Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Amanda Glosson of AppTech Payments Corp On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be the level head in a moment of crisis. Production fires will happen, and those around you will benefit from keeping your cool. I was often sought out to manage issues in production because I stayed calm, found the problem, and got to work on a solution.
As a part of our series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Glosson.
Amanda Glosson is a software engineer, and recently joined AppTech Payments Corp. with 14 years of payments engineering experience at Blackbaud, where she held several positions focused on a future-driven approach to solutions. In her new role, she is an integral part of the AppTech engineering team responsible for developing the organizations core payments and digital banking solutions to enable omni-channel commerce experiences for customers that propel business growth.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My journey in tech began in high school when I started taking classes at a local community college on computer science. Like most kids from my generation, I grew up with Super Nintendo and it really started out as wanting to create video games like the ones I loved playing. From there, I completed my undergrad degree at North Carolina State University in computer science with a game development concentration. This was a truly cool program. Within it, I got to work with multiple disciplines within game design as opposed to just working in engineering. I got to see the graphic design and creative aspects that can be part of this discipline, along with gaining an understanding of the technological and scientific principles associated with design and development of games and applications. It showed me the variety that exists and is possible within computer science.
My experience at NC State University also opened my eyes to career possibilities outside of gaming, such as positions in engineering that are situated for the greater good and aim to help those in need. Once I graduated, I started my career at Blackbaud so I could use my skills to give back, as the software they write is targeted towards nonprofit organizations and works to support their needs.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
I joined a meeting once and was greeted by the lovely sounds of my colleague strumming his guitar while he waited for the meeting to start. We let him play for a while before we told him he wasn’t on mute.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
There were a few “teachable moments” in the early part of my career but, one that has stuck with me is a story about not being too hard on yourself. I had just started on the new payments team at Blackbaud and had been helped by several team members to get my local dev environment all set up and configured. It was an intricate system, and I was still learning how all the pieces worked together. I was working on fixing bugs to get familiar with everything when somehow, I had gotten myself into a state of configuration where payments wouldn’t process anymore. I felt like I really screwed up. I retraced my steps and couldn’t get it back to a working state. I asked for help from Larry Mishkin, my manager at the time and one of the primary engineers of the system I was working in. He could tell I felt bad that not only had I somehow broken this thing but couldn’t figure out how to fix it either. I will always remember what he said to me, after he fixed it (in like 3 seconds), he said, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re doing a great job.” I felt like he really cared about my success, and he was always someone I looked up to for career advice.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I’ll be honest, I was a little hesitant about joining a small team at AppTech Payments Corp. after spending years working for a much larger company on a much bigger team, but thankfully that dissipated nearly immediately when I joined AppTech. Working on a smaller team has given me the chance to have a much more significant impact on our development and what we’re working on; my hands are all the way in it, so to speak. I have the opportunity to learn, grow, and expand my horizons so much more since I am actually building something from the ground up as opposed to just entering laterally into an existing project.
This is truly rare to find in tech right now because so much infrastructure already exists within this industry that a lot of the time, projects are focused around building on, altering or enhancing what is already there. I have an exceptional chance to make my own mark on a brand-new project here, which I am incredibly excited about.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Here at AppTech, I was chosen to help build a brand-new payments team. Payments is fast-paced and challenging within software development in general since the field is changing so quickly; it really is an area that is entirely bypassing legacy methods of operation and giving us developers a chance to change the world. Within that, I see an opening to do away with these legacy systems that have previously held some individuals back. All of the new tech stacks we are working on within payments provide so much more accessibility for the underbanked and unbanked, a gamechanger that will change the system for the better, for good.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
No, I wouldn’t say I am satisfied with the status quo, there are still too few of us out there in the industry. We need to encourage and support young women to become involved in STEM-related fields. I believe change is going to need to begin at the education level with more females being willing and excited about pursuing a career in the field. If we can increase the number of women being educated in the field, we increase the likelihood that more young women will follow in their footsteps. In the past, I’ve been involved with STEM mentorship groups working with middle school kids in robotics, as well as college level outreach and recruiting.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
I often see that women can be faced with an imposter syndrome within the tech field. We have every right to be here and have earned our seat at the table, but I see how being in a male-dominated space can make us feel like we don’t belong. I want to remind all women that our skills are legitimate, and we deserve to be where we are in the tech industry.
My advice to women in this field is to boost your confidence in whatever way works for you. For some, finding a mentor can help you realize your self-worth, become more confident, and feel more at ease stating your opinions. It can be so valuable and helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of, to validate what you have to say and provide a safe space in which to brainstorm and get comfortable.
