ATA Women: More Inspiring Stories From Our Tech Girls
Our ATA Women series continues with five more inspiring #WomenInTech stories. The diversity of their backgrounds, education, and experiences means Ataccama thrives on #ChallengingFun. Are you a tech-savvy woman looking for a new challenge? You’d be in good company at Ataccama. We don’t like to brag (OK, maybe a little 😉), but we have a lot of talented women that have helped make Ataccama the company it is today, and we’re always looking for more! Read on and discover their journeys to and within Ataccama!
Meet Veronika — Our COO and avid skier
“What I’m really proud of is what we’ve built out of Ataccama.”
You’ve been with Ataccama since almost the very beginning. Tell us about your journey.
I started working for Adastra before I finished school. I had been studying International Trade and my minor was in IT. The only thing I found exciting was a course that was taught by a guy from Adastra on data warehousing and BI. I asked him if I could write my thesis with him. When I went to meet him to discuss the topic, he basically spent the whole time convincing me that I wanted to work for Adastra. I ended up starting there full-time while I was still in school. My thesis was data quality metrics, funnily enough.
When Ataccama became a separate company from Adastra, I stayed at Adastra, but about 9 months later, I ended up going to Ataccama. I was one of only five consultants at that time. I was better at talking to customers and translating what they wanted into what the consultants needed to do than I was at the technical side, so that was my role. And eventually it turned into my current position as COO. Over the years, I’ve worked on many different projects and in many different areas, including customer engagements, some sales, internal projects, and often these were things that no one else was working on at the time because there was no capacity for it.
What’s it like to be a woman in tech and how has it evolved?
It’s really interesting, actually, because even at the beginning, we had a lot of women at Ataccama. It’s always been like that and I’ve never had any bad experiences. Perhaps some clients were surprised at the very beginning that we had several women and were on the younger side. But we knew what we were doing, so that quickly disappeared. In the past, a lot of the women we saw on the customer side were business users and not very technical. That’s definitely changed. There are many women who know these things now.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced?
The biggest challenge that we’re all facing is the growth of the company. There are many different things of course. For example, switching from our old products to Ataccama ONE and now Gen2. Also, many years ago, we decided we wanted to go global and we opened an office in the U.S., Toronto, and Germany in the same year. So that was a big challenge. All of these challenges have been related to growth and what we’re trying to achieve.
What are you most proud of?
It’s really difficult to name just one thing, but I’d say it’s what we’ve been able to build out of Ataccama. That’s the biggest success, and it’s not mine, it belongs to everybody. So that’s what I’m most proud of, what we’ve managed to build out of 25–30 people in the last 12 years.
Meet May — Solution Consultant and ballet extraordinaire
“I’ve always enjoyed problem solving. I wouldn’t put myself in the hacker category, but if I can shape the existing features in Ataccama ONE to be used in a way that will benefit the customer, I really enjoy doing that.”
What was your experience settling into your role?
I’m a Solution Consultant on the projects team. And I think this is the kind of role that doesn’t really work until they throw you in the deep end.
In the first few weeks, you go through the official onboarding and training. You attend some sessions on how this Ataccama ONE thing works, but you really don’t understand how it all links together until you’ve seen an implementation of the solution for a client, or tried to implement one yourself. You can think about how you’d implement Ataccama ONE at a library, for example. You can think about all the things that might come up, but because you’re not a librarian yourself, you’re just thinking up problems for yourself rather than dealing with real life use cases.
My path has been cool because I was able to learn RDM on my first project. Then I was given a few more RDM projects to consolidate that knowledge and become confident with it. Once you’ve got that, you can add something else on. I’ve been on six or seven projects and they’ve all fit our standard hashtag of #ChallengingFun.
What do you think has been your biggest success with Ataccama so far?
Happy customers. It’s great when a project finishes, and the clients thank you for making their lives easier. I also like it when they come to me with what they think is a very complicated problem and I’m able to deal with it quickly. I’ve always enjoyed problem solving. I wouldn’t put myself in the hacker category, but if I can shape the existing features in Ataccama ONE to be used in a way that will benefit the customer, I really enjoy doing that.
I like finding shortcuts and efficient ways of doing things. I’m always thinking about how I can make something faster. It’s kind of my philosophy and that fits with Ataccama. Don’t do something in three steps if you can do it in one.
What’s the next big challenge you’re looking forward to tackling at Ataccama?
Gen2. 😊 Because there are technologies like Kubernetes and Cloud that I’ve never worked with before. So that’ll be fun. I’ve seen a lot of demos of Gen2, and I managed to install one of the versions a couple months back. I’m looking forward to having more time to play with it.
