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Cruz: 'If You Have Soft Skills, We Need You in IT'

Top IT leaders in state government and the private sector agree: The state needs more women in tech, and women already in tech need mentors.

Top IT leaders in state government and the private sector agree: The state needs more women in tech, and women already in tech need mentors.

The Sacramento chapter of Women In Technology International (WITI) heard this message last week during the group’s fifth annual career event in downtown Sacramento. The focus of the evening was a panel led by Sacramento WITI chair Ann Shook, featuring Chris Cruz, deputy state CIO and chief deputy director of the California Department of Technology; Jennifer Sommercamp, senior director of IT Program Delivery for Blue Shield of California; and Roy Mathew, a principal in Deloitte Consulting, which hosted the workshop. 

The panel — which addressed the question “Where Will You Be in 2023?” — focused on what the future of IT might look like, what career issues would impact women in IT, and how to best use industry networking for promotions and new jobs.

“We are going through so many chances that we have to acknowledge that it will change our careers, too,” Shook said to the audience of about 50 women and men. 

Cruz spoke at length about the need for diversification in the IT industry, and about how more women are needed at executive levels, in both the public and private sectors.

“We need to be more diverse and encourage out-of-the-box thinking,” he said. Promoting telework was one way to accommodate the needs of employees in various age groups and continue competing with the private sector for employees.

“We can’t attract good people (the way) the private companies can,” Cruz said, citing perks like bonuses, lucrative pay packages and generous retirement plans. “I see a hybrid model of services moving forward. Government needs to be viable.” 

Sommercamp, who is also a co-chair for Blue Shield’s Women Lead to Excellence employee resource group, cautioned that it can be tough to figure out what a diverse group of employees expects in a manager. She emphasized listening to junior employees and helping them to feel welcome as a part of the team. Working with several generations at once means needing to be a leader in many different ways, she said. Younger employees may prefer to use newer systems and technology, whereas older employees will expect you to work with them in older, more established ways.

“It can be very complex as a leader,” she said. 

Soft skills, the panelists all agreed, would always be in high demand in the industry. Client relationship and project management skills could make or break a candidate, Mathew said. 

“Skill can be learned, but certain skill sets are typically innate,” Sommercamp said. Hiring managers who want to move the company forward should listen to candidates and ask questions that will prove emotional intelligence as well as technical competency, she said. 

“If you have soft skills, we need you in IT,” Cruz said. “Today, people judge you by the words that are coming out of your mouth and how you deal with and mitigate conflicts.”

In order to build those skills, the panelists recommended finding a mentor within your company that would be ideal to emulate, and asking her or him out for lunch or coffee. Building a strong network of people you can trust, said Sommercamp, is what will push you to go even further in your career. 

Don’t shy away from seeking out a mentor because you “don’t want to bother them,” Sommercamp said.

“Build a network of allies, of people you can trust,” Cruz added. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t make any mistakes. Sometimes you have to make a few bad decisions to make good ones.”

Other topics discussed during the evening included what colleges and universities are doing to prepare students for IT careers and how to work in a team, especially using agile or scrum development tactics. 

The event concluded with a few questions from the audience, and networking opportunities with the panelists and recruiting managers. The next WITI event will be a webinar on Nov. 15, “Finding Success in Tech Careers: Understanding Where Gender Viewpoints Diverge.” Find more information at www.witi.com.