For Women's History Month, we'd love to feature some Women STARs (workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes rather than a bachelor's degree) from our team who inspire us.
Paige is a director at Opportunity@Work and supports our STARs Public Sector Hub with skills developed through community college and trade/tech school.
See more STARs who inspire us with their story: https://opportunityatwork.org/our-solutions/stars-insights/stars-stories/
With only 11% of construction workers being women, there has never been a better time to break barriers and build a career in the skilled trades. In honor of Women in Construction Week, Path to Pro is celebrating the women shaping the industry and encouraging more to explore rewarding career opportunities.
The Path to Pro program provides resources and training to help individuals gain the skills needed to succeed in construction. A career in the skilled trades offers:
- ✅ Great Pay
- ✅ Job Security
- ✅ The Freedom to Own a Business
The Home Depot Foundation and Team Depot are dedicated to empowering women in the trades by providing resources, training, and opportunities for growth.
For Women's History Month, we'd love to feature some Women STARs (workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes rather than a bachelor's degree) from our team who inspire us.
Monique is an executive assistant at Opportunity@Work and supports multiple projects with curiosity, efficiency, organization, and the willingness to collaborate.
See more STARs who inspire us with their story: https://opportunityatwork.org/our-solutions/stars-insights/stars-stories/
Originally used to recruit women to join the workforce during WWII, Rosie the Riveter is a historic icon that represents working women, the feminist movement, and the concept that women can do anything men can do. This same concept holds true today. If you want a job and you’re qualified, go for it - regardless of your gender. Do we have any Rosies out there? Tell us your job and why you love what you do. #WomensHistoryMonth
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is proof that ANYTHING is possible. Giving female pioneers the recognition they deserve is so important, especially in male-dominated fields like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics). Let’s celebrate Dr. Kizzmekia for breaking through the stereotypes, becoming a hero to us all, but especially little girls who never thought these types of jobs were possible for them. What other women do you look up to? What jobs would you consider unnecessarily male-dominated? #WHM #WomensHistoryMonth
The Jobcase Community is a great place to find support and motivation. Whether it’s before a job interview or after a tough shift at work, find the motivation you need right here. Although Michelle Obama’s quote might sound simple, it’s so important to make sure women feel valued at the workplace. Find ways to show women they are appreciated. Remember to treat women as equals. And always be there for each other. #WomensHistoryMonth
Here in the US and around the world, the gender gap between men and women is very real - especially in the workplace. Pay is talked about the most, but the gap overflows into everything from work attire to bringing treats to the break room. Knowing we’re all equal helps close this gap. Don’t assume your female coworker will be the “team mom.” If an opportunity is given to only men, speak up. How can you embrace equality at the workplace? #EmbraceEquity #IWD2023 #WomensHistoryMonth
So many unbelievable accomplishments are shared during Women’s History Month. But this month is also a reminder of how things still aren’t equal, especially in the workplace. Let’s take this month to make a change. If you work with mostly men, encourage hiring more women. Remember to give women credit when it’s due. Make sure everyone’s ideas are heard, but especially women. How else can you celebrate Women’s History Month at the workplace? #WomensHistoryMonth
#womenshistorymonth #womenintech #jobcase
To close out Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating two of our very own female tech pioneers driving change and innovation here at Jobcase: Anita, Associate Director of Operational Excellence, and Jennifer, Director of Data Strategy.
Jennifer and Anita are women in tech, a phrase that’s recently been gaining momentum.
At the core of the women in tech undertaking is an effort to get more women and girls into tech careers, because a lowly ~25% of STEM careers (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are filled by women in this country. Technology is universal which is why it’s essential for women to have more of a presence in its universe.
I couldn’t agree more that women should be active in the tech universe. But the reason I interviewed Jennifer and Anita was because I wanted to better understand what it takes to be a woman in tech. Before interviewing Jennifer and Anita, I thought the industry was flooded with master coders, engineers, and programmers. People with multiple degrees in computer science or engineering. I had a sneaking suspicion I was wrong.
Technology is universal, which is why it’s essential for women to have more of a presence in its universe.
A little about me: I’m fascinated by what motivates and inspires people toward action, and I enjoy participating in creating those motivations. I was an English major: I love to read and write. I am no master coder, engineer or programmer, nor do I hold multiple tech degrees. I barely made it through Algebra in high school; in fact, the final day of my last-ever required math class in college was akin to divine salvation. I am terrible at math and science. I’m a words person. I’ve made it a point – indeed, a goal – to stay far away from numbers. I am NEVER the one to calculate the tip when the check comes; I leave that math to the calculator on my phone.
But: I am a woman employed by Jobcase, which is a tech startup. So…technically, I am a woman in tech. Who would’ve thought that little old English major would find herself working in tech? Perhaps the industry isn’t as exclusive a club as I thought if a creative, like myself, has been able to find a way in.
I believe my math/science aversion is inherited, not genetic.
“Math people”
Jennifer and Anita’s stories made me reflect on how math, science and technology played a part in my life growing up. As the daughter of a writer, I believe my math/science aversion is inherited, not genetic. In elementary and middle school, when I needed help with math homework (which was frequently), the mere sight of fractions and factorials on a worksheet would send my mother’s eyeballs rolling into the back of her head. “I’m not a math person,” she’d always tell me, “I’m a words person.” Thus, math and science were always fraught with frustration and anxiety, because I wasn’t a “math person,” either. But the big question here is not what makes a “math person,” but rather, is there really even such a thing?
