ATA Women: Stories from Our Tech Girls

We pride ourselves on being ahead of the game, and one of the ways we do that is by ensuring that Ataccama is a place #WomenInTech want to be. We’re happy to say that over a third of us are women, and that number is growing all the time. Their contributions to our product and our overall business success is widespread, and we’re a better company because of them. How did they get into IT? Some of them have been math and computer geeks since they were little, while others got into the field because of a happy accident, and each of them has an interesting story to tell. We sat down with seven ATA women and asked them a few questions about their IT journey. Here’s what they had to say.

Lenka — Product Team Member

“This early passion for problem solving grew with me and I moved to solving math problems for fun, coding, and later studying computer science — all areas where I need to balance just the right amount of systematic approach and creativity.”

How did you get into IT?

Like many little girls, I used to play with dolls and stuffed animals with my friends — but the part I enjoyed the most was quite unusual — keeping meticulous statistics about all the toys and coming up with interesting ways to compare them. I also enjoyed designing and building the most functional cardboard houses for them, and I launched a sophisticated doll-dress lending system for our playgroup.

This early passion for problem solving grew with me and I moved to solving math problems for fun, coding, and later studying computer science — all areas where I need to balance just the right amount of systematic approach and creativity, knowledge of the field and original ideas, analysis and decision making, with pinch of management skills on top of it all. Getting from a complicated problem to a working solution fills me with satisfaction and pride. And that’s exactly what I still enjoy as an adult, and what I get to do at Ataccama every day. We are not short on diverse and interesting problems to solve here!

Maryna — Front-End Developer

“I like programming because it’s kind of a creative job. You start from scratch and then line by line you face different problems and look for solutions.”

How did you get into IT?

Growing up my favourite subject in school was always mathematics. So, after graduating, I decided to study it in more depth and started at the faculty of applied mathematics. Half of the subjects were about math and the other half were about programming. With time, I realised that programming is more interesting to me, and more practical in real life. So, I continued my studies in computer science at CTU and started working as a part-time developer.

What do you like most about programming?

I like programming because it’s kind of a creative job. You start from scratch and then line by line you face different problems and look for solutions. Then the application you’re working on starts to take shape, and as a result you have something that is useful and helpful.

What’s been your biggest challenge at Ataccama?

About a year and a half ago, I came to Ataccama as a quiet junior. The biggest challenge for me was to get up to speed on the platform and improve my skills as quickly as possible to become a valuable member of the team.

Victoria — Technical Product Specialist

“It turns out that JavaScript is way more fun than accounting.”

How did you get started in IT?

For me, it was a lucky accident. While studying at the Faculty of Economics, I found myself extremely bored one day and ended up helping a friend with a website they were building. Then I decided to join some front-end online courses, just out of curiosity. It turns out that JavaScript is way more fun than accounting. :D That’s when I decided to change my path.

What do you like most about the field?

In IT, it’s difficult to get bored. It’s always fun! Tasks are never the same, and technologies are constantly changing. It’s cool that you can always grow and learn new things every day. Besides, I like the possibility of changing my line of work relatively quickly.

What’s been your biggest challenge at Ataccama?

My everyday life includes a lot of communication with clients and colleagues. Sometimes, it can be tricky, especially if the goal is to find a compromise between a client request and development.

Danica — Team Leader / Technical Writer

“Learning something new is the best and also the most challenging part of working at Ataccama — you never reach a point where you ‘know everything,’ and you have to be ready to explore things on your own initiative.”

How did you get your start in IT?

My background was not initially in IT. After finishing a degree in English, I started thinking about career paths that I would enjoy more than those suggested to me. I wanted to find something where I could constantly be learning and use my degree skills. I liked the idea of technical writing and thought it would be a good fit for me, so I started teaching myself skills that are standard requirements for the job, such as HTML.

What have you learned?

Being a technical writer at Ataccama has taught me so much already, and every day I learn something new. Learning something new is the best and also the most challenging part of working at Ataccama — you never reach a point where you ‘know everything,’ and you have to be ready to explore things on your own initiative. The good thing is that your coworkers are always ready to help when you need it.

Frances — Technical Writer

“I love the role, as it is a way for me to use my skills in a field that feels really relevant and valuable, and working with the development and UX/UI teams means that every day brings a new set of tasks.”

How did you get started in IT?

My previous jobs were not in IT, but in scientific writing, copywriting and editing, so I was lucky that Ataccama decided to take a chance on me for the position of Technical Writer. I love the role, as it is a way for me to use my skills in a field that feels really relevant and valuable, and working with the development and UX/UI teams means that every day brings a new set of tasks.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for you at Ataccama?

The biggest challenge for me has been getting a handle on the finer technical details of the modules that I work on, as well as being able to step back and understand how what we are doing fits into the concept of data management as a whole. Luckily, Ataccama has no shortage of people who are willing to spare their time and their expertise.

Alex — Senior QA Engineer

“I know that with Ata I’ll never stop growing, and this is something that gives me new motivation every day.”

When did you get your start in IT?

My journey in IT started over 5 years ago when I became a part of SQA centum at VSE. Thanks to that experience, I entered the field of testing and got my first job. Since then I’ve been learning more about testing and QA, not only at school and at work, but also by visiting different testing community meetups in Prague. I’m happy about the choices I made that led me to become a specialist in the IT field.

What’s your favorite thing about working in IT?

I really like that in IT you never stop growing and learning. It’s such a big field where you can always find something new that will attract you and help you build more knowledge. Of course, learning new things is not always simple as it is a time-consuming and energy-consuming activity that sometimes requires you to forget about everything you previously learned and start over from the very beginning. It’s actually a challenge to need to look at things from a different perspective.

What’s been your biggest challenge at Ataccama?

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had at Ataccama was the preparation of our custom solution for the test automation of GraphQL API. The transition from REST API test automation wasn’t a simple process, as all of the existing libraries and frameworks implemented in Java didn’t fit our needs. So, some of us joined up to prepare a solution that would help us write and maintain automated integration tests. Being part of the team that was developing this custom framework was a challenge that gave me a huge opportunity to grow, develop my programming skills, and at the same time have a lot of FUN. :) I know that with Ata I’ll never stop growing, and this is something that gives me new motivation every day.

Shababa — Senior Consultant

“All throughout school I loved Math. When other children were complaining about its difficulty, I fell in love with its logical reasoning and I always knew that if I tried hard enough, I could find a solution.”

How did you get into IT?

All throughout school I loved Math. When other children were complaining about its difficulty, I fell in love with its logical reasoning and I always knew that if I tried hard enough, I could find a solution. When it came time to pick an undergrad, quite naturally I chose Math (I had no clue what else I wanted to do). However, I knew (and was told by countless others) that it would be very difficult to get a job after I completed undergrad. I chose a school with a well-known co-op program (University of Waterloo) so that I could gain work experience before I graduated.

In my first year, I was required to take an introduction to computer science course — and I was terrified! I had never been exposed to computer science or anything tech-related. I accepted right away that my goal in this class would be simply to pass. Funnily enough, I did really well and enjoyed it a lot. When it came time to apply for jobs, I landed a position in Testing where I wrote in Java — and that’s where my tech career took off. Countless other tech co-ops later, I got tired of writing code all day and wanted to work with people. So I came to Ataccama, where I get to work with customers while still being technical. I think the greatest challenge is the diversity of problems since each customer is unique — but as we say, it’s challenging fun!