Career Paths (Associate Software Engineer): Profiles Of Women In Tech #GHC18
Lauren Wittenberg
Associate Software Engineer on Launchpad (Commercial Innovation team) Capital One Tech
Describe your current role. I’m a software engineer on our commercial banking innovation team. In my current project, I create reusable React components that are used in products across the commercial bank.
What is it you really do? I create components (such as buttons, labels, input boxes, etc.) that match the look and feel of our commercial banking design guidelines. I take part in this process from start to finish, including attending design meetings, coding the components, writing the documentation, and publishing the packages for other teams to use.
What was your first job? My first job was in high school as an assistant at a dermatology practice. I spent most of my time scheduling appointments, tracking patient billing data, and ensuring our patients had a positive experience while visiting the office. I attribute my strong communication and organizational skills to my experience in this role.
Skill you recently acquired? I recently learned React! I was excited when I joined the React project I’m currently on in July. I got started by utilizing an awesome training repo set up by one of my colleagues, and the rest I’ve learned by doing! I started out building simple components and I’ve progressively had the chance to work on some more complicated tasks.
Cool part of your job. One cool part of my job is volunteering with Capital One Coders, a program that sends associates to local middle schools to teach students core computer science concepts. By the end of the semester, our students go from knowing very little about programming to coding and demoing Android apps they build themselves. As a woman in the technology industry, I value participating in initiatives like this to inspire our youth, especially young women, to pursue careers in STEM.
Best career advice you’ve been given? Always look to expand your network and never stop learning. It can’t hurt to know a lot of people or to have too much knowledge. With a strong network and eagerness to learn, the sky is the limit for your career.
If you’re headed to #GHC18 come meet the Capital One team —
and I personally look forward to meeting you on Thursday, September 27 in the Career Fair expo at the Capital One Booth at 1:15 pm #CapitalOnePartner
