Meet the Women of DataSeer
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we are featuring the women of DataSeer and sharing with you their personal stories of how they got into tech.
Yasirah Krueng, Senior Software Engineer, Front End
Q. What did you want to be growing up?
A. Growing up in a small town in South East Asia, I was always fascinated by buildings and modern infrastructure and wanted to be an architect. Every time my mom brought me to the only market in town, my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about how I would build a multi-story market and create a better shopping experience.
Q. Tell us a little about your tech journey & how you got to where you are now
A. I got introduced to programming when I was in university and got a taste of working in tech when I was an assistant accountant for an NGO where I built a bookkeeping system from MS Excel macros. I realized, then, that programming was the path that I wanted for my career. However, I decided to become a full-time caregiver when I moved to the US as a newlywed. I was out of the workforce for about 10 years before I came back and actually followed my dream of becoming a software engineer.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self?
A. I would say not to worry too much. Everything has its own place and time. I was torn when I had to decide between caregiving and a career. I was convinced I could only choose one over the other and that it would be a permanent choice. Looking back, I’m glad that I had the time to raise my children and had the second chance to get a career when I was ready to come back to the workplace.
Q. Who’s your biggest inspiration?
A. A 16th-century female navy admiral from the Acheh (Aceh) Sultanate named Keumala Hayati. She inspired me, as an Achehnese myself, to break through the male-dominated tech industry because she had done a similar thing in a more hostile environment and time period.
Q. What’s your favorite thing about working in tech?
A. As a software developer, I love it most when my creation impacts the lives of users for the better. It’s what pushes me every day to come up with a better solution for the next iteration of the software. Whether it is in the form of UI/UX improvement or a new feature for the app, I am always excited to deliver a new release to our customers
Jo-Anne Ting, VP, Data Science
Q. What did you want to be growing up?
A. Growing up, we had lots of LEGO so I spent a lot of time building things. When I was 8, we got a computer and when I was finally allowed to touch it (four kids in the family – I had to wait in line), I discovered the BBS and BASIC. After that, I knew I wanted to do something in computing.
Q. Tell us a little about your tech journey & how you got to where you are now
A. I was lucky that my hometown, Ottawa, was a hotbed of computer networking companies in the first Dot-com boom of the 90’s. I got my start in tech with software development internships in high school at Nortel Networks and then with undergrad co-op placements at the University of Waterloo. I got a PhD in CS since I wanted to do more cool stuff like machine learning (which wasn’t yet popularized in industry then). I spent some time in academia & in corporate research before moving to the startup space, where I’ve been for the last 7 years.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self?
A. I would tell myself to network more and be less self-conscious. We worry so much about what others think, but the reality is folks are usually focused on themselves first.
Q. Who’s your biggest inspiration?
A. Amelia Earhart. It’s amazing that she flew during a time when women weren’t even allowed to vote and when aviation was still burgeoning & experimental. Talk about pushing the envelope!
Q. What’s your favorite thing about working in tech?
A. I love how tech is constantly changing and offering us new ways and paradigms to solve age-old problems.
Lanny Wang, Software Engineer, Front End
Q. What did you want to be growing up?
A. In middle school, I loved watching Detective Conan and reading thriller novels about lost civilizations. I wanted to be an archaeologist to explore lost treasures of civilizations, just like in BBC documentaries.
Q. Tell us a little about your tech journey & how you got to where you are now
A. I first learned how to code with Logo turtle graphics in elementary school and coded microcontrollers as part of the robotics team in high school. In college, I decided to open up and try different possibilities. I graduated with a double major in art history and economics, continued to pursue an M.A. in decorative art history at Bard Graduate Center, and worked at multiple art museums and institutions. Starting from 2015, museums started to use fun interactive apps with Beacon, AR and VR, as an experiment, to create a new type of experience for their audiences. Drawn by the new trend and frustrated by the ecosystem in art, I realized that I want to build apps, so I picked up coding again. I attended a full-stack web development coding bootcamp and became a UI/UX engineer.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self?
A. I would tell myself to ditch the student mindset and adopt the creator mindset earlier. I was very balanced in different subjects at school and tried four or five majors. I followed my passion, but I did not realize that essentially, students are consumers. I wish I thought about the value creation part and evaluated the eco-system earlier.
Q. Who’s your biggest inspiration?
A. Angela Merkel. Merkel is a scientist who became a world leader. She is authentic, analytical, diligent, and determined. She rose to power as an unorthodox woman in a male-oriented party, reshaped her party, and led Germany for 15 years. I am most inspired by Merkel’s commitment to bringing people together and her ability to navigate through extremely complicated situations in a calm, logical and analytical approach.
Q. What’s your favorite thing about working in tech?
A. I like the fast feedback cycle, agile approach, and seeing an impact to the real world. Tech is a very diversified field. It is very pleasant to work with people with different backgrounds and skill sets.