Each month, the Anita Borg Institute profiles Senior Technical Women. We have selected 7 questions and asked each of these amazing women to share their answers.
- How did you decide to pursue a career in technology?
- I found that in working in technology you are constantly innovating and constantly changing to meet business and customer needs and that was really a draw for me. I started my career in Product Management in Financial Services. In that industry the products and services delivered to customers are delivered through technology. Because of this, I was always very close to both the products and technology. I moved to Product Development which ultimately led to a career in Information Technology.
- Based on your own experience, what skill(s) or characteristic(s) do you think are most important for technical women to succeed?
- Communication Skills: Fundamentally, technology and IT are only successful if we are meeting the needs of our business. You need to have the ability to engage in intellectual debate and robust dialog to really understand their needs. The technical problems are the easy problems to solve. The business and process problems that the technology needs to enable are generally where the difficulty comes. You can’t get to the best solutions unless you have the ability to communicate and work with the business through partnering and collaboration. You have to be able to take the technical aspects of the job and speak in the language of the business.
- What was the greatest challenge that you overcame in your career?
- When I was five months pregnant with my second child my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I was the sole wage earner supporting my entire family and I was in a situation where I had very little control. In order to care for my new born and my husband I essentially had to step away from my job. Because I was gone for an extended period of time, I didn’t have that job to come back to. Upon coming back to the company, I had to re-interview for the open positions at my level and rejustify my position and my place within the company. I applied for every job at my level and worked hard to demonstrate that the skills I had could be of value not only in technology but in technology, product or in operations. Ultimately, I took a job within IT.
- How do you deal with work/life balance?
- I don’t like to refer to it as work/life balance because balance would suggest that one thing is winning and one thing is losing in the balance equation. Ultimately in today’s world you have to learn how to integrate your work life and your personal life. I’ll make time during my work day to go to my daughters’ school to be a parent reader and I’ll make time in the evenings after my girls are asleep to catch up on email.
- What advice would you give to women in high tech who want to advance on the technical track specifically?
- Women in technology careers need to fight to have their voices heard. From very early on in your career develop your own point of view, articulate that point of view and establish a seat at the table that is heard to establish yourself as a leader. Don’t wait to be asked your opinion. Work hard to establish yourself as someone who does her homework and can solve problems – both technical and business.
- 6. How do you stay current in your technical field?
- To help stay current, I spend time with prospects, customers and other CIOs. I go to technical trade shows and participate in CIO roundtables that are technology specific. Additionally, I do continuing education at universities such as Stanford and MIT that have a strong technology curriculum.
- In your opinion, what (if any) are the remaining barriers faced by women in technology?
- Barriers do exist because technology is still a male dominated field. With that being said, today more than ever, any woman has an opportunity to have a successful career in technology, differentiate her capability from her peers and have a very rich and rewarding career. More and more CIOs that I meet are woman, so women are clearly making an impact.
Kirsten O. Wolberg Biography
Kirsten Wolberg is Chief Information Officer at Salesforce.com. She leads the Information Technology organization responsible for building and maintaining the global technology infrastructure and business applications for all Salesforce.com employees and business units.
Ms. Wolberg joined Salesforce.com in May, 2008 from Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. where she led the organization responsible for corporate technology, offshore development and technology education & leadership development. She was a key member of the executive team that led Schwab’s turnaround and return to profitability. Prior to joining Schwab, she held a variety of product development, operations and consulting positions for First Interstate Bank, California Federal Bank, Computer Sciences Corporation and innoVentry. For the past seven years Ms. Wolberg has served in leadership roles with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the San Francisco Light the Night Walk and she is also a Board Member of Year-Up, an organization whose mission is to empower urban youth to reach their potential.
Ms. Wolberg holds a BS in Finance from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern.