The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

Space exploration allows us to understand our place in the universe. Natalya Bailey, CEO and Founder at Accion Systems, is on a mission to accelerate the exploration of space. We talked about satellite propulsion and advancements to make it more accessible. Natalya explained the different types of propulsion technologies: chemical propulsion and electric propulsion. We also talked about the process of developing a hardware product for space.

Data protection is a fundamental component in software systems across different domains. Ana-Maria Calin, Systems Engineer at Paybase explained what data protection is and the role of a Data Protection Officer. We talked about compliance and the General Data Protection Regulation, also known as GDPR. Ana also talked about Financial Technology and the challenges in this area.

As technology continues to be an important driving force in many industries, we still see a lack of representation from various minority groups. Having diverse teams building technologies that impact all of us is important to account for different perspectives or things that we otherwise wouldn’t have thought of. Robin Máxkii, a Native American technology activist and software engineer, talked about growing up in an Indian Reservation in the United States and her path to a career in technology. We also talked about her work running the first national Native American collegiate hackathon. Robin also explained different ways in which companies can be more inclusive.

Enabling people from various backgrounds to build technology can help us create better products and include different perspectives. Mehul Smriti Raje, Software Engineer at Google, talked about her involvement in getting more women into the tech industry. We talked about her time as an undergraduate student and her experience in participating in programming contests. Mehul explained how she saw a gender gap and why it was important to address it. We also talked about her trajectory in tech and various projects she has built.

Cryptography is fundamental to providing privacy and security over the internet. Tal Rabin, Head of Research of the Algorand Foundation, explained what cryptography is and the main ideas behind it. We talked about the building blocks of cryptography and how these can be used to build protocols and systems that provide privacy and security.

Mastercard is an American multinational financial services corporation founded in 1979. Dana Lorberg, Executive Vice President of Operations and Technology at Mastercard, joined the company in 1987 and was part of a team that programmed and designed some of the early systems at Mastercard. We talked about how software was developed throughout her career and about examples of technical constraints that influenced how software was designed and implemented with performance and availability in mind. Dana also talked about leadership, management and building a good working culture.

Advancements in hardware allow us to get better measurements and insights about our body movement. Nan-Wei Gong, CEO at Figur8 explained how we can obtain useful measurements about our body movements and how these can help us improve our health. We talked about the concept of movement intelligence and the technical components that are used for it. Nan-Wei also explained how she and her team are building a digital health platform and how they collaborate with people across many disciplines. At the end, we talked about entrepreneurship.

Technology is used across many different industries. This is one of the reasons why there are many opportunities for people working in tech. One of these areas is sales. Merrie Williamson, Vice President of Azure Apps and Infrastructure at Microsoft gives an overview of careers in sales within the tech industry. We talked about the advantage of having a technical background when working in technical sales. Merrie also explained what a transition path looks like from engineering to sales. At the end we talked about leadership, and career growth.

Design in tech is a collaborative process. Angela Guzman, Designer and Entrepreneur based out of Silicon Valley, explained how designers can work together to create unified designs. We talked about her work designing the first set of Apple emoji in 2008. Back then emoji were still in the early days and there were challenges in designing small icons. Angela also explained what diversity and inclusion in design means. At the end we talked about different areas of design that people in tech can focus on and about leadership positions.

Cloud computing is an area where we are constantly seeing new patterns and best practices emerge, especially around the Kubernetes ecosystem. One example is GitOps. Yvonne Radsmikham and Samiya Akhtar, Software Engineers at Microsoft, explained what GitOps is and how it changes the way applications are deployed to a Kubernetes cluster. We talked about different ways of deploying applications and the challenges that GitOps addresses.