BlogExtraHop is spending this week celebrating International Women's Day (March 8th) by hearing from some of the brilliant, passionate women so integral to this company and the tech industry as a whole. How'd they get into STEM? What advice do they have for other women and girls? Gear up for a whole week of blogs from the women of ExtraHop, from the engineering departments to marketing and everything in between. Happy International Women's Day!
Jeena Khan: Manager, Product Documentation
My dad has always loved technology. Our household was an early-adopter household, and it was exciting to see the gadgets he'd bring home with all the promise of making our lives better.
In college, I inherited my brother's computer. As a communication enthusiast, I couldn't believe that I could write my best friend a letter and send it with the flourish of a Unix command. But the computer was old, and there was no Geek Squad on speed dial. So I learned how to fix whatever broke—from hardware upgrades to software updates to building my first box from the case up. I was hooked. And as word got around, I'd get calls from strange guys who'd heard from Darryl in my O-chem class that I knew how to fix computers. (Always around midterms when computers seemed particularly prone to self-destructing and leaving students frantic.)
As much as I loved science, technology excited me more. I ditched my plans for medical school and got a job at my local internet service provider. I started at the help desk and found that I particularly loved helping people learn how to solve problems. And I was good at it, too! I moved quickly to a senior position at the company and into network support.
As it turns out, working the help desk is a fantastic way to learn about the value of technical writing. Instead of taking ten calls, you can provide an easy way for customers to solve their own problems. As a technology consumer myself, I always prefer to find answers on my own. I started to write knowledgebase articles and manage the website.
And now I lead a team of technical writers who are also challenging existing models of documentation. My team is excited to identify new ways to help a modern audience get help quickly and in a way that best serves their needs.
The one thing I would tell anyone at the beginning of their career is that there are nearly endless opportunities in STEM. As someone who didn't have any interest in coding, I might not have realized that there are an incredible amount of diverse roles and paths that can fit almost any interest. I'm not an engineer, but I love working at a company that is innovative and at the front-edge of changing how an entire industry solves problems—and I've found a way to be a part of that.