Dataprise Women in Technology: Meet Jess

This month for our Women in Technology, we are spotlighting Isabela, one of our Technical Trainers! Read about her story and how she started in technology.

Tell us your story on how you got into technology.

I was working in public education for about 10 years. As an educator, I enjoyed helping my students learn to use technology to help them, but I also needed to learn how to use technology to help myself. Educators have very little time throughout the day to complete their tasks, whether that’s contacting parents, grading, or planning for future lessons. Learning about cloud collaboration, file sharing, automation, and the integration of tools really helped me make the most of my days. When I knew it was time for me to leave education, I wanted to make the most of my skills around curriculum and instruction, as well as my skills related to technology, which is how I started my journey into the world of tech.

Did you always know that working in technology was what you wanted to do?

No. It’s actually a world I never really pictured myself in. I always loved creative work and education and I never imagined that working in tech would fulfill those desires. But I’m lucky to have found my role in technical training that allows me to tap into my creativity to generate new content and still educate and inform others.

How long have you been with Dataprise?

I’ve been with PEI, a Dataprise company, for almost 2.5 years, and we were fortunate enough to join the Dataprise team in October of 2023.

Can you share a little bit about what it is that you do and what a typical day for you is like?

As a technical trainer, I spend a lot of time researching technical tools, how to use them, and, more importantly, how to fit them into workflows to help users work more efficiently. This research doesn’t just include reading technical documentation and watching how-to videos, but I actually have a whole training environment built out where I can play around with different tools and applications. This helps me develop the courses we offer to our clients. I also offer live training courses, where I present our content to groups of users who are learning more about the applications they have access to and how to best utilize them.

What advice would you give to women considering a career in the tech industry? What do you wish you had known?

Do not let imposter syndrome allow you to minimize your talent. Your voice is important. Your ideas are valuable. Your skills are relevant. As someone who transitioned from a female-dominated space to a more male-dominated industry, I immediately began to question my right to take up space in this industry. I don’t necessarily know if there was something I wish I knew, but I wish I had believed, more immediately, that I had a tremendous amount to offer my company and my clients. I wish I had allowed myself to operate with confidence from the beginning. I suppose I wish I had known my own worth.

Why do you think it’s important for more women to join the tech industry? How can the broader community support women in tech?

When I first started in tech, I really questioned my right to be here. I think if more women were unabashedly leading in this field, we’d all enter with a little more confidence. And there’s really no stopping a woman who believes in herself.

We need to amplify the voices of women, particularly women of color, and other marginalized groups. Give them credit when credit is due. Let them be heard and take up space. Give them the chance to lead. Trust them.

What do you think is the best part of being a woman in the tech industry?

The best part about being a woman in the industry is being able to support young women as they are starting out. Being a part of growing their confidence, skillset, and support network is incredible.  

What is it that you enjoy most about your current job at Dataprise?

I love how I get to embrace my creativity. Being a technical trainer allows me to learn so much about all these different productivity tools or features within a commonly used app. I truly enjoy the days where I basically just get to play, learn, test, and figure things out. Then I get to turn that knowledge into courses, guides, and videos that can help others learn. Whether I’m learning the ins and outs of setting up workflows in Power Automate or telling my colleagues the exciting news that we can customize our reaction emojis in Teams, I really do get a lot of enjoyment out of simply getting the chance to explore what technology can really do for us.

What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?

“You are more than just your job.” I used to really allow my work to consume me, my personality, and my world. I had a hard time separating my life from my work, which meant when I messed up at work or failed at a task, it was easy to fall into the pattern of viewing my whole self as a failure. I love my job and the work that I do, and I consider myself lucky. But I’m also so much more than just the work I do.  Having strong boundaries doesn’t just allow me to show up better in my personal life, but I can also show up with a lot more positivity and enthusiasm in my professional life.

Where do you see yourself going from here?

I’d love to continue to grow our training program and move from just offering pre-created training courses to learning how to work more collaboratively with the users I support. It’s one thing to learn how to better utilize tools and programs, but I’d really love to find a way to work alongside my users to help them really build systems that work for them based on the knowledge they acquire from my sessions.