Category: Career

Career, Charity and Giving, Employment, Giving Back, Life Choices, Mentoring, Moving Forward, Technology

The Broadcast Engineer Unicorn

#Offering Help: #Mentoring, #Writing, & #Engineering Services

I’ve been fortunate throughout my 33 year career to have found many mentors. I now happily find myself still working, but also mentoring the next generations of broadcast employees. Not only to have had such a diverse career So Far – it’s certainly far from over, but a female engineer in the world of broadcasting I have been termed a Unicorn. Who me? Yup!

Indeed, for many many years I have found myself to be the only female in the room. The only adult in the room, but that’s another story. I’d be promoted into a full room of men and me. If there was another women, she was an assistant or secretary, so I’d do my best to be inclusive and share insight. Paying back the kindness that was so graciously bestowed upon me along the way.

Although, I have to say, I was underestimated along the way as well. I didn’t spout or boast my knowledge, pat myself on the back for a job well done, I just kept my mouth shut and did my job, and did everything I could think of to “move the needle forward” for women in broadcasting.

Unfortunately, back then the loudest person in the room was thought to be “right” or the most knowledgeable, I certainly wasn’t loud, so I took the brunt of a lot of wrongs. Should I have spoken up? Looking back, absolutely yes, I just didn’t have those tools in my toolkit – YET.

Finally one day, I started a new job in the control room. I had not only one woman boss, I had two! I felt lucky. I was in certain respects, in other respects – uh, not so much.

I won’t distinguish which was which, but one superior was never satisfied. If I took care of every single aspect of my job, went beyond what was expected, took initiative to do more, it still wasn’t enough. More was thrown at me (sometimes literally) and I would scramble to “figure it out”. I could ask the other superior clarifying questions, but mostly I was on my own, they were both busy, and that’s why I was there right? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Finally about 3 months in, the superior who was never satisfied went on a 2 week vacation. I was elated, and for good reason. The other “boss”, would check in with me, and on my 2nd day with just her in-charge, she physically came into the control room. I showed her all I did, what I was watching for, what I still needed to finish, and of course asked if I could help her with anything. A simple “Nope, I’ll be in my office, if you need anything, call. You’re smart, I trust you, and I know you won’t wait until you get into trouble to call me”. Then she left. Wow! What a feeling of empowerment.

To this day I do not know that that boss knows what she gave me. Autonomy for one thing, but also confidence. She gave me an example of how I wanted to be when I was in a position like that, respectful, inclusive, giving, everything I needed summed up in a short sentence. Not only did I learn what I wanted to be like, I learned something even more important, what I didn’t want to be like. I didn’t want to create/rule by fear every time I walked into a room, I didn’t want to make anyone feel less than, no matter who they were, I didn’t want to make anyone feel like they were only as good as their last mistake. And so, I’ve taken that goal and hopefully not only successfully achieved it, but surpassed it.

I knew what I wanted, so then I sought out through positive leaders/achievers in and outside of the company. Learned from their vast historical knowledge and applied it to new ways of developing standards. All the men and women of my past have made me who I am today.

Have I made mistakes? Absolutely. Really big ones? That’s an even bigger Absolutely. Have I learned and grown from them? Absolutely. Do I regret some? Absolutely. I don’t regret learning from my mistakes, I regret how I handled my failures sometimes. We all fail sometimes, or a lot of the time, but it’s how we get back up, how we recover that matters. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

I cannot change the past though, I can only move forward with integrity and perseverance in the future. I can pass on my knowledge to usher in the new generations. And, I do.

In 2019 I took a seasonal broadcast streaming engineer position at MLB Advanced Media. I was fortunate to work with a newly assembled group of engineers. All men and me (a Re-occurring theme throughout my career). Not only was I the only woman, I was also the oldest person in the room by far. The youngest wasn’t even born when I graduated college, he wasn’t even of drinking age yet. But he was/is brilliant. The takeaway is to remain open, accepting, giving, and teachable. And, check your ego at the door.

It was a new system that we all rolled out in only 3 months, so we All were learning something literally brand new together. It was extraordinary. I had as much to learn, and unlearn as they did, but we did it all together. To this day it was hands down one of the best teams I was ever a part of. We all worked together in this small closet of a room, and we successfully streamed out 32 minor league team’s games for the season, ending in an all time high of adding in some major league games too. We all helped each other through processes and SOPs, it was amazing.

The season ended, some found other full time jobs, the rest of us stayed on part-time to work on Major League ballpark infrastructure upgrades in the off-season. Another great experience. But we did it together. I’ve gone back as a part-time employee season after season with great anticipation and openness to learning all the new tech forward innovation each year. I am truly grateful to have found MLB, and many others along my Broadcasting journey. I was asked once, “What will you do when or if they hire another girl/ woman for this office?”, my response was simple, “I’d throw a parade first, then make sure you all treated her with the same respect you’ve shown me (which was a lot, and it never waivered), or you’ll have to answer to me!” That was said with a somewhat joking lilt, but it was true then, and true now. That was verbatim comment recollection. Very smart, accomplished women were hired, and the respect was given, I was proud of this group of fine men and now women.

It’s not over yet – not by a long shot!

If you’d like to chat please feel free to contact me. I can learn just as much from you as you can hopefully from me.

