I was thrilled to be chosen as a delegate for Network Field Day 18. Tom Hollingsworth has stated that as a delegate you are part of the family. I must admit I was skeptical. I have to say, I have found new brothers through NFD18. We all had some very interesting conversations, not just about technology, but about our families, our philosophies on life and even personal things such as being an extrovert or introvert.
I found that most of the delegates consider themselves introverts except when they are with “their people”. I on the other hand am very much an extrovert. It occurred to me that I may have stumbled upon a difference in male and female technology leaders. I spoke with several other women in the industry and everyone said they were extroverts.
Having worked as an engineer for 28 years, I never considered myself a “Woman in Technology”. I always was driven to be prepared, and not give anyone the opening to ever question my technical chops. I knew I was the only woman in a room, often presenting to rooms with 300 men, and I still did not consider myself unique or different. Thinking back, if I were introverted, I would not be bold enough to step up to the podium and own it. Because I am extroverted I reached out to Tech Field Day and asked how I could be on the show. I did not have insight into this prior to our afterhours discussion over drinks at NFD18. I am going to continue my research around this topic.
One amazing take away for me, after speaking with Greg Ferro and Jordan Martin, I decided to create my own Webcast series. My TotalPackets co-host is my own favorite extroverted Woman in Technology, my daughter Kori Younger. You can follow us now on Twitter @TotalPackets. We are very different in that we are shooting from amazing locations and talking about technology with industry leaders. I, Rita Younger @SDN_girl will have all kinds of data center, orchestration, automation and SDN webcast. Kori Younger @SDNdaughter will be talking about DevOps. We will be on site at NASA learning about special coating used on silicon for compute systems on the International Space Station. Mike Dvorkin joined us in a torture chamber at a castle to talk about zero trust. I hope you will agree that TotalPackets is the total package.
Thank you again Tech Field Day and GestaltIT for the opportunity to be part of the family.