Celebrating International Girls in ICT Day 2023

Happy International Girls in ICT Day 2023!

OpenNMS celebrates the importance of girls, women, and non-binary folk in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Last year, people on our team shared stories about the importance of access and safety in ICT. This year's theme is "Digital Skills for Life."

Looking around OpenNMS, this theme is especially meaningful. We have people from many different walks of life, paths into the technology industry, and unique experiences. Despite differing backgrounds, those who shared their stories this year had some common observations: learn through experimentation and always be open to new ideas.

Digital skills for life at OpenNMS

How has the digital world shaped your career?

Zoë Knox, VP Engineering

I tend to learn by doing and enthusiastically jump into trying things to figure them out. I do a lot of experiments. As a kid, I was always taking things apart (and occasionally getting them back together). Once I had a computer, I would try writing programs and work at them until I had what I wanted. Today I think we call this iterative development ... or Agile.

For me, it's just how I think.

Sandy Skipper, Agile Coach

It started in college. I managed the school's computer lab. It was something that just kind of happened. I didn't have my own computer—a lot of people didn't really at that time. So, I would spend time doing my assignments in the lab and I would end up helping people, because someone would always have an issue. I was just there. I didn't have a background in computers at all. My major was fashion merchandising!

Jen Fekin, Director of Demand Generation and Digital Marketing

A role like marketing operations didn’t even really exist 10+ years ago—my entire career. When I think back to the original email marketing and web analytics tools we used in the early 2000s, we were flying blind. Today we have a wealth of information at our fingertips (sometimes too much!). I feel like we are starting to come full circle in the age of digital footprints. Early in my career, we had no real-time intelligence for targeting. Then we entered the era where we tracked everyone’s movement online and our targeting got scary good, but as a consumer it started to feel beyond creepy (and illegal in some cases). I think we’re starting to move back into a time more focused on privacy; we just need to think differently about our strategies.

Did your education path lead you to this career?

Amanda Santamaria, Senior UX Visual Designer

I wasn't involved in STEM early on, but I went to school for industrial design. And it was really around the time that UX was becoming a career path. While my peers were falling into specializations for things like automotive design and furniture design, I found myself very interested in human-computer interaction, which was a new specialization. I was lucky to have those courses available to me at that time. A lot of folks associate design thinking and accessible design with UX, but it really has a very long history with industrial design. I also took additional courses in graphic design and computer science (coding).

Nicole Procter, Senior Graphic Designer

I was fortunate to be able to attend more specialized courses in high school at a career/technical school that provided all of the surrounding high schools with opportunities in more specific AP and career-oriented fields.

I was very fortunate in being able to attend both an Arts Magnet high school, which provided digital arts courses alongside the more traditional media, as well as taking a multi-year graphic design course through our career/technical school. Being able to learn fundamental skills in digital art and design in high school gave me a huge leg up when it came to pursuing those tracks in college.

Veena Kannan, Senior Engineering Manager

I grew up in a place and time where there wasn’t any focused STEM programs or awareness. However, when I heard about programming for the first time in my middle school, it was fascinating and soon after I joined a starter programming class taught locally. In some ways, that contributed to my path into engineering and computer science. I did my bachelors in telecommunications engineering and my masters in computer science. I work in the related field. Through both formal education and continued learning at workplace via training and learning.

What role did confidence and support play in getting to where you are now? Did you have role models or mentorship along the way?

Zoë

My parents were very supportive of my interests in tech and always encouraged me and bought things that I needed. My high school CS teacher saw potential and put me in charge of the school network and lab computers after he found me hacking root on them. I helped out the other students with their lab assignments.

Sandy

Well, I was a C-level executive about 10 years ago and I worked directly with the CEO. We went through the downturn of 2009, lost more than half of our staff, and had some software that was extremely difficult to use. We were paying hefty, hefty consulting bills to answer simple questions about the software. So, I taught myself how to use it. They actually ended up visiting us because they wanted to find out why we stopped racking up all of those charges. I was walking by the CEO's office one day and he says, "That's the reason why we're not paying your fees anymore."

Veena

My mother used to be a science teacher while I was growing up and always referred to science, logic, and reasoning during everyday activities. She is one of my role models. In addition, there were many women around me (family, friends, colleagues, etc.) that I have observed and learned many things from over the years that I apply or practice.

What advice do you have for someone who is young and interested in a future in information and communications technology?

Amanda

I tend to shy away from giving advice. I feel like it implies I know what I’m doing. But I guess if I have to give any advice it would be to keep an open mind and to not be afraid to explore all of the different career choices that might interest you!

Jen

Prioritize your personal goals and see how they can align to a professional career. Too often many people are driven into jobs for all the wrong reasons instead of taking advantage of every opportunity when you are younger to try things out. Be inquisitive, talk to people you meet, ask them what they really do for work every day and start to piece together your own dream job.

Nicole

Learn as much as you can and take advantage of the opportunities you have now. If you have access to specialized courses take them. If you don’t, there are a lot of great online resources and tutorials to help you learn the basics of the tools of the trade.

Veena

Stay curious and never stop learning. Don’t be afraid of change.

Resources

Whether it's your neighborhood, open source software, or helping with an International Girls in ICT Day celebration—all communities thrive on support.

Here are a few resources that you can use to, hopefully, help spark joy for Information and Communications Technology: