Allison Miller
Interview Posted By: Ashley Smith
1. Can you tell us a little about your background? i.e. Where you grow up, what education do you have, a summary of your resume, did you always want to do what you are doing now, when did you start to become interested in STEM, what internships/ volunteering
I grew up in a small town in Vermont. I was homeschooled and had supportive parents that allowed me to explore my interests however I felt necessary. When I was about 11 I realized how cool the internet was and I became interested in web development. After a lot of self-teaching I decided to apply to Vermont Technical College and started to get my degree at the age of 18. I finished up with my Bachelors in Software Engineering after four years (I was the only female in my graduating class!) From there I was fortunate to land a job close to home and start right away. After that company closed a few months later I applied to several web-oriented development positions in the Burlington, Vermont area and found myself at Logic Supply, a great small (but growing) company focused in the tech sector, selling solutions for rugged environments that require use of computers (think the routing system in a garbage truck, or the shop floor of a food manufacturing plant). I have been at Logic Supply for over 4 years now and am on a team of 8 (a mix of developers/QA/IT/etc).
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I maintain and enhance our website and internal business system. That means working with the marketing team to implement new features to benefit our customers on the website, or working on an ad-hoc team from various departments to enhance the workflow of a common task in the system. The development team at Logic Supply has built up a reputation that allows people in the company to trust and respect our opinions.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
My degree is in Software Engineering which mostly focused on desktop application development and system architecture. I believe that what I learned in school gave me a great variety of skills, even though the technologies I learned do not directly apply to the job I have now. Having an understanding of the guts of how and why things work can help a ton when trying to piece together new functionality.
4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it? Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?
I have been fortunate to not face discrimination in my STEM career. All of my colleagues (male and female) are professional and we respect each other's efforts for what they are. I think there is an underplayed distinction between recognizing an issue that needs to be confronted and recognizing that a struggle you are having isn't necessarily because of a gender bias. They are both important but should be understood before taking action.
5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
I love a lot of things about my job and I credit that to having found my passion and pursuing it. Even better, I am pursuing it at an innovative and open company that I can grow with. At Logic Supply we work in an open office environment (no cubicles or private offices!) which makes it a comfortable atmosphere for collaborating with my team. Although, a lot of times collaborating means getting off topic and laughing about something completely unrelated...
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
I try very hard not to take work home. Every day I like to make sure I end work with things tied up nicely so they are ready for me when I come back the next day. Sometimes I do need to work off hours to fix something critical, but that is pretty rare. I don't know a ton of programmers that share this feeling with me, but I rarely want to be on the computer outside of work. I like to make sure not to do too much of the same thing, because then I won't love my job!
7. What do you define success as?
For me it all comes down to happiness. I could meet every deadline with flawless code and be the hero of the team, but if I am not happy doing it then I am not succeeding for myself. There are correlations of course - for example, I like helping others so being a hero might actually make me happy.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Drive.
9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
I wouldn't say I have had a mentor. I have a ton of inspirational people in my life that have helped me become who I am today and I am forever thankful for them.
10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
Giving advice has never been my strength (I'm a coder, not a wordsmith!) I just like to reiterate that if you are happy then you have succeeded.
I grew up in a small town in Vermont. I was homeschooled and had supportive parents that allowed me to explore my interests however I felt necessary. When I was about 11 I realized how cool the internet was and I became interested in web development. After a lot of self-teaching I decided to apply to Vermont Technical College and started to get my degree at the age of 18. I finished up with my Bachelors in Software Engineering after four years (I was the only female in my graduating class!) From there I was fortunate to land a job close to home and start right away. After that company closed a few months later I applied to several web-oriented development positions in the Burlington, Vermont area and found myself at Logic Supply, a great small (but growing) company focused in the tech sector, selling solutions for rugged environments that require use of computers (think the routing system in a garbage truck, or the shop floor of a food manufacturing plant). I have been at Logic Supply for over 4 years now and am on a team of 8 (a mix of developers/QA/IT/etc).
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I maintain and enhance our website and internal business system. That means working with the marketing team to implement new features to benefit our customers on the website, or working on an ad-hoc team from various departments to enhance the workflow of a common task in the system. The development team at Logic Supply has built up a reputation that allows people in the company to trust and respect our opinions.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
My degree is in Software Engineering which mostly focused on desktop application development and system architecture. I believe that what I learned in school gave me a great variety of skills, even though the technologies I learned do not directly apply to the job I have now. Having an understanding of the guts of how and why things work can help a ton when trying to piece together new functionality.
4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it? Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?
I have been fortunate to not face discrimination in my STEM career. All of my colleagues (male and female) are professional and we respect each other's efforts for what they are. I think there is an underplayed distinction between recognizing an issue that needs to be confronted and recognizing that a struggle you are having isn't necessarily because of a gender bias. They are both important but should be understood before taking action.
5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
I love a lot of things about my job and I credit that to having found my passion and pursuing it. Even better, I am pursuing it at an innovative and open company that I can grow with. At Logic Supply we work in an open office environment (no cubicles or private offices!) which makes it a comfortable atmosphere for collaborating with my team. Although, a lot of times collaborating means getting off topic and laughing about something completely unrelated...
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
I try very hard not to take work home. Every day I like to make sure I end work with things tied up nicely so they are ready for me when I come back the next day. Sometimes I do need to work off hours to fix something critical, but that is pretty rare. I don't know a ton of programmers that share this feeling with me, but I rarely want to be on the computer outside of work. I like to make sure not to do too much of the same thing, because then I won't love my job!
7. What do you define success as?
For me it all comes down to happiness. I could meet every deadline with flawless code and be the hero of the team, but if I am not happy doing it then I am not succeeding for myself. There are correlations of course - for example, I like helping others so being a hero might actually make me happy.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Drive.
9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
I wouldn't say I have had a mentor. I have a ton of inspirational people in my life that have helped me become who I am today and I am forever thankful for them.
10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
Giving advice has never been my strength (I'm a coder, not a wordsmith!) I just like to reiterate that if you are happy then you have succeeded.