Trong series Advice to Our Younger Selves, nữ nhân viên tech Redis chia sẻ insights họ ước biết khi bắt đầu sự nghiệp.
Thích quá nhiều môn ở trường có downside—đối với Mariana Aviv, nghĩa là không có singular calling. Là kid "very bossy" tự mô tả, yêu numbers và management, cô quyết định study humanities, cuối cùng lấy degree merchandising tại Argentina quê hương.
Sau khi chuyển Israel cùng chồng, cô join tech company as office manager. Giờ là project manager trên Redis R&D team based Tel Aviv, làm việc chặt chẽ với team software developers trong biweekly development sprints. Trong Q&A này, Mariana share day-to-day life as project manager và tips làm việc trên software team không có technical background.
Redis: Bắt đầu từ đầu—làm sao bạn bắt đầu làm tech?
Mariana Aviv: Năm đầu tiên Israel challenging—học ngôn ngữ mới và wait validation university degree, tôi start working high-tech company as office manager.
Tôi excited được accepted tại leading speech-recognition company Israel lúc đó, và đây là lúc tôi fall in love với high-tech organizational culture: talented people, respectful environment, diversity, employee care, English-friendly. Từ Argentina,这些都是 totally new work conditions cho tôi.
Với help của great professional growth program và experience merchandising campaigns management, tôi eventually advance to operational project management role.
Tôi never consider looking somewhere else. High-tech became my community và its people became my group of belonging. Moving từ operation management sang product management, release management, program management came natural. Agile journey bắt đầu khi tôi take part in organizational Agile transformation. Sau getting Scrum Master và SAFe certifications, tôi found experience, skills, personal characteristics best represented in Scrum Master role, while Agile project management became my approach managing software projects. Lost a while, nhưng tôi found my calling.
Cuộc sống as Agile project manager
Redis: Có thể kể về Agile development process và role Scrum Master?
Mariana Aviv: Chúng tôi work in Scrum framework, subset của Agile, project management methodology. Scrum là two-week period gọi "sprint," designed cho efficient software development. Là Scrum Master cho team, responsibility của tôi plan Scrum process ensure projects run smoothly.
Trước start sprint, chúng tôi có planning sessions decide what we work on trong 2 weeks. Prioritize tasks, done với product owners và product management, different roles trong Scrum.
Chúng tôi cũng có series "ceremonies" mỗi sprint, bao gồm daily standup meetings, give updates work và accomplishments, và retrospectives, reflect what we learned và what to improve next sprint. Sprint review là nơi show product management what we accomplished và gather feedback.
Chúng tôi plan all the time, nhưng often something comes up break sprint và we have to re-plan content based on new priorities. We embrace changes và accommodate accordingly. Goal của tôi keep things visualized improve communication among all stakeholders. Tôi cũng part of project management team. Mỗi người trên team có own Scrums, nhưng as group we try keep trains rolling và moving forward.
Redis: Điều bạn thích nhất về Scrum Master role?
Mariana Aviv: Interaction với developers. Tôi love working with them. They are serious bunch of smart people, và tôi like making things fun và lightening the mood. Tôi enjoy keeping things organized, providing different point of view, being focus point gather information, tracking progress, maintaining team focus, và just making things easier cho developers. Very satisfying be part of process creating new things và having all these smart people around you—feeling that you belong.
Redis: Kỹ năng Scrum Masters cần?
Mariana Aviv: Bạn không cần be developer để be Scrum Master. But very important know yourself và what makes you different. Add your touch to everything. That sparkle or twist là what you need bring, additional to having certification và degree và knowing responsibilities.
Cho Scrum Master role, self-motivation very important. Being Scrum Master can get monotonous sometimes. So you need keep moving, keep finding ways to be original.
Teamwork also important. That includes a lot things, like communication streams, communication skills, support, problem solving, tolerance, attitude.
What I wish I knew in high school
Redis: Nếu quay về thời high school, lời khuyên gì cho bản thân?
Mariana Aviv: Tôi would tell myself to ask for help. It's OK to ask for help in everything. Tôi think that's very important. Sometimes we just want to prove ourselves và move forward, especially as young women, who want to be tough và independent. But it's OK to say I don't understand, or I need help to improve và develop career I want.
I also would tell myself to keep things in proportion. I changed careers at beginning of education in Argentina. I started something và decided to change. That time, effort, money invested can feel like a waste. But it's not—you're investing in things that make your path unique.
Finally, keep investing in things that make you happy và balance your life—like sports or art. Not everything has to be centered on your career. Those things build up your individuality, và many tech companies value having unique people on their teams.
Managers are great mentors
Redis: Có mentors trong career không?
Mariana Aviv: Tôi didn't have official mentor. I choose my bosses as mentors. Khi choose positions và come interviews, tôi also try figure out if my boss can bring more value to my career. I want to learn from them. I ask questions, learn the process, và bring my ideas. And I have colleagues who I learn from too. I didn't feel like I needed to be part of a mentor program. It's all about choosing the right boss.
Redis: Trẻ hoặc phụ nữ muốn làm tech nên biết gì về industry?
Mariana Aviv: First of all, it's really fun to work in high tech if you choose the right company. At Redis, we enjoy our time together, laughing và joking around while still performing Scrum ceremonies và working on development tasks. You probably already know this, but Israeli high tech industry mostly dominated by men. I am happy to be part of a company that supports và promotes women, và this is reflected in increased number of women recently joined R&D team. I feel accepted và valued, và I am proud to say that at Redis, diversity và inclusion are being taken seriously.
You should also think strategically. Tech companies tend to invest in their employees—they provide a great system to promote growth và development. And as a mom, I enjoy working at companies that respect work-life balance.
Redis: Bạn nhắc comfortable being only woman in the room—đó là điều phải get used to?
Mariana Aviv: Tôi grew up with two brothers so I always felt comfortable around men. I think you need to be ready to be part of the team và not take things too seriously. Be confident that you will be respected, và then people will respect you. If you have something to say, be confident and speak up.