Correspondences: The Long Journey To Become an Architect as a Minority in Technology
Carlos Villalpando and Priscila Renwick
Recent events have brought into sharp relief the work that still needs to be done to promote racial equality and gender equality in our communities, in our workplaces, and across our industry. Nurturing a deeper understanding of our colleagues and the challenges that underrepresented groups face is an important part of this essential and ongoing process. For many, the path to becoming an architect is longer than it needs to be. How can we address the underlying causes of this disparity? What is the path to architect like for people from underrepresented groups?
Carlos: Priscila, when you and I talked recently, I was struck by the story you told about how you started down the path to becoming an architect. Hearing about your journey made me reflect on my own.
I started my career in technology about 25 years ago — more if you count the years I spent as a teenager playing with computers and developing simple games in BASIC. At that time, I didn’t know what direction I was going to take in my career. I just knew that I wanted to “do technology” for a living.
For the first ten years of my career, I wandered from one technological field to the next. I worked as a developer, as a network engineer, and in many roles in between. I had a good understanding of technology, but I never thought I was the best; there was always a better developer or better network engineer around. What I excelled at was communication. I was able to communicate with the people that I was serving, and I always found myself translating between my clients and other people in technology.
After about ten years of this, I was working in a school district where one of my primary contacts was the person in charge of media. Sparing you a long story, he became my first mentor. He helped me realize that I didn’t need to be the best in any specific subject area. His advice and the interactions I had with him have been instrumental in my career. They triggered moments of deep reflection, and made it clear to me that having a mentor to guide you is paramount.
Priscila: I agree with you. I never had a formal mentor, but I have been lucky to have crossed paths with people who have heavily influenced my career path. I’m from Brazil and I used to be a lawyer there. When I moved to the UK with my husband, I decided I didn’t want to retrain as a solicitor here as I was no longer enjoying practicing law. I felt quite lost at the time because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I wasn’t even sure what I could do since I’d never had a job in an English speaking country. I was fluent already, but I didn’t know whether I was fluent enough for a professional workplace.
After applying for all sorts of roles, I joined an early-stage tech start-up as the executive assistant for the CEO and President. They had recently started using Salesforce. A couple of people on the team who had used it before had completed a basic implementation in-house. I quickly became the Salesforce admin on top of my other duties. We all wore many hats at that time!
Because I had joined the company so early on, I had the opportunity to work closely with the senior management team and watch the business scale at a very fast pace. At the time, I didn’t appreciate how much exposure to the decision-making process I was getting. We had to overcome numerous challenges to keep growing successfully. I had to go back and redesign some of the processes we had set up and I learned a lot about scalability by trial and error. Looking back, I’m really grateful to those who took the time to talk me through the data, the KPIs, and how important reliable data is in making informed decisions. That business awareness has proven to be very valuable to me now.
When I understood the impact that data can have, I got more and more passionate about Salesforce and driving change. It was around this time that we hired a Technical Architect for a more complex project that I wasn’t prepared to handle by myself. Not only was he a Salesforce MVP, he was also one of the organizers of the London Admin User Group. He introduced me to the community and encouraged me to pursue certifications.
It is not an overstatement to say that his encouragement really changed my life. The certifications validated my knowledge and gave me the confidence to ask for a promotion. And, I don’t even know where to start with the community! From the start, I was picking up tips from the user group meetups. I met other people that were also working as admins, which was great because I had been a solo admin for three years at that point with no one to bounce ideas off. Soon, I started going to the Women In Tech meetings. As cliché as it may sound, they really empowered me in many ways: to not be ashamed to say that I’m good at something just because I’m not the absolute best in the world at it, to trust in my ability to be a leader and mentor others, and to apply for roles that are out of my comfort zone. More importantly, I learned that I need to speak up and make myself seen — not because I’m better than anyone else, but because I’m a minority.
I’m a Latin American woman who is an architect. When I was younger, I didn’t even know that the career path I am on was even possible for me. I know many others are now in the same place I was three years ago, thinking that meaningful roles in this industry are only for people with computer science degrees. We are living at a time when it’s very clear that representation matters. I want others to see that regardless of your background, race, age, or gender this — becoming an architect — is something that you can achieve. It requires a lot of hard work, but it also requires that someone give you a chance.
