June 23rd is International Women in Engineering Day, a day that celebrates the achievements and work that women in the field of engineering and technology do to support lives every day. The theme for this year is Engineering Heroes. Women technology professionals demonstrate heroics in developing solutions to everyday problems as well as critical emergencies. We interviewed six QAD Engineering and Technology leaders around the world discussing what makes an engineering hero and advice they have for young women joining the field.
Meet the QAD Panel of Women Engineering Heroes
This year we had panel contributors from Poland, India, UK, Australia and the US.
Agnieszka Mazur, Global Consulting Center Director (Wroclaw, Poland)
Anuradha (Anu) Kuckian, Director of Business Process Automation (Mumbai, India)
Jayne Bishop, VP Technical Consulting and Transformation Services (Birmingham, UK)
Kylie Palmer, VP Consulting and Transformation Services (Sydney, Australia)
MaryAnn Guthrie, VP of Research and Development (Santa Barbara, California)
Smita Agarwal, Sr Director in Engineering (Livermore, California)
What is an Engineering Hero?
Agnieszka: “Engineer heroes are many people I work with who have a passion for technology, leveraging their technical expertise for problem solving on various levels of manufacturing, business and our life.”
Anu: “Any woman who is an engineer is a hero. When I was considering a career, many women were not encouraged to go to school or even into engineering. Many who are working in this field have and continue to overcome many obstacles.”
Kylie: “From a technology perspective – heroes inspire you by showing passion, ability and creativity at work. I was always inspired by a colleague in a role which often meant she had little time to research detailed technical material before presenting authoritatively on the topic to a customer. She always trusted her ability to master the material quickly and present successfully. It emphasised the value of continuous learning and the need to be confident in yourself.”
Jayne: “Those who innovate and teach are heroes. There was one manager when I first started my career that pulled me in for an interview. He gave me 10 minutes to figure out a problem on a topic I knew nothing about. He wanted to see how quick I could assimilate and learn new information. I thought that was a fantastic way to do it. I got the job and he was a good teacher and coach. He expected you to push yourself. Technology became a career, a passion and much more than just a job.”
Smita: “Having mentors, guides and role models helps us along the way, but there is an engineer in all of us which at some point has or will engineer something that either affects our own lives, or someone else’s life in a meaningful way which makes them a hero.”
Anu: “When I initially saw the code for QAD, the language was written in a way that made sense and was easy to see the logic. As a user, the product made sense and you could quickly learn it. Anyone who could make a product like this was a hero to me. I learned about the founder and original creator of QAD solutions, Pam Lopker who is an engineering hero. I was inspired to join QAD where I was able to meet Pam and become part of the team solving customer problems around the world.”
MaryAnn: “Pam Lopker and Bill Keese (QAD SVP of Research and Development) are engineering heroes to me. They have a strategic vision, and they can work across the organization and R&D to create a tangible outcome. They pay attention to what is happening in the world, technology trends, our business, our customers’ business, and how we help them solve their problems. They have been leaders in clarifying the right business problems that, when solved, will make the most impact to the customer.”
MaryAnn also shared that one of the heroes she worked with early in her career helped her to see the many options in the field of engineering, how to build upon her strengths, to remove the limitations of her view of the world as a team lead and manager and to see the bigger world of opportunities.
Why is the Engineering and Technology Field Rewarding?
Agnieszka: “I started my career newly graduated into a role as an application consultant. Over the years, I added skills and experiences, and I learned a lot from the people I worked with, who shared their passion for engineering with me and helped me to grow. Now, I like to help others and see others develop, encouraging them to step out of their comfort zone to see a bigger picture in problem solving. Every small technology improvement to the business helps shape the world.”
Anu: “Financial independence is rewarding. In my community, you find that the men are financially independent, but this is not common for the women. My father wanted all his children to be financially independent. He gave us that opportunity to study, to do well and motivated us to be financially independent. It changed our lives completely. The engineering field has been good for me in supporting my family and sending my daughter to school abroad who is also studying a STEM field.”
Smita: “Looking back I feel proud to have launched into cutting edge engineering very early in my career. Some examples include building an integration with a new product for a customer demo a week after starting a new job, building that first application to run on an iPad when no one on the team had prior experience, writing those first few lines of code that would now evolve into the QAD Enterprise Platform…these have all been very rewarding experiences. Meeting deadlines and delivering releases with new features, seeing our customers succeed is what brings me joy and excitement every day.”
Jayne: “Solving problems is the most rewarding part. In one situation, a customer who had originally gone to another company came to QAD and shared that their factory had been down for three days. If this factory was not up in eight hours, it would not be financially viable for them to keep working. We dove right in and helped solve the problems and helped keep the factory operating . Everything we do is about solving problems and one of the things about QAD that I appreciate is that we have the autonomy to make the difference.”
What Advice Do You Have for New Women Engineers Joining the Field?
Agnieszka: “Most young engineers tend to focus on the technical aspects themselves. What makes the difference is how they use technology and their skills and transform it into business problem solving. Keep thinking big and out of the box. Every change that brings customers satisfaction can cause the butterfly effect. A small change to the business process here can determine a tsunami of business innovation elsewhere.”
Anu: “The passion and the liking for your subject is important. You may not know in your University whether you would like that subject, but get an internship. Shadowing a person doing that work gives you an idea if you would like that field or not. If you are passionate about what you like, then being a minority in this industry is not as big of an obstacle. I have always had opportunities and been able to learn and grow. It is the skill and the passion that matters. Build those.”
Kylie: “You don’t have to be what you might imagine an engineer is, in a technology career. I studied programming at college, but it wasn’t my favourite subject. I really enjoyed the legal and business subjects too. However, I enjoyed solving problems, working with others in teams, thinking about what people needed when designing, and the complexity of the challenges.” Kylie explained that as her career progressed, “Technology was always part of my roles, but over time, the focus moved more towards creativity, problem solving, empathy, leading and helping others. There are many more opportunities in the technology world for all types of career paths.”
Jayne: “First, know your stuff. There is an expectation that you won’t be as good as the one next to you. It is not so much in QAD, but in the field in general. Second, take everything you can from people who are kind enough to offer time and teach you. No matter how inconvenient it is to you, take it. Learn it. Third, always make sure you know what others in the work chain do so that what you are doing will be helpful to them and make an impact. Finally, as you step up the chain, don’t ask anyone to do anything that you wouldn’t do yourself. Support your team.”
MaryAnn: “Look up from your keyboard. See what’s happening around you. Pay attention to the roles and jobs that people are doing that excite you and interest you. If something doesn’t fit you, move on. Don’t stay stuck in a job you are not successful in. Follow where you feel you can contribute and learn the most. Take on the more challenging part of the job because you will work with an expert or influencer. Give yourself the opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of jobs and be open to learning about your aptitudes and strengths and continue to follow your passion and interests.”
Smita: “There is a lot of awareness around work-life balance and this field continues to stay male-centric, so my advice is to carve your own balance and stick to it. Focus on the novelty of innovation & engineering, walk into a room full of engineers (not men or women) and take on that challenging assignment and be ready to admire and take pride in your own everyday accomplishments. You are making a huge difference just by being in this field.”
Thank You to Our Engineering Heroes!
A special thank you goes to our QAD Engineering Heroes for sharing their experiences, perspectives and advice. And to all of our QAD engineers and technology heroes – who continually work to solve problems, engineer solutions and help our customers navigate disruption and other business challenges – we thank you. This International Women in Engineering Day, please be sure to recognize those heroes on your teams and in your networks for their hard work and contributions.
