Amie Tornincasa
Netflix
Los Gatos, CA USA
"A lot of the things I consider ‘accomplishments’ aren’t my credentials or my degrees; they’re those little moments when I felt really insecure and I made it through."
Career Roadmap
Amie's work combines: Business, Technology, and Accomplishing Goals
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Advice for getting started
There is this huge misconception about what "working in tech" looks like. Even though I do know how to code, what I do now is far removed from it. There are so many different ways to work in tech and succeed. I had to figure out where my niche was. I realized I was good at interfacing with businesses and helping explain the companies business needs to tech teams and vice versa. I wanted to prove that stereotypes about women in tech were untrue and that there are so many opportunities.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Computer Science
University of California-Santa Cruz
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Says that when she tells people she works in computer science, they assume she’s a coder working late at night and living off of Mountain Dew.
2.
On the contrary, she works in a very social role at Netflix, managing teams of coders and acting as a liaison between them and the business managers.
3.
When she first got out of college and was working as a coder, she felt like her bosses and her teams didn’t know where to put her.
4.
Because she’s a stubborn person, she refused to be classified as the “dumb girl,” and always worked hard to prove herself.
5.
Says that her stubbornness sometimes meant she’d spend three times longer on a project or studying for a test, but she was always willing to put in that extra time.
6.
Wishes that there were more women in her field so that she didn’t feel the need to prove herself every time she starts a new job or new project.
7.
Says she gets competitive about mental exercises; if she sees someone doing something she wants to be able to do, she makes herself learn how to do it.
8.
She’s passionate about tech because she believes its capabilities are growing exponentially right now—we’re living in a time where it can make big changes in people’s lives.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
You work in tech? You must code a lot and work really late nights.
How I responded:
There is this huge misconception about what "working in tech" looks like. Even though I do know how to code, what I do now is far removed from it. There are so many different ways to work in tech and succeed. I had to figure out where my niche was. I realized I was good at interfacing with businesses and helping explain the companies business needs to tech teams and vice versa. I wanted to prove that stereotypes about women in tech were untrue and that there are so many opportunities.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
There are very few females in the tech field, which sometimes made navigating opportunities and being taken seriously a challenge.