Annie Easley. Edith Clarke. Grace Hopper. The ENIAC Programmers. Radia Perlman. Katherine Johnson. Reshma Saujani. Carol Shaw.

All pioneering women, all dedicated to technological advancement. The six women tasked with programming the ENIAC – the world’s first programmable, all-electronic, digital general-purpose computer – had to do so without manuals or programming languages.

Annie Easley did calculations for researchers at The Lab (NASA Research Center) by hand and ran simulations before machines were brought into the facility, then became an adept computer programmer.

Today, even more women are making great technological strides by teaching new generations to code, designing state-of-the-art video games, holding C-Level positions in Fortune 500 companies, teaching, and so much more.

Women make up less than a third of the world’s technology workforce. Further, leadership roles in the field (e.g., Head of Engineering) are held by an even smaller percentage of women, and the number of women in technology careers has declined in the last two years.

Despite this, GadellNet is lucky to be home to trailblazing women in technology leadership roles. To celebrate Women’s History Month, we asked some of them about their careers and to share their advice for future women in tech. Here is what they had to say:

Bethany Bivins (Service Desk Engineer) did not always work in technology. She started in real estate, then moved to special education, and then retail. Her leap into technology began at the CoderGirl program at Launchpad. Bethany has a passion for learning and IT offers her opportunities to teach people new things. Bethany finds it rewarding to see how technology can improve people’s lives and methods of communication.

Bethany also sees room for growth in the field. She remembers playing computer games on a hand-me-down device as a young kid, and she looks back fondly now, knowing she has made technology her career.

Megan Wildhaber (Leader – Project Management) also did not have a direct path to her current role in Information Technology. Megan started in the Army as a platoon leader focused on construction project management. Her project management experience eventually brought her to GadellNet, where she works closely with our IT engineers, consultants, and other team members to ensure our client’s technology needs are met and implementations happen smoothly.

As the Project Management Team Lead, she now drives and encourages the other Project Managers toward continuous growth, just as she always strives to do. She believes technology has come a long way since the days of logging into AOL, one of her earliest tech memories. Megan believes technology evolves, so everyone must evolve with it. She says, “There is never a point where you know everything.” She thrives in that environment and appreciates the diverse group of people she works with daily, all of whom bring different strengths.

What Should Other Women in Technology Know?

Given their career trajectories and experiences in technology, we asked Bethany and Megan what advice they would give to other women looking to venture into the field. Both suggested: “Continue to grow and learn. Learn from mistakes, but don’t let them derail you.”

GadellNet is lucky to be home to other innovative, creative, and inspiring women in technology. Keep an eye out for part two of this article later this month!