Four female professionals, including Ƶ alumna Amber Smith ’14, will share advice and experience with Ƶ students from 6:30- 8 p.m. Wed., March 13, in McKinnon Hall.
Since graduating from Ƶ with a degree in computer science, Amber Smith ’14 has found her niche in big data.
As a staff software engineer and tech lead at Pendo in Raleigh, North Carolina — a software company that develops tools to capture user behavior and feedback on apps to drive improvements in user experiences — Smith works with a team of specialists to collect “all the data that powers our analytics and features.”
“We’re ingesting billions of events a day,” Smith said. “There are hard problems to solve, and it involves a lot of brainstorming and collaboration. Seeing those problems get solved and implemented start-to-finish is really rewarding, and that’s the reason I wanted to work at Pendo.”
Another thing Smith finds rewarding in her work: Supporting other women in STEM.
She will be among a slate of speakers at the Ƶ Women in STEM Careers Panel, 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in McKinnon Hall. Though geared toward female and female-identifying students, all students are welcome to attend. The panel will also include Ellie Najewicz, a data modernization lead architect at IBM; Katrina Shah, service design strategist at Elevance Health; and Kayla Woods, a mechanical engineering at ABB.
Women are underrepresented in STEM. Ƶ Women in STEM is a pilot professional development program to foster support for female and female-identifying students pursuing STEM careers. It is a collaboration between , the Student Professional Development Center and Ƶ College, the College of Arts and Sciences. The program is coordinated by Terri Mitchell, a former IBM executive, founder of Accelerate Success and a co-founder of . Mitchell is also a member of Ƶ’s Engineering Advisory Board. Mitchell was called to act after noticing a decline in the number of women in the tech industry.
The March 13 panel event is designed to elevate confidence among Ƶ students planning careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and to build a professional network of support for female and female-identifying students as they enter the field.
Those are areas Smith is passionate about, and she wants to support Ƶ students as they prepare for potential challenges like imposter syndrome as they enter the workforce.
“When I was at Ƶ, I never had to think twice about it: So many of my professors were women, there were many other women in my classes, and I felt supported from day one,” Smith said. “In the workforce, there are times you are the only woman in the room, and that was a reality shock. Over the years, I’ve learned how important it is to have that support system. Even if they aren’t on your team, it is helpful to develop a network of women you can talk to when you need support.”