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Career Quick Look
| Salary: |
$58,240* |
Education:
|
| Years
in Field: |
3 |
B.S.
Industrial Engineering & Operations Research |
| City/State: |
San
Francisco, CA |
View
Lisa Lin's Resume |
|
"I think having an engineering background opened up
a lot of opportunity for me because it shows that you
have the capability to think analytically. A lot of companies
are looking for engineering majors to recruit for consulting
positions that aren't the straight and narrow engineering
path."
"Don't be intimidated. It's easy to be intimidated when
you're just thrust out into the professional world without
any real work experience. I think that many women will
just stay in the background and do what they're told because
of this. But in order to progress you really need to not
be afraid of taking risks sometimes and speaking your
mind, and to feel comfortable initiating change."
Getting Started: Lisa Lin's studies at U.C. Berkeley
focused on Semiconductor technology, but after doing some
research in the field and interviewing people who were
already working in that industry, she decided it wasn't
quite for her. She just couldn't see herself being satisfied
with the day to day activities that a semiconductor job
would involve. She desired a greater variety of experiences.
She wanted to travel and learn about different kinds of
businesses and technologies. So Lisa decided to explore
some more and see what opportunities she could find.
Education: Lisa graduated from U.C. Berkeley with
a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations
Research. She chose Engineering by chance because she
liked math and ended up loving the major. This degree
gave her a good mix of engineering and business by focusing
on manufacturing processes, efficiency, statistics and
analysis, which gave her a firm base of knowledge. But
much of the skills she uses today as a technical consultant
she learned through on the job experiences. For example,
her first job as a management consultant at Pricewaterhouse
Cooper trained her in computer coding language, which
was not covered in her program at Berkeley, but has served
as a valuable new technology to assist in her current
career. After working at a few more jobs to focus her
career desires and initiating independent projects through
business networking, Lisa decided set out on her own to
enjoy the freedom of self-employment as a technical consultant.
Greatest Professional Achievement: At the last
company Lisa worked for, she created a plan for the company's
culture department [going forward] (what does this mean?).
After working for the organization for shortly under a
year, she wrote a proposal that brought together company
athletic participation, community service events and internal
and external networking events under one umbrella. Most
of these activities had never been sponsored by the company
prior to the proposal and Lisa saw a need for the company
to support its employee's interests. In the end, she presented
the plan to executive management and gained their support
and a budget of $250,000 to roll the initiative out to
all four offices. It was a rewarding experience for Lisa
to see an organization change for the good of employee
morale.
Barriers: Lisa is young for someone working in
a professional field and so must sometimes work harder
to gain credibility. She overcomes this potential problem
by conscientious self-presentation. She is careful to
present a polished and professional demeanor and be more
aggressive up front about clearly communicating her ideas
and standing her ground. But after the initial hurdle
of making a first impression, Lisa functions as all professionals
do: by overcoming daily hurdles as they present themselves.
Working with Men: Gender issues have not been a
problem in Lisa's professional career. She noticed in
school that fewer women were in her engineering courses,
but it never intimidated her or held her back in any way.
In the professional world, Lisa has also noticed that
males tend to hold the more technical or managerial jobs
while women tend to be in Human Resources and Public Relations.
She says she is used to working mostly with men from college
and it has never posed a problem for her.
Advice for Women: For other women interested in
entering the field as a technical consultant, Lisa advises
that you first take a career self-inventory to figure
out exactly what type of work you can see yourself doing
day to day. To be involved in the information technology
field, you must love change and the unexpected and also
be willing to travel, sometimes on very short notice.
She says it is also important to possess the self-confidence
to be able to discuss technical and business matters with
Chief Executive Officers or top managers. She says technical
consultants must also be flexible and be able to both
deal with the tedium of programming while accepting constant
change in the field. Lisa recommends that those interested
in information technology take a class in programming
as the first step to see if they're really interested
in the field and if they are able to effectively think
in the analytical and logical way that is required to
be a successful developer.
Typical Workday/Environment: A typical day as a
technical consultant depends on what stage of a project
you're in. Overall, it involves communication between
different groups of people to plan the needs of a particular
project. Multi-tasking and planning ahead are essential
to job performance. Lisa describes it as "fighting fires
everyday." Lisa' is currently involved on a project to
create an e-Commerce site for a cosmetics company. This
involves back end programming for site features such as
credit card processing and inventory control, and front
end development of the Web site design. She plays a crucial
role in the lauch of the site through quality assurance
testing and validation of the site's functionality and
content. Lisa works long hours, sometimes up to eleven
hours a day and is often required to work on evenings
or weekends to meet project deadlines. But while her hours
are long, they are also flexible. The dress requirement
for this type of work depends on what type of company
you're working with and can range from casual to executive.
Career Ladder: Entry-level salary for a Web Developer
varies greatly depending on where you live and what type
of company you work for. Starting salaries generally range
between $30,000 and $60,000 per year. Self-employment
as a Web Developer can be slightly less stable than working
for an established company and yearly salaries can be
slightly lower, but the freedom and convenience it allows
are a good trade-off for many. The title of Web Developer
is a broad term allowing many options for career advancement.
A designer can work up to programming or become Microsoft
certified to work with computer hardware. Smaller companies
offer more career flexibility with opportunities to do
almost anything involved with running the business, but
larger companies can sometimes be more stable and may
offer more room to be trained and promoted.
Salary and advancement in the Information Technology industry
largely depends on what job you're doing and who you're
working with or for, but pay is generally quite lucrative.
An independent contractor could charge from $30 to $100
per hour for their services. An entry-level position working
for a company might command an income of $45,000 to $50,000
per year. There are various career paths one can ascend
to from here, such as a consultant or manager and then
senior consultant or senior manager. Salaries at this
level range from $80,000 to $100,000 per year. As the
Information Technology industry is so fast-paced and dynamic,
the rate of your advancement mostly depends on your ambition,
skill, and the company you work for. Working in an average
sized company, it may take around four years to reach
management level.
Professional Associations: None
Hobbies: Lisa remains active in her spare time
by playing tennis, taking advantage of San Francisco nightlife,
snowboarding and traveling when she can. She also has
a passion for hip-hop dancing and 'enjoys performing with
local groups. |
*Annual salary number is not the role model's actual salary. Salary for Technical Consultant based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition
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