Carlos: You touch on a couple of fascinating elements that I’ve been thinking about lately. If you do a quick image search for “Systems Architect,” most of the people you’ll see in the results are white men. As minorities, if we don’t see ourselves reflected in certain roles it is very difficult for us even to imagine trying to get in those areas. It may be something of a chicken-and-egg situation, where we don’t have enough minorities in architect roles, and that is in part because there are few minority architects to inspire aspiring young people to pursue it as a career.
Another point in your story resonates with me: a lot of us got lucky. Someone gave us a chance, or maybe some of us pushed ourselves into getting that chance. But we cannot keep depending on chance. We have a responsibility to all the people coming after us. We have an obligation to be seen and heard, to give opportunities, and to encourage our people. We need to keep pushing the establishment and showing them that having diversity in these roles is essential and valuable to our organizations. And we need to overcome impostor syndrome, which too many times holds us back.
In the end, it is encouraging to me to hear your story, to see minorities in architectural roles without having to endure overly long journeys, and to know that there are more of us out there.
Priscila: I agree. In thinking about the title for this post — the “long” journey to becoming an architect as a minority — my initial reaction was to suggest a change, because the road shouldn’t be longer for us than it is for others. We are all learning the same concepts and we are just as capable.
There is a difference, however. The difference is in the internal journey, and that can be longer indeed. As you mentioned, many people have impostor syndrome. Although I know that a sense of doubt about one’s own achievements is not unique to minorities, it is often harder to overcome when you look or sound different from all of your peers. It took me some time to dispel those doubts and find that confidence in myself. Today, I work for a very diverse and inclusive company that recognizes the value of diverse teams where people have different backgrounds and think differently. My team is supportive and is encouraging me to prepare for the CTA Review Board. Even with their encouragement, half the time I feel like I am five years away from being able to achieve this goal. That feeling arose because I don’t see many CTAs who are women.
In your opinion, what can be done — by us or by others — to improve diversity among architects?
Carlos: Your question is the question. I want to focus on what we can do and not leave it up to others. In my opinion, if we wait for others to act we will likely remain with the status quo.
To answer your question, we have to reach out to people that look like us, show them the possibilities, and introduce them to roles that they might have never dreamed of taking on. This has to start very early — as early as elementary school. Once, when I went to speak to a group of third-graders about my career, they asked me if I was a principal or an FBI agent. I think this was because I was wearing a suit and they were not accustomed to seeing a Latino man dressed like that. We have to show our youth that they too can “look” like an architect. How does an architect look? Like all of us.
Regarding the “long” journey you talked about. You are right, of course; it should not be any longer for any specific group of people than for another. What can we do about it? We can start by mentoring individuals on their path, encouraging them to move faster, and taking risks. If we are too cautious, we will keep moving at the same speed. We have to believe in them, as others believed in us. So on that final note, why five years? Should we agree to try to make it two?
Priscila: Are you offering to be my mentor, Carlos? OK, I will aim for two years and see what happens!
I really like your idea of reaching out to our youth! I have enjoyed being involved with Ladies Be Architects, a group that has inspired and supported me and many others like me over the last couple of years. I also love the Supermums group, which provides Salesforce training for mums (and dads). I plan to reach out to both groups and offer to be a mentor. I’m also making an effort to do more public speaking engagements, which have shifted to virtual events because of the pandemic.
In closing, I want to ask something of our readers. I challenge you to think about ways you can help. Can you mentor someone? If so, reach out to them rather than waiting to be asked. Is your workplace diverse? If not, look for an avenue to raise that issue. Would you benefit from taking some time to reflect on your own unconscious bias? For example, think about instances when you may have dismissed someone’s input without actually knowing their level of expertise. If you are in a position to help, what can you do right now to change your workplace and your industry for the better?
About the Correspondents:
Carlos Villalpando is a technologist with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. He specializes in cloud technologies, the intersection of business processes, and techniques that deliver added value to businesses to further their long-term vision and goals. He is passionate about coaching and mentoring minorities and about increasing minority representation in the industry.
Priscila Renwick is a Solution Architect at ThirdEye Consulting. Based in London, she has seven years of Salesforce experience and holds 10 Salesforce certifications. She is currently working towards becoming a CTA. When not in front of a computer, she enjoys her flying trapeze, skydiving, canyoning, and going on adventures with her husband and puppy.
