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Abigail Carter
Cisco Networking Academy Program Instructor
Northwestern Technical College
Career Quick Look
Age: 37
Location: Rock Springs, GA
Education: B.S. in Computer Information Systems; Master's in Management; MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional); CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate); CCAI (Cisco Certified Academy Instructor); CCDA (Cisco Certified Designer Associate) in progress; Ph.D. in Information Systems in progress
Ethnicity: African-American
Salary: $35,000 and up
Years in field: 15
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Getting Started:
"After graduating from high school, I joined the Army Reserves to get funding for education," Abigail says. Her high placement scores gave her the opportunity to study computers with the military, where she spent ten years on active reserve duty. "That really started me out," she says. "It was only on the weekends, but I liked it so much I decided I would continue once I got to college."
Education:
Abigail enrolled at Auburn University in Alabama, where she earned her B.S. in Computer Information Systems. "At that time we were really looking at mainframe computers. That's what most of my programming was in," she explains. "Over the last eight years, I've moved over to the PC environment." Having completed her bachelor's and master's degrees - along with several Microsoft and Cisco certifications - Abigail has been teaching computers for the past five years at Northwestern Technical College in Rock Springs, Georgia.
A passionate learner, she is also currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Information Systems through Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. "I'm taking classes online," she says, "and I go to Ft. Lauderdale once a quarter." At the moment, Abigail is considering dissertation subjects, and says she's especially interested in gender and technology issues.
Greatest Professional Achievement:
Abigail says she is proudest of helping to start the Cisco Networking Academy Program at Northwest Technical College. "When I first came here we had a lot of people doing Microsoft," she says, "but no one was qualified to teach Cisco. So I just kind of did it on the side." Abigail earned her CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCAI (Cisco Certified Academy Instructor) certifications as she became an instructor for the program. "I really enjoy Cisco," she says. "I really got into learning their hardware and software." She admits it took some extra effort at the start- "I built the lab from scratch, put in the cable and everything" - but today her school is fully equipped to offer the Cisco Networking Academy Program.
Barriers:
"I think the real barrier is not having female peers," she says. "There really aren't many of us in this field. When you go to classes and get into networking, it's hard to find other females." Abigail says she can see the disparity in her own classes. "In a typical class of 25, I might have about three women," she says - but with each success story comes further encouragement. "My first graduate and the first person to take the CCNA - which is the certificate you test for after you do the class - was a female, so I was really happy about that," she says.
Working with Men:
Abigail acknowledges the challenge of working in a nearly all-male environment, but she says "to me it's been a challenge that I like." She says her military experience probably helped her learn to enjoy competition. "When men do see the females in our field, they expect us to stay on the software side. I think that's what really pushed me to learn Cisco, because it's the hardware side, the nuts and the bolts. And people seem really surprised when females go that way."
Typical Workday/Environment:
"A workday would have to include my family," Abigail says. "I have two kids and I'm married, and right now I teach during the day - which is normally from 8 to 4." In addition, she teaches adjunct classes for Cisco on some evenings. At the moment, she says, "it's hard to find people who are trained to do Cisco." Abigail usually devotes part of her weekend to online classes toward her doctoral degree.
Career Ladder:
Having taught for the past several years, and qualified as a Cisco instructor, Abigail says she would like to continue her work in the field of technology education. Earning her doctorate will be one more step toward her eventual goal of working at a university. "What I'm hoping is to be able to teach for a few years, and then I would like to be a dean or a vice president of a C.I.S. [Computer Information Systems] department."
Hobbies:
As the mother of two - aged six and ten - Abigail stays very busy when she's not at work. "Outside of work I'm very into my kids' activities," she says. "I'm a cheerleader mom with my daughter, and I'm a girl scout leader as well." She also teaches Sunday school.
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