| |
Colleen Smith
PC Technician
Employed on contract
Career Quick Look
Age: 37 years
Location: Seattle, WA
Education: CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate); A+ (hardware) certificate; A.S. in Networking (LAN/WAN)
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Salary: $24/hour and up ($50,000)
Years in field: 9
""Everybody that I've worked with has always wanted me back, so that makes me feel good," Colleen says. "Success is attitude first, then knowledge - which you can obtain - and then how far you go is really up to you.""
Getting Started:
"Back in 1984 I took some night classes at Mendocino College in California," Colleen says. "It was right when they were phasing out punch cards and introducing PCs." She intended to prepare herself for secretarial work, but soon discovered she had a knack for computers. "This was before Windows," she explains, "I took a couple of DOS classes and found that I really liked this new technology." With a few classes under her belt, Colleen says, "I started to make myself available in the companies where I worked to train other staff on the operating systems."
After her family moved to Washington, Colleen worked in the health care industry for 12 years. "I became the point person to teach medical and nursing staff all the operating systems within Group Health Cooperative, which is an HMO," she says. She spent one year working as an instructor and testing engineer for a different corporation until she was laid off, and decided it was time to "take the final plunge" and complete her degree.
Education:
Colleen admits she got into computers almost by accident. "From being a secretarial support person, I ended up falling into computer support person, and it just became an area I had a knack for, without any formal education," she says. Over time she realized she could increase her earning power - and her control - with a college degree. "I have two kids, and I wanted to have a lot more control over my life," she says. "The only way I could do that was to go back to school."
Colleen spent two and a half years at Olympic College, where she earned her associate's degree in networking in June of 2001. "I graduated as dean's scholar with honors," she says, "so I was pretty proud of myself." Her schooling also included all four semesters of the Cisco Academy. "So as we speak I'm studying for my CCNA exam, which I'll take in two weeks." She also plans to pursue her CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) in the future.
Greatest Professional Achievement:
Colleen cites her promotion from PC technician to site manager for a major project at American Express as her greatest achievement. "We were changing out their whole infrastructure from a token ring to an ethernet system. It involved being responsible for 24 technicians and making sure that we had 100% convergence on 250 computers for three sites." Upon her promotion, she says, "every one of those technicians came up, shook my head and told me that they hoped they would work with me again. I thought that was really cool. I was proud of myself."
Barriers:
"When I first started out I was somewhat reluctant," Colleen admits, "because most people in the IT profession are men, with some type of electronic background, and I had none of that." At school she had to learn to speak up with her sometimes overbearing male classmates. "Going through my hardware courses we were building computers and running cable, stuff like that. And the men would step in and want to take over. So I had to really assert myself, and say, 'you need to back off and let me do it.'" Once she established these boundaries, Colleen says, "it was fine. They backed off and then I just moved forward."
Working with Men:
"To be honest, I usually just go in and go to work," Colleen says. "Even though I'm the only female that shows up a lot of the time, I'm actually pleased with myself for not being intimidated by the male environment." While sometimes men express surprise at working alongside a female technician, she says, "I don't think that it's really a gender issue once you show that you're serious about it." When you enjoy your work, she says it makes all the difference. "I love the work itself, and it's great to feel the men really respect me."
Advice for Women:
"My advice for women is not to be intimidated," Colleen says. "It is a different world, but it's very reachable for women. And because we are multitasking individuals, I think we can use our abilities as women to bring a different approach to the technical field."
Typical Workday/Environment:
Colleen works on contract for various Seattle area corporations as a PC technician, also known as LAN or WAN technician for Local Area and Wide Area Networks. "I usually start off working nights - because we can't take systems down when people are working," she explains. "So I go in and work three nights straight, starting at 6 o'clock, and I get home about 4 o'clock in the morning. On about the third night I'll go to work from 6 o'clock 'til 4 o'clock, come home, get a little sleep and be back on the job site at 8 o'clock to begin QA. From there I make sure our customer is really happy."
Having earned her degree and proven herself in the workplace, Colleen feels she has truly arrived at her goals.
"Honestly, I love it!" she says. "I come home from work and my husband says, 'It's great seeing you in such a great mood,' because I love my job. I feel like I have a full life, and I'm very pleased to have flexibility in my career now."
Career Ladder:
While the computer industry offers a "wide variety of areas" to explore, Colleen says hardware and networking careers tend to follow one of two basic avenues. "You could do hardware install - which is Local Area Networks, Wide Area Networks, working in wiring closets, and staying hardware focused - or you could move towards being a PC technician, where you have to learn multiple operating systems, along with installing hardware and doing the client/customer contact."
While proper training is essential, Colleen insists that maintaining a positive attitude has been at least as important to her own success. "The drive and the attitude I believe is the key," she says. "Because you can't do it by yourself. If you have a positive attitude, your team is going to be positive. And if your team is positive, all of you will be successful."
Professional Associations:
NA
Hobbies:
"I'm an interior decorator, so I'm very crafty," she says. "I also like running and reading." Colleen lives with her husband and two sons, aged 15 and 18. "And I love being a mom," she says. "There's nothing more rewarding than my family."
|
