before they delved into the session.
Although numbers are gradually changing, IT is still a predominantly-male workforce. Being a woman in IT carries its own substantial range of stress and pressure, so some women do not consider IT to be a feasible occupation. Because of its issues, it is important to understand why many still pursue it.
“I knew that I needed something that had more problem-solving to it and that allowed you to be more creative,” said Molly Leita, a manager in enterprise information management for Eastman Chemical Company.
Morgan Boven, a data analyst and process owner for TEKsystems, detailed a personal anecdote from her high school yearbook class when her teacher encouraged her to attend a coding camp held at ETSU. There, Boven recognized her interest in computers immediately, and began to pursue them.
Becoming a leading figure in IT already has its hardships, but for women in the workforce, the path to success is much more difficult. Each of the panelists had a personal story of their experiences with workplace misogyny and bias. Despite that, they discussed how and why they still feel empowered.
“I feel advantaged in some ways to be female, because I think that we have unique qualities that are more natural and innate in females that we can bring to the workplace,” said Leita. “I mean, we tend to be better communicators and sometimes more organized.”
At the close of the seminar, each woman shared her own advice for the future generation of female IT workers.
Elpida Tzortzatos, IBM fellow for IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), encouraged these women to be open to new ideas so that they never stop educating themselves.
“IT is an area where you constantly learn. Even though I spent over 30 years in the industry, my job is very, very different today than it was when I started,” said Tzortzatos.
The Department of Computing Mentor’s Series entitled “Monday Webinar” will continue through April. Next month’s webinar on time and money management will occur on March 21, and the final webinar on internships and extracurriculars will be live on April 11.
“Put yourself out there. It is a really great time to be a woman in IT,” said Boven.
