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技术专家为STEM领域的下一代女孩铺平道路

澳博官方网站app(JPMorgan Chase)的一名员工如何尽自己的一份力量,为科技行业女性的职业道路铺平道路.

October 13, 2023

  • By Kim Justen,

Janet Shea did not expect to have a career in technology...or banking, for that matter. 当这位加拿大纽芬兰人上大学的时候,技术并不是女性的一条明显的道路. She assumed that, given her background and interests, she was probably going to end up teaching at the university level.

Then she took an entrance exam offered by another university.

The exam focused on logic, patterns, and problem-solving skills, 谢伊的表现非常好,最后她搬到了新斯科舍省,完成了应用信息技术的研究生学位. Afterward, 她在美国得到了一份Java开发人员的工作——这条路最终让她进入了澳博官方网站app(JPMorgan Chase). Twenty years later, 她是公司资产财富管理部的执行董事.

It wasn't an easy journey. “The tech industry has progressed for women; it's no longer entirely male-dominated," says Shea. “But when I started, 作为一名女性,我确实觉得我必须更加努力地证明自己,平等地竞争."

She credits her mentors and supervisors, 她说,是谁推动她获得更多的关注,并指导她如何驾驭自己的职业生涯. 他们的帮助是她喜欢以导师的身份回馈社会的原因之一, an intern supervisor, 以及澳博官方网站app“行善之力”等项目的志愿者.

A Force to be Reckoned With

“行善力量”将澳博官方网站app的员工团队与全球各地的非营利组织联系起来. 这些团队致力于构建可持续的技术解决方案,以推进该组织的使命. “对我们来说,这是一个很好的机会,我们可以以一种比传统志愿服务机会更有价值的方式回馈社会," says Shea.

Projects last 5-8 months, with volunteers learning about the organization and its needs, 然后利用他们的技术技能交付解决方案,组织可以自行维护和扩展. “我们的目标始终是在有限的时间内为公司提供尽可能多的帮助," Shea explains. “行善的力量”项目让澳博官方网站app的志愿者有机会了解与他们合作的组织的需求和技术能力, 然后采取深思熟虑的方法来构建长期可持续的技术解决方案."

When she was considering nonprofits to work with, Shea's first choice was Femergy, a Columbus, Ohio group that provides women and girls with the resources, tools and skills they need to overcome gender barriers. 澳博官方网站app团队参与的这个项目是为12-18岁的女孩设计的. With a young daughter of her own, Femergy's mission spoke to Shea.

Providing Support in a Crisis

Prior to COVID, Femergy's events were all in-person; after the shutdown, 他们需要一种方法与他们想要帮助的女孩分享资源. They needed a way to know when someone was having a bad day. They needed an app.

“Meeting with Janet was so full circle for us, because Maylin Sambois, our co-founder and executive director, worked for Chase years ago, 蔡斯给了我们第一次让女孩们聚在一起的机会," says Christina Vera, Femergy co-founder and director of operations.

“We came up with the framework for a mobile application," says Shea, 注意到目标受众——年轻女性——更有可能使用手机而不是传统电脑. “他们需要一种安全的方式,让导师与女孩及其家人交谈. And it needed to also be a daily mood tracker."

作为一个小女儿的母亲,谢伊首先关心的是安全问题. “Some of those communications could obviously be personal. They're not things you'd want public," she explains. "That was a big focus throughout the development, 要始终考虑目标人群以及谁可以访问应用程序上的通信."

Going Beyond

As the Force for Good team was developing the app, 它与女孩的焦点小组合作,以确保它符合女孩的需要. Along the way, 团队成员还能够展示女孩们可能没有考虑过的职业机会.

At the end of a Force for Good project, it's common to hand the project off to the client, 但澳博官方网站app团队想做的不仅仅是交出应用程序. 相反,他们带着35名女孩和Femergy团队成员来到澳博官方网站app哥伦布办事处. In addition to giving Femergy the app, 该团队还与女孩们一起开发了实时情绪追踪功能.

女孩们可以提出修改建议,并刷新手机,看到修改立即生效. In an effort to show the girls that they can reach for more, the team partnered with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that works to close the gender gap in technology, 以及澳博官方网站app(JPMorgan Chase)支持女性“IT向前进”(take IT Forward)的三个团队, Women on the Move, and the Software Engineer Program.

“我们有几个女孩离开了这个课程,受到启发,想要更多地了解科技, AI and careers they'd never heard of," says Femergy's Vera. “现在他们因为这种经历而报名参加编程课程."

谢伊希望女孩们学会在应用程序上进行开发,并将其变成自己的应用程序. “We branded it as 'it was developed for you, so you can now develop it,'" she says. "They can take it over, define the features, and actually do the coding so it's really their application."
Today, 这款应用正在由一组学生和另一组来自Force for Good的学生进行beta测试, to add some enhancements to it before they take the platform live. 有一个情绪追踪器,一个消息组件,还有一个资源区域. 用户可以创建一个简单的配置文件,消息传递被锁定为成员.

谢伊的“善的力量”经历非常积极,她报名参加了另一轮志愿活动. “Force for Good is an amazing program and opportunity," she says, “澳博官方网站app鼓励员工以这些方式回馈社会,这很好."