My personal and professional story

I had this very long blog post wrote out about my career path but it was SO boring. So I am going to shorten it.


I was not expected to amount to much more than a mom, wife and maybe some little job. I never one believed anything that  people said when I couldn't do something. My mindset was that I could do anything I wanted if I tried hard enough and believed in myself.


This process has not been easy or one straight path. Like every person in life I was presented with forks in the road and usually I took the one that was less traveled. I didn't want to be like everyone else. I knew that I was very analytic and logical thinker. I could put a puzzle together with very little effort growing up. I wanted to learn how to do everything that caught my attention. If there was a way to improve something I was doing it I would figure it out.


The position that I am in now is from years of making very strategized decisions and learning to keep personal feelings outside of those decisions. There are times that I wonder if maybe I made the right one but so far I haven't. I have made mistakes believe me and rectify them as soon as I can.


Working in the IT field in early years was not easy. I took my fair share of ribbing and comments that now a days someone would get fired for saying. But at that time it was the boys club. I developed a VERY thick skin and didn't let things bother me. There was times that I had to go into the bathroom and cry at work., I never let them see me cry ever because crying in front of a male or female manager is a sign of weakness. Every ounce of credibility that I had worked for would go out the window the second I started to cry...and yes I learned this the hard way.


I also learned to listen to people to understand what they really want and need. Nine times out of 10 what they say they want isn't what they really want. Learning to listen and ask open ended questions gets more responses than being a robot.


I have attended meetings that I was stuck writing notes because I was the female in the group. I would write the notes but they learned very quickly my idea of notes is not their idea. I take technical information down, not the basic meetings minutes. That job was put on other people since I tuned out most admin things and focused on technical requirements since that is my expertise.


I have been called bitch, bossy, pain in the ass, nag, etc. I took it in stride and just let it flow off my back. Because the more you react to it the more fun it will be for them. When you give zero reaction they get bored and go away.


I have worked with customer's that at times you want to ask yourself if they forgot to take meds for a month or so. Other's that are extremely wonderful to deal with and leaving a position was difficult because of the relationship you have with them. Than you have the other ones that you want to run far and far away from because they are just crazy.


The career path that I am on right now has deviated from programming applications and moved more into Database Information Security and Cyber Security. It takes all my skills from the past 15 years and adds a new career field for me. My goal is to become a Information Security Officer and I will do because if I believe it I will do it.


My next blog is going to talk about discrimination in the workplace that we women in the technical field run into and some ways to either nip it in the bud before it starts or some ways to curtail it without suing someone or getting someone fired. There are ways to handle it but you need to do it correctly before it gets out of control. I have suffered discrimination myself and will be using some of my personal experiences at various jobs and what I did wrong, and how I could have handled them differently now.