Mrs. Aguilera, Senior Systems Analyst at a Medium-Sized Contractor
Published 12 Jul 2020
Tags: IT, computer-science, math, women-in-stemWhy did you choose to pursue this career? What made you certain this was the right path?
This is a loaded question for me. Computer programming is not my passion. However, I am on the right path because my job at my company offers me a wonderful work/life balance with a workable paycheck. While I’m not the most creative and fastest at my job, I’m good enough to make a difference to my employer. The IT field can be stressful and time-consuming, and I am fortunate that my company doesn’t usually feel that way.
What made me pursue this career is that I enjoyed the programming classes I took in high school. There weren’t many offered back then, but the logic came easily to me and made sense. However, when I started out as a Computer Science major in college, I quickly learned that plugging in standard algorithms isn’t enough to be a good programmer. I switched my major to Math and continued taking some programming classes for fun. And now my job is as a programmer!
What events, prior employment, or educational experiences led you to your current job?
Back in the day, my high school offered a couple of programming classes which I took and succeeded in. My older brother was in college and started as a Physics major and then switched to Math, eventually becoming a programmer. I started as a Computer Science major and then switched to Math, eventually becoming a programmer - at the company my brother worked for! In fact, we both still work there, more than 25 years later. My brother working at this company was the biggest event that led me to my job and his influence probably led to me being a Math major with a number of programming classes.
What schooling, education, and/or certifications did you complete to prepare you for this career?
I have a B.S. in Mathematics.
How did you make the best use of your time in both your education and career?
I found that a great use of time in school was to take any and all classes that interested me, no matter how far away from my major they may have seemed. Every career field needs computer programmers. It’s a huge bonus to both your employer and your quality of life if you can join your skill (programming) with something you love (economics…world languages…sewing…marine biology…sports…).
During my career, I think my best use of time has been to learn more about myself and how my personality fits into my job and working with the people around me. Very rarely do computer programmers work entirely alone. A team that works together effectively is best for the client and the employer and provides satisfaction to the employee.
I’ll also add that getting to know others for the sake of finding opportunities is a great use of your time. I don’t mean this as you should use people only for what you can get from them, but that personal connections can lead you to opportunities you might not have known about otherwise.
What does a typical day at your job look like?
I stated in another answer that most computer programmers don’t work alone. I am an exception. I work with and for people, but we don’t work together on the same task toward a single result. My role has morphed out of development into more of a support role, although I use my programming and relational database knowledge to provide that support.
I used to develop website functionality and the relational databases behind those websites. I’ve worked on projects to collect clinical trial data and provide workflow for the clinicians and researchers studying HPV vaccines, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. I’ve worked on websites to help administrators request, collect, and report on budget requests. I’ve worked on websites to allow scientists to apply for fellowship programs.
I currently support my company’s use of a system that we didn’t write. It provides the corporate accounting, project management, human resources, labor distribution, payroll, and project invoicing for our company. Because I helped write one of the systems we used to use for a portion of that functionality, I was heavily involved in the switch to the new system and now I’m the go-to troubleshooter. I use my experience as a developer to know what to expect out of the system and I write custom reports because I understand the underlying relational database.
Most days, I answer questions about how to configure our data for new scenarios and provide customized reports. I also spend time learning about new versions and testing our data with them.
What was a surprising aspect of your job?
The most surprising aspect of my job is how difficult it can be to communicate with clients. It’s cliché to say that effective communication is important, but that’s because it really is! We experience customers needing help (even when they don’t realize it) determining what they want a system or feature to do. They may ask for one thing but after we go back and forth with them to further refine it, they end up realizing they need something different. If we move forward with development right away, then we waste a lot of resources. It’s worth it to spend the time gathering and refining requirements at the beginning and checking in as we go, even though it can feel tedious and frustrating.
What qualities are necessary to be successful in your field of work, and why?
I used to think that a logical, organized mind was necessary to be a good computer programmer. I have since learned that creativity is a HUGE asset to software development, because creative programmers come up with new solutions that others don’t think of if they haven’t seen them before. That said, both qualities work together to provide a great product.