Photo Credit: Jes Schultz Borland

[This is the second in a series of posts exploring the personal stories of real women in technology. Back in April I wrote a bit about my own history and about the problems, systemic and idiosyncratic, plaguing women who chose  a career in most sectors of the tech world. Writing it was surprisingly cathartic, and the response to it was powerful enough to make me want to push it further. Every woman in tech overcame at the very least statistical odds to be here; this blog series aims to find out why, and what they found along the way. This week we have the dynamic and inspiring Jes Schultz Borland, whom many of you know from her incredibly active social presence in the SQL and WIT communities. In March, Jes described her professional journey,with all its dips and twists and catalysts, for SQL University WIT Week, and reading her story was part of what encouraged me to tell my own. If reading this does the same for you, please feel free to email me.]

Hi! My name is Jes Schultz Borland. I live in central WI. I’m a runner, an avid cook, a Jaycee, and a database administrator for a Fortune 500 company. I love what I do. I love keeping SQL servers running with minimal downtime, I love writing scripts to automate or fix processes, I love writing reports, and I love helping developers tune queries. I’m also very involved in the (amazing) SQL community. I love answering people’s questions, I love speaking at user groups and SQL Saturdays, I love being on the board for my user group, and I love learning. I tweet, I blog, and I speak regularly.

1)      Can you take us back to your “eureka!” moment—a particular instance or event that got you interested in technology?
My first memory of “this is cool!” was in first grade, when I could play Oregon Trail – on 5-1/2” floppy disks. That was a reward for good grades and good behavior, and I picked it every time.
When I “grew up” (haha), a friend got me a job at his ISP, and I worked there for a couple years. I started going to school for networking. I took a required SQL class and that was my “I love this and know I want to work with this” moment.

2)      Growing up, did you have any preconceived perceptions of the tech world and the kinds of people who lived in it?
None that I remember. I grew up in a very small town, with no real technology around me. Thinking back, in my high school, all the computer classes were taught by the female business teacher. It never occurred to me that women weren’t in technology. But, growing up, I wasn’t really interested in technology beyond how it could help me finish my papers and talk to my friends.

3)      Were you a CS major?
No, actually, I didn’t even go to college right after high school. (I wrote a WIT post for SQL University, “My Name is Jes, and I’m a WIT”, which talks more about that.) When I did go back to school, it was tech school. I started working towards an AAS as a Network Specialist, and switched to Programmer/Analyst after the above-mentioned SQL class.

4)      When did you first consider a career in technology? What did you envision doing?
After I’d been working at the ISP for a few months, I started to love computers, IT and the internet. At first, I took a couple HTML classes because I wanted to design websites. I saw that a lot of other people were doing it, I didn’t have any graphics skills to speak of, and I didn’t feel I would be good at it. Then, I was going to get a networking degree and become a system administrator. Then, I took the SQL class and decided that was that. Ask me again in a couple years!

5)      Did you experience any personal or systemic setbacks at any point of your academic or professional career?

I don’t think I have. I had great, supportive teachers in college – male and female. I have had some general frustrations with my career, like not getting a promotion or a job as quickly as I wanted, but I never felt that was because I am a woman.

6)      Do you have any suggestions for how to get more girls interested in computers and computer science? Is this important to you?
I think it’s important we get more kids – boys and girls – interested in technology. The US will have a lot of technology jobs to fill in the next few decades. Let’s increase the amount of math and science we teach to kids in schools. Programs like First Lego League (http://www.firstlegoleague.org/) are great ways for kids to get involved in a fun environment. Let’s not stigmatize IT jobs and workers in the media. I’m a geek, but I’m also a normal person who is active in the community and has hobbies outside of computers. And most importantly, those of us who are in IT and love it need to spread the word – to friends, to family, to schools. We need to tell people why we love it and help them see how they can get into the field.

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