Anne Ericksen 

 

The U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics Declares “Computer Occupations” As Some Of The Most In-Demand Jobs Now And For The Foreseeable Future.

 

CAN YOU GUESS HOW MANY COMPUTERS ARE IN USE AROUND THE WORLD? BEFORE ANSWERING, THINK ABOUT ALL THE MACHINES USED IN BUSINESSES, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, AIRPORTS, ETC. THEN ADD IN ALL THE HOME COMPUTERS AND LAPTOPS. JUST HOW BIG OF A NUMBER DO YOU THINK COMES CLOSE TO THE ACTUAL FIGURE?

 

THE TRUTH IS IT’S VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GIVE A CONCRETE ANSWER TO HOW MANY COMPUTERS ARE IN USE AROUND THE WORLD BECAUSE THAT STATISTIC IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING AS MORE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS PURCHASE THE MACHINES. THAT SAID, ACCORDING TO FORRESTER RESEARCH, WE HIT THE ONE BILLION MILESTONE BACK IN 2008. THE INSTITUTION ESTIMATES WE’LL HIT THE TWO BILLION MARK NO LATER THAN 2015. THAT’S A DOUBLING OF COMPUTERS IN A MERE SEVEN YEARS, APPROXIMATELY ONE-FOURTH THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT TOOK TO REACH THAT BILLION COUNT. WHAT’S EVEN MORE MINDBOGGLING IS THAT THIS STATISTIC DOESN’T INCLUDE TABLETS AND SMART PHONES, WHICH GROW IN POPULARITY AT A FASTER RATE THAN THE TRADITIONAL DESKTOP TERMINAL.

 

DESPITE THEIR COMMONPLACE ACCEPTANCE IN OUR PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL LIVES, NONE OF THESE DEVICES OPERATES IN ISOLATION. THEY ARE CONNECTED TO SERVERS, THE INTERNET, CLOUDS ASWELL AS TALK TO EACH OTHER. THEN THERE’S THE FACT THAT PRODUCT UPGRADES AND INTRODUCTIONS NEVER END. MANAGING IT ALL REQUIRES A TEAM OF EXPERTS TO KEEP THE MACHINES RELEVANT, OPERATING WITH OPTIMAL FUNCTIONALITY, AND SAFE FROM INTRUDERS. INDEED, COMPUTER OCCUPATIONS HAVE GROWN RIGHT ALONG WITH COMPUTER USAGE. FROM DATABASE ADMINISTRATORS TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) MANAGERS, PROGRAMMERS, AND ANALYSTS, THE FIELD OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS CONTINUES TO ATTRACT A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF INDIVIDUALS.

 

FEELING SIMPATICO WITH SYMANTEC

Have you heard of Symantec? Did you know its corporate headquarters is located in Mountain View, CA, the heart of Silicon Valley? Did you know it holds more than 1,900 global patents? Were you aware that Symantec earned nearly $7 billion in revenue for fiscal 2013—more than $2 billion of which came from the sales of consumer products? Do you know that Symatec develops products for enterprise companies, small businesses, and consumers through its Symantec and Norton brands? “People are not sure they’ve heard of Symantec, but they do know about Norton or Norton Utilities,” comments Wei Lin, PhD.

 

The Norton family of products is perhaps the most recognizable of the company’s offerings, but it provides an array of security, storage, and systems management services. Lin, a senior director of engineering, leads the mobile endpoint protection engineering team in the mobility solution unit. For example, the team deals with Norton endpoint security products for mobile devices.

 

Working on consumer items was a new experience for Lin when she joined Symantec in 2000. Previously, she worked in the biomedicine and aerospace industries. Although she found the engineering tasks in those industries intriguing, she derived a different type of satisfaction knowing her efforts were helping to protect fellow consumers. “These are products you can go out and see on the store shelf. That is exhilarating to see a product I worked on sitting on a shelf,” she reports. “The other aspect that’s rewarding is I feel like I contribute to the world, especially on the mobile end. It’s a hot topic and mobile is the future. There is a lot of opportunity and innovation and growth there.”

 

When manufacturers and software developers constantly try to outdo each other by enabling phones and tablets to run more functions and run them faster, it creates interesting trials to maintain quality protection. “The challenge is to keep up with the fragmented devices and operating systems. We have to be meaningful and lean, but also catch up with the newest releases. We have to be strong and logical enough to handle future growth,” says Win. “I need to lead my team to keep up with the changes.”

 

Technical challenges aside, what Lin values most about her life at Symantec is the acceptance she’s received. “You are measured by what you produce and not by your racial identity, gender, or any other aspect. That’s simply not part of the conversation,” she states.

 

Lin grew up in China, studied in France, and worked in Canada before moving to the United States. Both as a student and young professional she was always conscious of being a member of a minority group. Lin explains, “In the other countries, I felt my racial identity was on my face. Wherever I’d go, I was not a part of them. But I didn’t have that feeling in the United States or at Symantec. I am so comfortable here because there are many ethnicities in the company. Symantec takes more than one-third of my time, so the majority of the day I’m in this environment and I don’t need to think about gender or ethnicity, and that makes me more productive.”