While it may not seem like such a great system from the outside, something that has really worked for me to boost my own confidence has been choosing to take on a project that I knew nothing about in the beginning, and then finishing the process to completion successfully. It is the greatest confidence builder and has made me feel like I can do anything. This does not just apply to work-related tasks, either; it can apply to hobbies, home projects, or anything new to you. Don’t ever be afraid to take-on or try new things, you don’t need prior experience to become an expert. It’s important to remember that at one point, every expert was new to what they now excel in.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
I think that sometimes we get caught up in nomenclature and labels when trying to assert ourselves. To me, it’s a myth that we have to be known as “women in STEM”, or really any label within the field. I don’t label myself as a “female engineer”, I simply AM an engineer, and I have an equal seat at the table as my teammates. I want all women in tech, and really any career, to remember that their opinions matter just as much as anyone else’s — every single person in the room earned their spot the same way.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Be the level head in a moment of crisis. Production fires will happen, and those around you will benefit from keeping your cool. I was often sought out to manage issues in production because I stayed calm, found the problem, and got to work on a solution.
- Say yes to that big project. Even if you don’t know how you are going to pull it off yet, if you are being offered the opportunity then they already see the potential in you. I took on my first mobile app project, knowing nothing about mobile apps. I learned, I grew, and I completed that project. I also found that I really enjoyed working in the space of mobile apps.
- Leadership is about curating relationships, not pushing your opinion onto others. I recall a time when a proposed architectural solution to a problem was contested by several members of the team. I brought everyone together to discuss it and we compromised on a solution that both mitigated risk and moved us forward in an innovative way.
- Your team will learn from your example. Be the team member you want them all to model after. I participate in the shared responsibilities of the team including on-call rotations and client reported issue investigations. I became a better leader because I shared their experiences, and they saw how I handled difficult situations and learned from me.
- Make time for feedback and words of encouragement. As a leader we are busy, our schedules are usually full of meetings, and we still have work to do outside of those meetings; but I make time to pause and reflect on everyone’s progress. I have a personal conversation with new members of my team after they’ve settled in. They appreciate my taking the time to offer them feedback, and it gives me an opportunity to ask for feedback from them.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Don’t mute or otherwise water down yourself for fear of being seen as a woman — use your unique characteristics to your advantage. Women, generally, have a greater attention to detail than men do, and we shouldn’t be afraid to lean into that. You aren’t being nagging by paying attention to details that matter in the larger picture, especially in a field like tech where every single small detail matters. As leaders, in particular, we need to make sure every part of the project is perfectly in tune.
I also believe it is important as a leader to challenge yourself often. Your team will want to do the same when they see you doing so, and it helps to foster a sense of community where all team members are not only challenging themselves but supporting each other within those challenges. This makes not only the individual stronger but builds up the entire team.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Active listening is extremely important to me for a leader. It’s all well and good to be able to lend an ear or allow individuals their chance to speak, and there will always be a lot of opinions flying around. However, being in tech where things change so quickly and we are always under such tight deadlines, sometimes we don’t have time to listen, think, and then choose a course. Practicing and acting as you work with your team will always earn you the most respect. You have to be willing to be a professional and a student at the same time to set the best example for your team that you can.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am very grateful for the time I was able to spend with Mary Beth Westmoreland while at Blackbaud. She fostered my growth there, and I really valued her insights as a CTO and fellow female engineer at the company.
What resonated with me the most about working with Mary Beth was how she was such a big champion of trying to grow the representation of women in tech and women in the company. She was always on the front lines in recruiting, she hosted a women in tech summit for the company, and was a founding member of the Women in Tech in Charleston group. I think it’s so important to have someone like her who wants to be out in front, as visible as possible, and openly encouraging women to join us in this field.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I love that I began my tech career working on nonprofit programming within Blackbaud. I know that tech can get a bad rep of being cutthroat and kind of single-minded, and we all sometimes need a reminder that we can use these advancements for good, for charity as opposed to just for earning companies profit, increasing productivity, and closing sales.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
In addition to my passion for the tech industry, I also have a love for animals. I’ve personally gotten two dogs through adoption and think that anyone who is considering adding a pet to their family should consider fostering or adopting one from their local animal shelter.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Never let “perfect” get in the way of “good enough”.
When working on a piece of functionality or a new feature, it’s important to remember to try and step back make sure you’re not going down a rabbit hole or over-working an angle. Your time and energy are precious — don’t waste them chasing an end that is not feasible. I often need to switch tasks in order to stay focused, and that switch can reorient your focus and make you realize that you’ve done this task perfectly, but you were too busy beating yourself up to see that.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would have to choose Melinda Gates. The Gates Foundation does great work all across the globe, but I would like to chat with her specifically about the foundation’s work in the K-12 sector in the U.S. I am fascinated by their work to bring equity to our early education systems, a need that will benefit many sectors including women in STEM.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Amanda Glosson of AppTech Payments Corp On The 5 Leadership… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.