Ada Lovelace Day

This post has nothing to do with my training, my triathlon goal, or really me. Its a dedication to a person who has made a difference in my career although I've not ever told her before. Since I signed up for the Ada Lovelace Day, I've been thinking about this posting. I know this person reads my blog and I'm kinda excited to publish this posting.

Ada Lovelace, a woman from the 1800's is referred to as the first computer programmer. There was a brief mention of her during my college years as I was studying Computer Science, probably a historical fact during one of the early subjects. When I started my career with the Department of Defense I became familiar with her again. I've often been amused that people refer to her when talking to me about my role in Computer Science as if she was the only role model we could talk about. Its true there are less women in my field, but I've been fortunate to work with some that have inspired me throughout my career and I'd like so send a personal thank you to one in particular.

I graduated as the only woman in Computer Science during the Fall of 1995. For the first few years out of school I met very few women in my field, even at conferences. It wasn't much of a surprise, I knew what I was getting into when I started. The fact is, I was more surprised when I did meet a female peer. Then I interviewed at Nasa Ames - Moffet Field CA.

The team lead, a short asian woman who spoke very frankly interviewed me and introduced me to her team. The team had 4 other women of all different ages and backgrounds. The group also had a history of women moving through the ranks as interns, SAs, managers, security engineers. I couldn't believe that I was going to have the opportunity to work with this many women in one place.

Cindy Pang became my first female boss. She managed a wildly diverse team. We ranged from super techinical with years of experience to right out of school. The environment was organized, measured, documented, and challenging. Its an environment I've strived to model at several companies I've worked at through the years. In addition to managing a team of SAs, Cindy also had her technical work. She developed projects and prioritized the work of the entire team. I learned a lot about how to get things done while working under her that I continue to use throughout my career.

I wouldn't fully appreciate her abilities until I took over from her as team lead several months later. I'd always been good at managing my own work and projects and Cindy made it seem easy doing the same for others. When she left NASA she named me as her successor. She coached me on how to deal with the NASA management and did her best to help me learn to manage others. This opportunity and experience was one that I would reflect on for a long time.

Cindy went on to do just pure technical work. We stayed in touch and after I figured out I wasn't ready to manage other people, she recruited me to work with her at @Home Networks. The best part about working with Cindy is her straight talk. She looks at problems and figures out how to bring it to resolution. She is resourceful, calculated, balanced, and humble. Her ability to get the job done without having to do all the work herself was something that took me a while to learn. Her focus was always on the solution and getting the work done and she knew that a single person wasn't always the answer.

After the internet bubble burst we went our separate ways. Even though we have not worked together in almost 10 years we still get together and talk about what we are doing these days. I still talk to her about my career goals and talk strategy with her. Her experience and long term thinking always help put things into perspective.

There are very few people that I can discuss technical solutions as well as personal and career development with, man or woman. She was the best manager I've had and the single biggest influence on all that I've accomplished. I feel very lucky to have met her so early in my career and to be able to call her my friend.

And that is the next challenge, can I do for another what she has done for me? Still being inspired by her, I hope that I will be able to say yes to that question one day. Now if she can just stop being so awesome, maybe I'll be able to catch up!!! ;-)