Anita
The same way children of artists or musicians grow up in “artistic” or “musical” households, Anita grew up in a “tech” household as her father was a software engineer. Her seventh grade science fair project? An HTML website. At 12 years old, she declared her major: computer science and business. In high school, she developed an interest in psychology and was driven to combine it with her passion for tech. She went on to receive a BS in computer science with a minor in business from Carnegie Mellon University.
Anita’s diverse work history is a testament to the wide range of industries in which a degree in computer science can be useful.
In addition to having an extraordinary sense of career direction at the age of 12, Anita majored in computer science because it was sure to expand her career opportunities, not limit them.
Anita’s diverse work history is a testament to the wide range of industries in which a degree in computer science can be useful. She’s worked as a strategy consultant, marketing analyst, a product marketer, retention marketing manager, and first came onto the Jobcase team as an email marketer. Her current role at Jobcase today is Associate Director of Operational Excellence.
In this role, Anita focuses on building infrastructure and processes for compliance systems. Another element of her job is “change management,” which spans the entirety of the company and inherently involves frequent human interaction. And as Jobcase continues to grow, the breadth and amount of change that Anita manages is truly staggering.
Anita loves to read and cook, and recently traveled to New York City to see the Broadway show “Hamilton” (lucky duck). But her interests do not have to exist in a separate realm from the skills necessary for professional success – in fact, technology is a place where all of her diverse interests converge quite nicely.
Jennifer
Jennifer always knew she wanted to work in technology and her interest was fostered at a young age. By the time she was in tenth grade and enrolled in AP computer science, the rest, as they say, was history.
Her education is impressive: an SB in math and an SB in computer science with a minor in economics from MIT and an MBA from Chicago Booth. Jennifer is a “big picture” person: she enjoys seeing things through from concept to completion and working with all parts of a system, not just the smaller pieces. So, after she graduated, she worked in marketing and analytics for a few years, but was unhappy to find that her technical muscles weren’t getting as much exercise as she’d have liked.
Technology is expansive and dynamic; it’s an industry for everyone and anyone: including you.
Today, Jennifer has found professional equilibrium in her role as Director of Data Strategy at Jobcase. It’s very much an “integrator” role, she told me, as she “makes sure everything talks to everything else and people know what everything means. I really enjoy that.”
Outside of work, Jennifer is an avid reader: she helped choose this month’s book club read and she loves puzzles. She’s participated in the “MIT Mystery Hunt” since 1998 (an internationally renowned “puzzlehunt” competition) and was on this year’s winning team. Puzzle competition...quite a departure from computer science and economics, yet the skills necessary to piece together –”integrate,” if you will – a puzzle are actually in rapport with the skills required to excel in her job.
Math people, shmath people
At Jobcase, Anita created a role for herself that incorporates business, technology, and psychology; Jennifer gets to hone her technical skills as she works to bring up a reliable and functional technical system, while also managing a team of data architects. Me? I fill a role that allows me to interact with, listen to, and learn from this community, and write for you.
Puzzles, reading, cooking, writing...my fear of this industry has been completely unfounded.
I closed out my conversation with Anita and Jennifer by asking them for a piece of advice for anyone – women, men, teens, kids, everyone – with a burgeoning interest in technology.
Anita’s advice: “Even if you're only remotely interested in technology--take a class or two! It will change the way you think about problem solving and start opening new doors for you. There are so many different paths you can take with a computer science background, and in almost any industry.”
Jennifer’s advice: “I wish I’d known that there are so many different kinds of technical roles. My advice is that you can make it your own; you can find your niche in technology.”
Our roles in this industry are a chorus of our varied and unique sets of skills, proficiencies and interests. Calling Jennifer and Anita “math people” would be the equivalent to calling me a “words person.” Words people, shmords people. There’s so much more to them – and me – than that math or words, which renders those labels a fallacy. There’s also so much more to the tech industry than a proficiency in computer science, engineering, and coding. Puzzles, reading, cooking, writing...my fear of this industry has been completely unfounded. And if I have managed to find a niche for myself, then my plea to all the other “non-math people” out there is to consider this industry differently, because you could find your niche here, too.
Also, perhaps it’s time I learn to calculate tips.
#internationalwomensday #womenshistorymonth #womenintech
Happy International Women’s Day (and Women’s History Month), Jobcasers!
Today, we honor all the women who make the world go round: those who bring life to this planet; the moms who balance work with family; the women who propel businesses to success; the visionaries and radical-thinkers; the girls who are shattering glass ceilings, breaking barriers, and building bridges. Here’s to you.
Recently, two of our Jobcase team members – Anita, Associate Director of Operational Excellence, and Jennifer, Director of Data Strategy – attended the Dynamic Women in Business Conference, hosted by Harvard Business School.
Jennifer and Anita are among the trailblazing, ceiling-shattering, awe-inspiring women we seek to honor today, so we sat down and spoke about their unique takeaways from the conference, and how it resonated with them as women in the professional technology space.
Turns out, Jennifer and Anita attended the event for very different reasons: Anita for the element of commonality among all the attendees, and Jennifer for the diversity among sponsors, speakers, and fellow attendees.
Stay tuned for the full story next week – find it under the hashtag #womenshistorymonth.
Happy International Women’s Day, and happy Women’s History Month, from all the men and women here at Jobcase!