 

Still, Lin would like to see a better representation of women in computer systems jobs in general. “I have heard that the number of female students in computer science is decreasing. We don’t have enough younger generation women, which concerns me because if women think computer science is a ‘guy’ job, they are not going to look at it,” she notes. “There has to be a lot of work to change the misconception on the gender front.”

 

For her part, Lin volunteers with the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. “I’ve been involved with the organization for five years, speaking with students and helping organize its conference,” she says. While the institute’s primary goal is to encourage more females to study computer science, Lin usually walks away from her conversations with students having learned something as well. “The younger generation has some cool ideas,” she concedes.

 

Peruse Symantec’s full product catalog at www.symantec.com.

 

MCAFEE MAKES COMPUTING SAFE

Thanks to hot spots, cell phone service, and Wi-Fi networks, it’s possible to log onto the Internet anywhere, anytime using a variety of tools. With that convenience, however, comes security risks. From the highest levels of governments to video game systems, hackers attempt to supersede all kinds of computer security forces to gain unauthorized access to classified data or personal and private information. In fact, the President declared, “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation. America’s economic prosperity in the 21st Century will depend on cyber security.”

 

“Threats are growing with new devices entering the market space,” adds Shailaja Shankar. “You have to stay one step ahead of the bad guys all the time.”

 

McAfee—located in Santa Clara, CA—is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation dedicated to improving security for systems, networks, and mobile devices. As senior vice president of product development, Shankar concentrates on consumer products, although the company serves government clients, too. She categorizes her daily responsibilities into five main areas: “The first is security for the Black Phone by Android and related products. The second is security for various devices for the consumer home, including the PC, Mac, and mobile systems,” she explains. “The third would be the customer experience itself, such as how does the Black Phone and products come together. The fourth category is delivering unique solutions for ecosystems in the marketing of products. For example, what do we do with original equipment manufacturers and carriers? The final part of my role is leadership, making sure my team, which is distributed to 13 different locations, is marching toward the same goal.”

 

In terms of what faces the industry right now, Shankar points to the security vulnerability created by humans interfacing with a growing proliferation of mobile devices. “People with mobile devices or cars with Internet connectivity don't think an antivirus is required. Or people are happy to share their location information, personal photos, and other private information on social media that, in the physical world, they would never share,” she adds.

 

But Shankar is quick to explain that those challenges inspire her team. “When you get us into a conference room with white boards, we paint scenarios of what can go wrong. It’s a fascinating discussion. Our people are obsessive about security,” she asserts.

 

Being future-focused is a critical component to these discussions. Of course, security experts must help users prevent and recover from cyber break-ins, but they must also anticipate what new threats could come about in the next six months or even a few years out. Therefore, Shankar and her team keep a pulse on what’s happening in the development of operating systems, new products, or even downloadable apps. It all affects potential security concerns. “Staying ahead and making sure we invest the right amount in research is the most difficult part of the job because we see trends as they happen in the marketplace,” she states.

 

Shankar advises engineers interested in specializing in security to think beyond the context of what’s worked before. “As an engineering manager, one thing I would say to young professionals is don’t get lost in today’s problems,” she concludes. “Think ahead and think strategically. But knowing you’ve ended threats to cyber security is job satisfaction.”

 

Find more information at www.mcafee.com.

 

ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY AT ACCENTURE

Many large corporations today have well-staffed IT departments as well as talented systems analysts, programmers, and other technical experts; however, there are situations that demand additional personnel or a different skillset. That’s when Accenture is called. The worldwide management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing organization supports clients from a wide range of industries, many of which are top leaders— more than 75% of the company’s clientele has been named to the Fortune Global 500 rankings.

 

Accenture, based in New York, NY, is divided into five operating groups, and within those, subgroups focus on specific industries—communications, electronics, media, industrial equipment, and energy, to name just a few. Teresa Tung, MS, PhD, however, has the privilege to apply her know-how to multiple areas because she works in the Accenture Technology Labs. “I manage a team of people who work on research-and-development related projects to identify new technologies and apply them to the needs of our clients. We work to make sure that Accenture can increasingly deliver technology more efficiently at larger scale and at greater precision,” she says.

 

As an undeclared major at the University of California at Berkeley, Tung explored different course subjects and came to the realization that her personality suits the linear logic of computer operations. “I found that I enjoyed the clear-cut nature of math and computer science—it either works or it doesn’t,” she recalls.

 

Tung also discovered she enjoys the fast pace of development often associated with computer operations. “Computer systems are quick to prototype and can be finetuned and continuously adapted; therefore, working with computers offers a greater opportunity for trial and error to test out ‘crazy’ ideas,” she says. “With today’s on-demand access of data and services, people with a vision can build a real-life and functional system that could lead to a successful business.”

 

After earning both her master’s and doctoral degrees, Tung could have followed a predictable path into academia, but that conflicted with her desire to see the impact of computers and their systems at play. “I wanted to do something more applied than academic,” she admits. “At Accenture Technology Labs, I get the best of academic and applied R&D.”

