Managing Her Way To Tech: An Interview With Anne MacLeod
By Raman Kang
“I’m really encouraged by the state of women in tech. There is such a huge push for collaboration and mentoring, and I’m just thrilled to see that.”
Anne MacLeod’s journey into tech began in the 80s when she worked as an accountant, and one day was given a computer. “When computers came, they didn’t know what to do [with them] so they would shuffle them off to the finance department,” she says. Anne has been on the journey ever since; and 30 years later, she is a senior project manager and owns her own consulting practice, BICS Inc. Her company provides a training methodology about project management for non project managers. It not only focuses on the hard skills of project management and how people can contribute to it, but also on soft skills such as how to build culture and collaboration. Wanting to take her business virtual and as a non programmer, Anne needed some help. “Being a luddite who only signed onto Facebook this past summer, I was looking for people to mentor me on technology,” she says.
Having had a really good experience a couple years ago with mentoring and being mentored, she joined Mastermind program. “I had the opportunity to work with a local project manager who worked in the tech sector. It was a fun little experience where we swapped mentor/mentee advice. I mentored her on project management and she mentored me on Slack,” Anne explained. So when she heard about the Mastermind series she was interested in rekindling that mentor/mentee relationship and explore what it could do for her business.
“The amazing group of people was the first aspect of the Mastermind,” says Anne. Thinking about the people she met in the sessions, she says the amount of diversity was striking. “We had one person who was in home electronics, another in engineering, and everything in between,” she says. She goes on to explain how the program really hooked her in, “What I really loved about the format was that not only were we able to build some high trust relationships with all of the members, but Glorie was really good at going out and finding speakers that could present to the group on particular topics,” says Anne. “There’s no way I would be able to find those resources on my own.”
Anne says she also learned that women have really unique issues in tech. These challenges, such as the organizational structure of a company, a lack of respect, being the primary caregiver or mother, and finding mentors aren’t anything new. But these issues are exactly where the old boy’s network can’t even understand challenges they present to women in tech.
“I think that it’s so critical for women to have a forum like [Mastermind] because they have unique issues in the tech sector,” says Anne. Tech has a phenomenal opportunity in allowing women to be their own boss, like Anne is, and be able to understand and work through those unique issues just like she did. By being able to work for herself, Anne was able to take care of her aging parents. “There’s characteristics within the work itself and the economy that is a huge opportunity for women that probably is not obvious.”
“It’s been staggering to me to see the changes in tech in the last 30 years,” she says. Anne moved to Kelowna from Calgary three years ago and is encouraged by the tech industry there. “It’s an interesting place,” she says as she laughs thinking about the city’s run with Disney, now almost 15 years ago. “The tech investment in Kelowna has been amazing.The way people have responded to me being a woman in tech has changed drastically over the years as well,” Anne points out. “I think I’m really encouraged by the state of women in tech. There is such a huge push for collaboration and mentoring, and I’m just thrilled to see that. I think it’s critical to get more women attracted to tech and to retain them.”
If you are interested in accelerating your business or career, learn new skills, and collaborate in a supportive and welcoming group then reserve your spot in the next Women in Tech Mastermind Series today! Sign up at https://womenintechworld.com/masterminds