Featured Q&A Interview with Brittany Woods, Manager - Server Automation at H&R Block
We are really excited to launch our third article for Polyworld Magazine, and our second celebrating our LGBT+ Community Members for #Pride Month 2021! š³ļøāššššš
Brittany's Bio!
Brittany is an engineering manager who has had a career focused on Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, and Cloud Automation, she is based in Missouri and her badges include Devops, Speaker, Bass Player, Animal Rights and Dog Owner! š¶
Q: What was your childhood dream job?Ā
A: I wanted to be an astronaut. Until someone told me about the fate of the Challenger shuttle. Which scared me. I also at the same time had the realization that space is dark and I am afraid of the dark. At the ripe old age of 8 without the perk of home internet and a home computer, I didnāt put together that there are in fact lights in space craft. After succumbing to my fears I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. That remained the goal until mid to late high school.
Q: We see youāve got the Playlist Curator badge, whatās your favourite one and why?
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A: I have created a playlist called āHot Gossā. I listen to it nearly all day, every day. Itās full of Gossip, Santigold, Ladyhawke, etc etc etc. All good stuff and incredibly uplifting in between those video calls! For days when Iām feeling a little more edgy, I have a āNostalgically Punkyā playlist that just hits right as well. Those are my heavy rotation. For my less commonly played list, the Spotify curated āBrain Foodā is a good one.
Ā
A: I have created a playlist called āHot Gossā. I listen to it nearly all day, every day. Itās full of Gossip, Santigold, Ladyhawke, etc etc etc. All good stuff and incredibly uplifting in between those video calls! For days when Iām feeling a little more edgy, I have a āNostalgically Punkyā playlist that just hits right as well. Those are my heavy rotation. For my less commonly played list, the Spotify curated āBrain Foodā is a good one.
Q: Whatās the one thing people donāt know about you professionally that you think they should?
A: I am passionate about my work but I donāt spend all of my weekends on personal tech projects. Weekends are for home improvement projects and shutting down my brain.
A: I am passionate about my work but I donāt spend all of my weekends on personal tech projects. Weekends are for home improvement projects and shutting down my brain.
Q: What project are you working on right now that youāre most excited about?
A: This is less of a work project and more of a personal project. I am often asked to provide advice and direction for companies looking to implement configuration management. There are so many companies at the enterprise level that are in this phase of growth and modernization, but there is no ārulebookā on how to be successful doing it.Ā
Itās like each company has to learn the same collective lessons, whether those lessons are found the hard way or the easy way. I am writing a guidebook to help change that. I am very excited to finish up this project and get it out for the world. Whether it is deemed useful or not, Iām excited about it!Ā
A: This is less of a work project and more of a personal project. I am often asked to provide advice and direction for companies looking to implement configuration management. There are so many companies at the enterprise level that are in this phase of growth and modernization, but there is no ārulebookā on how to be successful doing it.Ā
Itās like each company has to learn the same collective lessons, whether those lessons are found the hard way or the easy way. I am writing a guidebook to help change that. I am very excited to finish up this project and get it out for the world. Whether it is deemed useful or not, Iām excited about it!Ā
Q: What path led you to working in Devops?
A: I was working in a role where I was overworked, underpaid, and sorely mistreated. A co-worker started working on a project to implement Chef. Being one of the only other members of the team that was comfortable with code, I was later looped into that project. When he left, I took the project over and the rest is history. That was my gateway into the DevOps industry and really my gateway into getting out of a toxic work environment.Ā
From there I got a taste for speaking, found my voice in terms of being my own self advocate and my authentic self at work, and found my love for mentorship. The DevOps community is incredibly empowering and supportive and I am lucky to have found it.Ā
A: I was working in a role where I was overworked, underpaid, and sorely mistreated. A co-worker started working on a project to implement Chef. Being one of the only other members of the team that was comfortable with code, I was later looped into that project. When he left, I took the project over and the rest is history. That was my gateway into the DevOps industry and really my gateway into getting out of a toxic work environment.Ā
From there I got a taste for speaking, found my voice in terms of being my own self advocate and my authentic self at work, and found my love for mentorship. The DevOps community is incredibly empowering and supportive and I am lucky to have found it.Ā
Q: Whatās one thing you wish you knew earlier in your career?
A: It gets better. Truly. Working in an incredibly oppressive role and a toxic environment for my first āforayā into the tech world starts to make you think this is it. Itās not. You do not have to hide who you are to be successful. I also wish I knew that itās okay to advocate for yourself and truly highlight your accomplishments. Donāt wait for someone else to advocate for you and donāt wait for someone to recognize your hard work. You are your best advocate.Ā
A: It gets better. Truly. Working in an incredibly oppressive role and a toxic environment for my first āforayā into the tech world starts to make you think this is it. Itās not. You do not have to hide who you are to be successful. I also wish I knew that itās okay to advocate for yourself and truly highlight your accomplishments. Donāt wait for someone else to advocate for you and donāt wait for someone to recognize your hard work. You are your best advocate.Ā
Q: What does the ideal future of work look like for you when it comes to diversity and inclusion?
A: Tech still has a long way to go when it comes to diversity and inclusion. If I had a magic wand, could wave it and make it all better, tech would be a much more diverse place. More women. More BIPOC. More LGBTQ+. And not just having more of these diverse groups -- but truly having an industry that embraces us and our voices, allowing us to be our best selves and bring our whole selves to work every day.Ā
A: Tech still has a long way to go when it comes to diversity and inclusion. If I had a magic wand, could wave it and make it all better, tech would be a much more diverse place. More women. More BIPOC. More LGBTQ+. And not just having more of these diverse groups -- but truly having an industry that embraces us and our voices, allowing us to be our best selves and bring our whole selves to work every day.Ā
Q: Favorite thing about Polywork so far?
A: So far I am loving that Polywork is no pressure. Thereās no pressure to author content pieces for engagement, but there is a means to create. Polywork has provided ways to ignite your content into something more than just a click-baity post. Thereās no pressure to grow your follower counts or keep them within your immediate group of connections.Ā
Thereās empowerment of users and an allowance to showcase your work, both past and present, in a meaningful way. I think having a no pressure platform for professional connection is powerful and Iām so excited about this platform.Ā
A: So far I am loving that Polywork is no pressure. Thereās no pressure to author content pieces for engagement, but there is a means to create. Polywork has provided ways to ignite your content into something more than just a click-baity post. Thereās no pressure to grow your follower counts or keep them within your immediate group of connections.Ā
Thereās empowerment of users and an allowance to showcase your work, both past and present, in a meaningful way. I think having a no pressure platform for professional connection is powerful and Iām so excited about this platform.Ā
Q: What are you excited to do on Polywork?
A: I am super excited to finish getting all my timeline āmilestonesā imported into the platform. I have some upcoming work that would be great to share on the platform. Iām also excited to put together a super amazing banner image for my profile! Iām sure thereās plenty more, but for now Iām learning!
