Navigating Challenges and Breaking Barriers: A Journey in the IT industry
Tracy Fawcett, It Solutions Director, Msc Cruises
Tracy Fawcett, It Solutions Director, Msc Cruises
This article is based on an interview between APAC CIOoutlook and Tracy Fawcett, IT Solutions Director, MSC Cruises, she recollects her childhood and the events that led her into the IT industry. She delves into her experiences and insights while steering her journey in the tech industry along with the challenges she had to overcome in order to reach where she is today.
How did you first become interested in technology, and what inspired you to pursue a career in tech?
My childhood in Africa was all about exploring rock pools, climbing trees, and running along mountain trails. Even though my world was far removed from video games, touchscreens, and television, the spirit of curiosity and exploration was a constant. Viewing the world through a creative lens, I found myself intrigued by the way machines and software translated human inputs.
My venture into the tech world began at a digital pre-press publishing house as a technical support specialist. Starting at the “tip-of-the-spear,” I was tasked with supporting enterprise clients facing challenges with the limits of already baked applications. It was during this time that their R&D team involved me in a unique opportunity to observe and participate in the application lifecycle from a different perspective. I witnessed the evolution of product enhancements, reengineering, and innovations required to address shortcomings. This experience captivated me. I was hooked!
Have you encountered any unique challenges as a woman in the tech industry? If so, how have you overcome those obstacles?I often laugh at the scene in the movie Hidden Figures, where the character Katherine is handed a document with redacted text. While this scene resonates, let’s face-it no one ever has perfect information. Blind spots only fuel my curiosity and drive to discover unconventional ways of decoding and overcoming obstacles in delivering value to the customers I’ve served.
In the DOT COM era, I delivered one of the first self-serve B2B eCommerce platforms for a manufacturers enterprise customer to include Pepsi Cola, Anheuser Busch and Darden Enterprises. Since then, I’ve been on an adventure delivering all sorts of IT products and services that best serve end-customers local and global market policy, business processes and data flows between adjacent systems.
p>What do you think are the most important qualities for women to succeed in the tech industry today?The ability to inspire and lead cross-functional teams effectively through influence (with or without power); big-picture thinking; and complex problem-solving has been my secret sauce to keeping equilibrium between internal and external customer worlds - often motivated by very different priorities.
Get Comfortable In The Discipline Of Analyzing And Spotting Patterns In Data “Consider All Other Inputs And Interpretations Of A Pain Point As Anecdotal Until This Is Done
Believe in your abilities and don’t shy away from opportunities, even if you feel you don’t meet all the requirements.
Know the difference between your worth in the marketplace versus in your workplace.
Always be on the lookout to adapt to the rapidly evolving customer needs and tech landscape.
Lead with empathy and you’ll learn more about people, process and systems than you ever imagined.
Pay it forward by sharing knowledge, including others, and always leave things better than the way you found them.
Get comfortable in the discipline of analyzing and spotting patterns in data “consider all other inputs and interpretations of a pain point as anecdotal until this is done.
Oh yes, long hours, very long hours - be prepared to grind it out for much longer than you thought.
p>How do you think your diverse experience in product management and IT service delivery has contributed to your success as a woman in tech?My experience working with multinational clients, multiple languages, and various currencies, I have honed my capacity to navigate complex, global projects. This has enabled me to align products and IT services to market expectations, ensuring customer satisfaction and fostering company growth.
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