 

While many of her contemporaries switch employers when seeking new levels of challenge, Tung has stayed with the corporation for seven years, partially because she’s been granted the luxury to have a voice in her assignments. “I have a large amount of freedom to pick and choose both the projects I work on and the problems I work to solve. Over the course of my career, I have started projects in green IT, cloud computing, and application programming interfaces, and they have since transitioned internally at Accenture to become critical parts of our business,” she declares.

 

That diversity appeals to her technical curiosity while the company’s diverse workforce appeals to her collaborative spirit. “One of the biggest misconceptions about this job is that we sit in front of a computer all day. This is part of the job, but a large part of what I do involves working alongside others on a team,” she explains. “I spend a large amount of my time communicating and collaborating with others.”

 

It’s through that interpersonal connection that cultural, ethnic, and educational differences can positively affect outcomes and allow individuals to differentiate themselves. “As a minority today, your voice likely represents the majority of tomorrow,” Tung offers. “Make your uniqueness your strength. Your uniqueness makes you more memorable.”

 

Read more at www.accenture.com.

 

HARRIS CORPORATION CULTIVATES CAREER LONGEVITY

During the 1990s, information technology (IT) was an ancillary department for most businesses as they adopted computers to carry out routine office duties. The specialty was still defining its place in the business world. But Andy Gaspard, MBA, foresaw IT playing a more influential role to create new business ventures, products, and services. So instead of going strictly with a computer science degree, he opted to major in business with a focus on computer systems, and later on, earned an MBA degree in technical management. “I identified early on that the IT landscape was changing. What that meant for me was to not only understand IT, but also the business landscape,” he explains. “That gave me the best of both worlds.”

 

Even with that foresight, Gaspard had to wait for the corporate community to catch up to his way of thinking. In the meantime, he made sure his own career choices would position him well so he could seize the moment when the business world began capitalizing on IT’s potential. “My first paid computer systems job was cleaning keyboards for a call center, including taking them apart, cleaning them out, and putting them back together,” he recalls. “Then I did systems administration work, and that was the real beginning for me in information systems.”

 

By 2004, IT no longer consisted of a few help-desk staff. The department had become an integral component to both maintaining daily functions and creating revenue possibilities. The two worlds had comingled just as Gaspard had anticipated, and by this time, he was serving as director of information technology at a mid-sized firm.

 

That same year, his employer was acquired by Harris Corporation, a communications and IT company with approximately 14,000 employees, including 6,000 engineers and scientists. Gaspard welcomed the chance to be part of an organization of that size and stature. “There are greater opportunities in Harris than at a smaller firm. I moved from having very little vacation time because I was responsible for all IT to having experts I could take advantage of, and that led me into my current position of division IT leader supporting two business units,” he says.

 

Harris, based in Melbourne, FL, supports multiple industries, including transportation, healthcare, and energy. It also works with government clients in defense, intelligence, and public safety. For example, Harris supports the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, the world’s largest purpose-built IP network. It also provides commercial satellite bandwidth and has been slated to build the ground aspect of an advanced weather data processing network for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

 

Operating in so many areas presents certain challenges when making sure its internal technology meets the various units’ needs. At times, that’s easier said than done as Gaspard experienced. “We were integrating one part of the business with another part. People think it’s an easy undertaking because it is all within one company, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can simply move one portion to another. The systems need to talk to each other,” he comments. “However, we were able to integrate one portion into another, ahead of schedule even.”

 

In a sense, Derek Baker has fallen behind in his career schedule. When he and his then-fiancée graduated from college, they made a pact that whomever landed a full-time job first, that’s where they would go for the next two or three years. “My now-wife, Hope, found a job with Harris, so we came to Melbourne together. Three months later, I was hired on at Harris,” he says.

 

From there, everything went along as anticipated, for a while at least. In fact, the only problem was that those “two or three years” passed by quickly. Now 20 years later, both Bakers are still at Harris. “The plan went awry,” he admits. “But it has been a blessing for me and my family. Melbourne has been a great place to raise our three daughters and I liked the magnitude of work and technology platforms I can be involved with at Harris.”

 

While Hope stayed on the programming side of computer systems, Baker concentrated his efforts more on the hardware side, primarily server infrastructure. He currently serves as NOC manager and DRP coordinator. “I manage a team of nine people in the network operations center. We provide monitoring and support to over 3,000 devices across the enterprise. That’s network equipment, servers, and environmental devices,” he explains.

 

As he transitioned into a managerial role, Baker had to adjust his approach. He had to split his focus between technical problem-solving and meeting corporate objectives. “We have to think about the company’s bottom line. Working within budget constraints is a challenge while making sure the staff is up to speed on the latest technology. That’s challenging because technology is always evolving,” he notes.

 

But Baker also insists the company’s leadership assisted him to meld the two perspectives. “The reason we’ve stayed with Harris is because of the people and the support you receive. The company has helped me by offering mentorship throughout my stint as manager,” he declares. “I feel like I’ve found a niche, and now my aspiration is to become a senior manager or maybe a director.”

 

At least that part of his career plan is still on schedule. Check out more at www.harris.com.