Meet Nadya — our Product Manager and aspiring blogger and book lover. Need a book recommendation on basically any topic? She’s your gal.
“The coolest thing about Ataccama, and I say it at all the interviews, is that the people here are just amazing.”
Tell us about your journey with Ataccama.
I’ve been working at Ataccama for four years now. I started as a UX Designer and I really didn’t expect to get the job. 😃 It’s very technical and I have a background in graphic design. I left thinking that I had no chance of getting the job. But then I got a call saying that Ataccama wanted me to join. Since then, I’ve changed positions from UX Designer to Product Manager.
The data domain was hard to get at first and onboarding was the ultimate challenge. But once you’re in the field, it’s like an infinite puzzle. It’s far from boring and you never feel like you know everything. When you learn something, it just opens up more exciting, undiscovered territories (data quality, data visualization, searching, artificial intelligence, the whole self-driving world).
What do you like most about working at Ataccama?
I’m really happy when I’m able to work on a team that’s so balanced you feel like you’re on a dream team. And that’s happened several times during my time here. It’s usually when we have a really clear mission and not a lot of time to achieve it. We become a super team and we just do our job. It happened with data prep last year and now it’s the same with the search team. It’s kind of like being a start up inside an established company. That’s one of the things I love.
Another really cool thing about Ataccama, and I say it to every candidate in job interviews, is that the people here are just amazing.
How do you think we’re doing with diversity at Ataccama?
When I first joined, I thought there might not be enough diversity and women, but when you look at our product management team it’s about half and half. One of the funny things is that sometimes when I’m on a call with clients it’s only women on the Ataccama side. Sometimes the clients are surprised. 😃 And we have 20+ nationalities so diversity might be a problem in other companies but not here.
Meet Barbora — Presales Consultant and sewing enthusiast
“What I especially like is that there are many things I can touch. I’m not stuck with one thing for six months.”
How did you come to join Ataccama?
It was sort of an accident. I’d been working in an NGO for 10 years and knew I wanted to change fields. All my family works in IT, so when I was thinking about where to go next, it was a pretty easy decision. I was familiar with Czechitas (a non-profit that helps women, girls, and children explore information technology) and when I saw they were having a Digital Academy on data I decided to apply. I thought, if they choose me I’ll find out if data is for me, if not I’ll keep looking. I was accepted and attended a 3-month session. It was very demanding, but I realized data was definitely something interesting to me.
After I finished the academy, I happened to be helping a friend move and mentioned my Czechitas experience. One of them told me about Ataccama. I had never heard of it, but he arranged a meeting for me with Tom Bolek (our Head of Presales). We talked about what Ataccama does. At the end of the meeting, I said, I’m interested, how can I join?
What’s the best part of your job?
The range of possibilities. It’s not only communicating with clients, it’s also trying to figure out a design solution, create the correct model, and other things like that. I think my common sense helps, even though I don’t have a computer science degree. What I especially like is that there are many things I can touch. I’m not stuck with one thing for six months. I work for a couple weeks on one project then a few days on something else. Also, the people around me. There’s always someone I can ask for help and they’re always supportive.
Meet Vani — Project Consultant and avid gardener
“We look at the big picture in terms of solutions, and I get the opportunity to work in a lot of different software architectures and tools. That level of learning and experience has been awesome here.”
You studied engineering, did you imagine you would be working in data?
When I studied engineering I focused on electronics and communications, thinking I would become a scientist for NASA. You have a dream, right? The Indian Space Research Organization is similar to NASA in India, so I thought I would land a job there. But after I graduated, I found out that it’s not very easy to find a job in that sector. I looked for opportunities and it was really hard. At the time, IT was really booming and there were a lot of opportunities in the computer sector. So why not try it? I thought I could find a job in IT and then continue looking for jobs in electronics. That was the thought anyway, but after I joined, I never looked back. It was one new venture after another. I got a lot of opportunities to meet people from different countries, different cultures, and it never would have happened if I hadn’t gotten into IT.
What’s the best part of your job?
When I chose Ataccama, I was looking forward to the nature of the work. Previously, I had worked for a company and the same client for seven years. When I saw the Ataccama job description, it said you would work with a client for three months and it would keep changing so that seemed exciting to me. And it’s true. In the past two years, I’ve worked with nine different clients, nine different projects. We look at the big picture in terms of solutions, and I get the opportunity to work in a lot of different software architectures and tools. It’s challenging, but at some point you don’t get nervous anymore. That level of learning and experience has been awesome here.
Inspired by the stories of our tech girls and want to meet even more of them? Check out the first edition of ATA Women.
Are you a woman in tech who’s #AimingHigh? Join us! Check out jobs.ataccama.com to see our open positions.
