Cissy Ho

What do you do on a daily basis in your job? What are the skills that you utilize?

"I am a “Cloud Solution Architect Manager,” which means that we help customers in designing software that works, and that is productive. My job is making sure my team is up to skill. Meaning they have the right learning and skills, and that the work is good. I also make sure that customers are coming back, and that they get the value from the platform

Some skills I utilize are Listening, Active listening, analysis, managing schedules and revenue stuff making sure it goes according to plan. Knowing how to work with other leaders and staff for problem solving. Knowing when to ask for help, and dissecting the problem. listening, talking, problem-solving, strategizing. "

When did you first get interested in this career/career path? 

"When I was in university, I started in business accounting and math. I did coding during High School, I liked building, testing and running software. I thought it was a very cool, logical and black and white thing, and it is very application oriented. I like the nature of building and testing."

What did you do in order to pursue this career path? When you faced challenges, what kept you going? 

"I practiced coding on my own, and followed instruction books at home. When I was in university, I did a 16 month software programmer internship. I was a part of the team who were tasked with making sure the software wouldn’t crash when it turned the year 2000. I also built things for internal facilities teams."

What is some advice you have for High Schoolers looking to pursue this career/career path?

"Ask people for help, because computer engineering has a lot of solving puzzles, troubleshooting, and having others use what you build. You’re bound to make some mistakes, and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help when you encounter difficulties."

As a woman in STEM, what are some (if any) difficulties you’ve faced because of your identity as a woman?

"I always see things as challenges, then I plow right through them. I find that women are more efficient, because we don’t have all day due to kids or traveling. As a mom, I want to be near my kids, and traveling can be difficult when you have babies. Being able to find and have a supportive community is very difficult, which is why I believe that women are very resilient, resourceful, and strong."

How many women do you work with on a daily basis? On an average project?

"I’m the only woman in my department, but I have allies, and it never bothers me. I always go find help when achieving goals, and when problems arrive, I understand that it’s not just affecting me, but rather the whole team, and we must work together to overcome it. Everything is very goal oriented."

What are some factors of your field of work that could interest high school students into pursuing it?

"Coding, computer literacy is part of life. High schoolers are very in touch with technology, and they are very good at understanding it, so many will probably enjoy a career where they get to spend a lot of time with it."

What do you recommend others should do if they are looking for a similar profession/job?

"Try it out, do some reading or research, and do coding. code.org is very helpful, and it’s basically just playing games that help teach you about coding, and participating in “Hour of code”."

You also need to get into an open source community project. Create some blogs, talk about your journey, etc. There's a lot of reading and writing in software engineering as well, so it is definitely very versatile, depending on the person and their interests/passions.

Do you have a certain project that you want to pursue in the future?/have an existing Passion Project? 

"I enjoy mentoring women. I’m keen on learning artificial intelligence, so I’m interested in creating one around AI. I’m also very passionate about elderly care, so my passion project would be solving the question “How do I use AI to improve the quality of elderly living by themselves?” Some things I am thinking of doing are security-related technology, and having things that will help us in knowing when people may need help."

What do you wish you knew before starting your journey into STEM?

"I wish I did even more coding. I feel like I didn’t code enough, so I wish I had more experience in building up my skills."

What is some general Life Advice you have for High Schoolers?

"Find out what you're good at, but also what you’re passionate about. Know what your strengths are and find careers that need your skills. Make friends who share similar dreams and goals, and help each other. Always draw inspiration from, and learn from everyone, be curious."

Editor: Jieling Pua