People want to grow and develop. This is a learning environment.
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What’s your title and how long have you been with CSC?
I’m a technical team lead for the Web Systems Team in Enterprise Technology, and I’ve been with CSC for almost eight years.
Give us a little insight into your job and what you do.
My team supports the framework that the application code gets deployed on. Think of the application as an egg. The egg is suspended in a carton supported by a network and all the other little components. But inside the egg is the code that the app teams develop, but it’s being held in place by a nice egg white and supported and deployed throughout our environment. It’s like this for most of CSC’s websites.
What other jobs have you held at CSC?
I started as technical application support. I applied for a job specifically in DBS. They said they liked me but thought I’d get bored in six months and be out the door. The HR rep I was working with told me about the tech job and asked me to look at it. I didn’t understand half the words in the job description or know what the job was about. She told me they were looking for the right fit. They ended up hiring me, and I worked very closely with app development teams and helped remedy minor issues so they didn’t have to and could focus on development.
After about two-and-a-half years, I told my manager I wanted to do more and improve things, not just run the engine. I was fixing and remedying issues but needed to work toward a long-term fix for them. She told me the Web Systems Team was hiring and that I should check it out and see if I was interested. And again, I didn’t know half the words and didn’t know what to do. But I applied, and they brought me on board. And it’s been web systems ever since.
I have a B.S. in mathematics and a B.S. in teaching mathematics. When I was a student teacher, I realized teaching wasn’t for me. I found myself on the computer trying to find cool things for the students to do. I automated a “Jeopardy” game for them and realized I really liked technology and maybe I needed to be working in that area.
Why did you choose to work for CSC?
My previous job was in a data center, but I was looking for something more specific. At that time, CSC housed its data center capabilities in-house. They weren’t looking for any data center support at the time, but I started looking through Glassdoor.com and reading the reviews, and I was more and more intrigued with the company. I started with one job application, and at that point, I was getting a master’s in computer science. I was working toward that and my ethical hacking certification. I was hoping CSC would find me because the company sounded so good.
What’s your day-to-day work like?
I never know what I’ll be doing when I start the day. I usually have leader meetings in the morning and chat with my staff to ensure they have things to do. As the day goes on, I get pulled into different projects. I always hear, “Hey Jess, we need you to look at this,” and “Hey Jess, this is broken.” It’s either from my team or our ET customers. I’m either supporting my team and guiding them or troubleshooting something.
I spend a lot of time on problem resolution. For example, let’s say our main website goes down. I assist in troubleshooting, determining why it went down and the path forward. Even on our toughest days, people can still find positivity, light, and growth. That’s a big deal. Being built up and brought into a leadership position was only because my leaders allowed me to be so successful and allowed me to grow. My first manager told me to apply for this job because she wanted to see me grow. And I tell my employees the same thing—If I see you doing the same thing two years from now, it means I’m failing as a manager. And you don’t fit the culture anymore if you want to keep doing the same thing. People want to grow and develop. This is a learning environment.
We’re all remote, but I try to do a team thing in the office every other month. For local people, I do something I call “jellybeans with Jess.” I bring in a bag of jellybeans and tell people I’ll be in the office. We did it once so everyone could meet a new employee on the team. And we’ll usually have lunch, too.
What do you like about the culture at CSC?
We’re a special brand. The people are so high functioning and energetic. They get on a call, and they want to fix something. It’s never a no-go situation where someone says this isn’t my problem so I won’t deal with it. It’s everybody’s problem, and everybody takes ownership in every case. It’s a collaboration. When we have issues or want to build something new or do something new, we never hear, “I have a deadline, so I can’t contribute.” It’s more like, “I have this on my plate. Let’s talk about how we can accommodate and move forward with this.”
What gets you excited to start work in the morning?
It depends on what I left the day before. I have two very young kids, and I have a hard stop at the end of the day; I have to get up and leave, so I only get some things done in a day. Usually, there’s something left that I want to fix and find out what that problem was. Troubleshooting and diving deep into how I can improve our environment gets me up in the morning. I like to find problems so we can fix them before it ever becomes a problem.
Is there anything that you’re currently learning that’s important to your job?
I’m learning every day. I just learned a new performance tool to do load testing. I attended a training on global traffic management. I’ve developed heavily against our local traffic manager and want to work globally.
When you talk to people outside CSC about your job, what surprises them?
I think I confuse people. My uncle asked me what I did, and he came back with a lot more questions. I usually give people the egg example. I think he was blown away by how strong my skill set was, how far I’ve developed as a leader, and where I started from. I don’t think anybody’s surprised. I think they’re just more confused. Even inside our organization, many people forget how technical I am and that I can answer their questions.
How’s the work-life balance?
I’m very supported in this environment. I’m in a role that requires nights and weekends, but not all the time. Sometimes it’s planned. I trust my leaders, and I trust my team will only call me in if they have to. If they call me and need me to work at night or on the weekend, it’s a big deal. They know the stakes and what I must give up to be there. I know what my team gives up to work nights and weekends. I share my life with everybody so they know what’s going on outside because I’d want them to do the same, so everybody has perspective.
What opportunities do you see developing in the industry in the next few years?
We’ll move into a more automated, hands-off space where we won’t be touching things. You click a button, and it’s everything you or our clients need. I see us moving into a more client-focused environment. Instead of clients trying to figure out how to solve a problem, we’re already asking them what the problem is and probably have already solved it, and they can focus on their business. I call it customer-focused white glove service.
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