The Women in DevOps team had the pleasure of hosting the fantastic Olga Kosmylina, seasoned tech aficionado, mentor, and engineering manager at Masabi. 

Tune in to hear Olga's journey into tech leadership, including her unique take on what it means to move from individual contributor to manager, shifting leadership styles, team dynamics, vulnerability, time management, and more. 

This conversation is a real treat for anyone weighing up a move into tech leadership. As Olga says, leadership is a career switch, not just a promotion. 

A huge thank you to Olga for joining us!

Olga is an Engineering Manager with over 8 years of experience building web applications using JavaScript, with a strong focus on Vue.js. She has worked across a range of companies—from nimble startups to large global corporations—gaining a broad perspective on software development and team dynamics. Olga is also a dedicated mentor, passionate about helping others grow in their tech careers and prepare for job interviews.

*Interested in appearing on the Women in DevOps podcast? Whether you want to share your story, hire top talent from our community, discover new ways of working, or all of the above and more, drop us a message on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womenindevops

Welcome to the Women in DevOps podcast! We recently got the chance to chat with the wonderful Radhakrishnan Krishna Kripa, Lead DevOps Engineer at Ansys Inc., Author, Speaker, Mentor, and all-around tech superstar. 

Stay tuned to learn about Kripa's journey through DevOps, including her unique insights on building support networks, transitioning into management, personal growth, soft skills, resilience, and encouraging more young women into the rewarding world of DevOps. 

More about Kripa: 

Kripa is a Lead DevOps engineer with a background in automation and development.

Her expertise spans CI/CD pipelines, source control, cloud solutions and automation tools like Azure, Ansible, Jenkins and more. With a strong background in code migration, infrastructure automation and agile methodologies, she loves sharing her experience with ensuring scalable and efficient DevOps solutions. 

She also has experience with Containerization, Kubernetes, Azure instance and Ansible.

Kripa is passionate about mentoring aspiring technologists and can actively contribute to initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.

If given a chance, she loves sharing insights on the latest DevOps trends and best practices. Kripa enjoys helping beginners trying to get into the DevOps world.

Check out Kripa's book here: Beginning DevOps, A Guide to Containers, Kubernetes & More

*Interested in appearing on the Women in DevOps podcast? Whether you want to share your story, hire top talent from our community, discover new ways of working, or all of the above and more, drop us a message on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womenindevops.

Welcome to another episode of our Beyond the Glass Ceiling miniseries in collaboration with IDBS! We caught up with the ever-insightful Helen Kuroczycki to discuss jungle gym careers in STEM. Tune in to hear Helen's insights on gender equity in STEM, motherhood, mentorship, and misconceptions of the industry.

Helen Kuroczycki is a Customer Success Manager at IDBS, who produces cloud-based integrated scientific data management systems for global R&D organisations.

She started out studying Microbiology but found herself constantly criticising the scientific software she used.  Thinking she could “do a better job of it” she joined IDBS as a Software Tester. Her passion for software, its development processes and the people involved in it and those that use it, took her through a variety of roles leading to her current position.

As a Customer Success Manager, Helen acts as a trusted advisor for customers, ensuring that they find value in the solutions they have purchased by focusing on value creation, adoption, advocacy and escalation management.

Welcome back to Beyond the Glass Ceiling, our latest podcast miniseries in collaboration with the team at IDBS! 

In this episode, we caught up with Diren Cardle, who shared her winding career journey through STEM – stay tuned to hear Diren's insights into the evolution of technology, the importance of effective communication, the key to managing technical teams, and the ongoing representation challenges in the industry. 

Diren Cardle leads the Professional Services Team for EMEA at IDBS. In this role, she plays a pivotal part in implementing IDBS' software solutions at customer sites. Diren has been instrumental in assisting over 100 life sciences companies across Europe, the United States, and Asia in their digitisation journeys.

Diren joined IDBS in 2008 as a Software Tester. She subsequently transitioned to a consultancy role, where she worked on projects with the NHS, household-name pharmaceutical companies, as well as the agricultural and food and beverage industries. She later advanced to project management, overseeing numerous multi-site, multi-million-dollar projects.

Diren holds a Master of Science in Biometry from the University of Reading and an undergraduate degree from Mimar Sinan University, Turkey.

Ahead of our upcoming panel discussion in collaboration with IDBS on the 19th of March, we're catching up with the team in a brand-new podcast miniseries: Beyond the Glass Ceiling. 

In this episode, Women in DevOps caught up with the insightful Claire Arthurs, the VP of Operations and Danaher Business System Leader (DBSL) for IDBS, who shared her story of pivoting into tech. 

As the VP of operations, Claire plays an instrumental role in leading the execution of the most critical programs across the business. As the DBS Leader, she supports the business in driving continuous improvement by implementing best practices from the DBS toolkit. 

Claire joined IDBS in 2009 as a Chemistry Software Tester. Before that, she worked as an analytical scientist at Servier Laboratories. In her previous roles at IDBS, Claire led the Scrum Master function and held the Engineering DBSL role before moving full-time into the DBSL team in 2022. 

Claire holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry and an MChem in Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry, both from the University of Manchester. 

Ahead of our event with IDBS on March 19th, Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Charting Your Career Course in Tech, Women in DevOps caught up with Kusum Thapa, Senior Software Engineer at IDBS. Tune in to hear Kusum's insights and experiences of returning to tech after taking a 6-year career break to raise her family, including overcoming imposter syndrome, the value of continuous learning, and so much more.

Interested in joining the conversation? RSVP to save your space at our upcoming event: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1234922870549?aff=oddtdtcreator

Kusum Thapa is a Senior Software Developer at IDBS, where she has been contributing to innovative solutions for the past four years. Originally from Nepal, she graduated from Staffordshire University with a degree in BSc Computing  Science and began her career with a student placement as a Junior Software Engineer at Staffordshire County Council. After graduating, she worked as a .NET Developer for three years before taking a six-year career break to raise a family and explore other professional opportunities. 

Determined to return to the tech industry, Kusum successfully completed the Tech Returners program before joining IDBS, demonstrating resilience and a commitment to continuous learning. Her journey highlights the possibilities of career transitions and the importance of diversity in the technology sector. Outside of work, Kusum enjoys travelling, gardening, and cycling with her family.

'Stay Curious.'

Welcome Cat Starkey to the Women in DevOps Podcast! Cat's engineering career spans the past 20+ years, with experience as a software developer, architect, and engineering leader for SaaS companies large and small.
 
Like many engineers, she thrives on problem-solving – whether it’s technologies, businesses, or people. Her varied experience with different workplace cultures has shaped her leadership style and determination to actively provide a healthy work environment — particularly in her efforts to support women and other underrepresented groups in tech. 

She is currently the Chief Technology Officer at Expel, where she works with other leaders to craft a culture of support, respect, self-care, transparency, and humility.

Stay tuned to hear Cat share her insights and experiences on team culture, inclusion, self-care, how to balance work and motherhood, and what it means to stay curious and seek out allies. 

A huge thank you to Cat for joining us on the podcast! 

If you'd like to appear on the podcast, we'd love to hear from you - contact me directly at [email protected]. 

Welcome to episode 12! Hosted by our very own Dominka Kodadova, Consultant for Trust in SODA and UK ambassador of Women in DevOps. We caught up with Mel Pinto and Sanjna Mander to hear their insights and experiences in working (somewhat inadvertently) at the cutting edge of tech. Tune in to hear their expert insights on GenAI, learning confidence, the power of self-advocacy, and more.

Mel has been working as an engineer for the past six years, and she currently works at PWC as a specialist Engineer. Mel specialises in cloud infrastructure, automation, and continuous integration, with a strong focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). In her current role, she has been working on using Generative AI to streamline workplace operations. Outside of work, Mel is passionate about mentoring and empowering more people to get into technology. She volunteers at several local organisations teaching introductory lessons about coding and cloud  technologies. Mel is also an active participant at several technology meetups where she shares my experiences working in engineering. Mel is impassioned to be part of a more diverse and inclusive technology community. 

Sanjna has been an engineer for about six years, currently working as a Principal Engineer at PwC. She specialises in Terraform and Azure, with a focus on cloud operations, DevOps, and AI. Her latest project involves using generative AI to enhance enterprise solutions. Sanjna is passionate about giving back to the community. She volunteers at a domestic violence shelter and teaches Python to new tech joiners and students from low-income backgrounds. Sanjna is currently trying to start a similar program at PwC to reach more schools. She also runs a tech meetup in Manchester called Doxman, which has grown to over 1,000 members. Mel believes that by empowering others she can help foster a supportive environment for women in tech.

Find out more about the Women in DevOps community.

Episode 11 is live! This week, we welcomed the incredible Prakriti Karthauser to the Women in DevOps podcast; tune in to hear her unique insights into motherhood, returning to work, managing remote teams, and so much more. A huge thank you to Prakriti for joining us, it's always a pleasure!

Prakriti was studying English Literature at Uni when she decided to drop out to work in the NOC for one of the first ISPs in the US. This somewhat rash decision kick-started her career in tech and she’s never looked back. Over the last 25 years,
Prakriti has held an astonishing number of different roles within Networks and Infrastructure, from physically racking and stacking routers through to architecting global backbone networks. Her career includes a 6-year maternity leave break where she gained some of her most valuable skills in leadership and communication. She is currently a Senior Platform Engineering Manager for Vodafone Business, leading a team of Systems and DevOps engineers. In her spare time, Prakriti runs a taxi service for the inhabitants of her house and plays board games.

Want to share your story on the podcast? Contact the team here: https://www.trinnovogroup.com/women-in-devops

If there's one feeling Greta Deats is familiar with, it's change. From moving to 13 different schools as a child, to working within many other industries, and even becoming a mother while supporting the next generation of coders; Greta's path to success has not been linear, and she wouldn't have it any other way. 

Join Women in DevOps ambassador Alfie Rice as he sits down for a career deep dive with Greta. 

Greta Deats is a Technical Program Management Lead in the Industry Solutions Engineering (ISE) organization at Microsoft. ISE is a global engineering organization that works directly with the largest companies and not-for-profits in the world to tackle their most significant technical challenges. She loves any opportunity to learn while she works, be it new tech stacks, industries, or cultures and enjoys being hands-on as both a developer and a leader. She additionally is a passionate speaker, volunteering her time and expertise to encourage young women to enter into careers in STEM.

Happy listening!