Career, Employment, Life Choices, Mentoring, Moving Forward, Technology

Success at Job Hunting in the Universe’s Vacuum

If you want to be successful in job hunting, you need to be persistent and never give up. You need to believe in yourself and your ability to find the right job for you. The universe is full of opportunities, and it’s up to you to find them.

I started a great new position this week. After years of seasonal, and short contract work at various places, I wanted to find something full-time, and permanent. Permanent is a relative term to me. One can be “let-go” at any time these days, because there was a restructuring, not because one wasn’t doing well, for cause, or just lay-offs. It can be disheartening.

When I was offered my current job, I literally had gotten another offer the very same day, and a third offer the next day. I asked each possible new employer further clarifying questions so I could make an informed decision. That doesn’t give me any guarantees, but gives me the best chance at what I want and need. Note: I also only applied to jobs I really wanted, but was still looking because nothing was “final” until I, and the company have finished the on-boarding process. But, more on that another day.

FINDING THE OPPORTUNITY

Fear not, there are many opportunities out there, one just has to find them. Make looking for a job, a full time job in itself. Let me break it down a bit with some specifics. Set-up job parameters with automated Daily alerts on multiple sites, visit specific company sites daily (there are jobs there that are not posted publicly), filter for job keywords, position, desired location, (or on-site,remote/hybrid), and then of course latest or newest listings. This cut down on how “far” back anyone will have to cull through a seemingly endless list of jobs (most of which that wouldn’t fit one’s skill-set, or ones that aren’t of interest, or titled oddly). I only applied to jobs I wanted, and that I was at least 80%+ qualified for. My resume was updated nearly weekly to tweak it, and so was my cover letter.

BOTS

I’m sure job-seekers already know about HR bots: ATS system: Applicant Tracking System. It’s designed to automatically find keywords from the job description and find those skills in your resume automatically. If your resume doesn’t match up to a certain percent, then it automatically gets rejected, and the hiring manager, or HR person never gets to see your resume at all. So weave the keywords from the job description into your resume (assuming you truly have those skills), and your resume will actually get a human’s eyeballs to look at it.

Otherwise you’ll more than like get the dreaded automated response of, “while we are so excited that you’ve spent time applying for this position, and you’re highly skilled, we are not moving forward with your candidacy, and moving forward with other candidates that are more closely aligned with this position.” Even worse, you may have now been put into their system in an automatic reject for X amount of time. It’s true, so always try to present yourself in the best light, your effort upfront has big pay-off.

Now, keep in mind, every company must legally post a position even if they already know the candidate they Will be hiring. I’ve gone to job listings that were only a few hours old, saw there were no other applicants, but also was removed or “no longer available” almost as soon as it was posted. “Whatttt!!!??” The company legally did what they had to do, they posted the job, then removed it as soon as legally possible. I found this annoying at first, then took a different purview of the action, “at least I didn’t waste my time going through the entire application process”. It all depends on how you look at it. I chose the latter – be positive.

CONNECTION IS KEY

If you have a connection at a company you’re applying to, reach out to them. This is not just to ask them to recommend you, it’s also exploratory to find out more about the company, and if you want to work there too. It’s equally important for YOU to interview the interviewer about the company, culture, company and job challenges, who had the position prior to this, where did they move up or onto, and why. There are many other questions, but that’s a good starting point.

Next, there is the “quick apply” tactic. Job sites that offer a seemingly “one-click” application process, followed usually by a couple of generic questions like: Are you a US citizen?, Will you now or ever need sponsorship?, and are you at least 18 years old? I would advise if you decide to apply this way that you should also write a cover letter if the app provides the option. If not, note who the hiring manager or job poster is, and contact them through email if provided, or LinkedIn (In-mail).

DUE DILIGENCE

Don’t underestimate the cover letter. Many Recruiters and Hiring Managers automatically reject resumes from highly qualified applicants simply because there was no cover letter. Why? It shows interest, and a level of effort. Even if you don’t have the name of the job poster, or hiring manager, simply start with Dear Hiring Manager, then in the body of the cover letter say why you’d be great in the position, something that’s NOT in your resume and be positive.

Finally end with something like, “I look forward to hearing from you”. Then your signature. Boom! You’ve written a few short sentences and “Submit”. You’ve just upped your chances of being contacted by a Recruiter (whether in-house or not) by approximately 80%.

FOLLOW THROUGH

Lastly, if you haven’t heard anything for over a week, follow-up with a “checking in” email. Don’t ask for a response, the hiring manager and recruiter are very busy people. Just let them know you’re still interested in the position (you didn’t just one-click apply). A little effort goes a long way. If you’re willing to put the effort in before you have the job, you’re a good candidate to actually DO the job.

If you’d like more tips please leave questions in the comment section, or email me directly (it’s in the contact area of this site).

Good luck in your search. I look forward to hearing feedback from you!

Career, Charity and Giving, Employment, Giving Back, Golf, Life Choices, Mentoring, Moving Forward, Technology

The Green Room in the Cloud

Beginning a new position at a new company, working with a new team is exciting, maybe a little scary, but full of potential. Broadcast production is changing at a breakneck pace with cloud streaming, SMPTE2110, bandwidth constraints, NDI, RTMP, RTSP, SRT, HLS streams, SFPs, CDNs, and a mountain of other technology devices, and Software as a Service (SaaS) growing exponentially everyday.

Doing more with less has always been the trend. Now that is the rule rather than the exception. Not only do we need to do more with less, we need to automate systems, and have automated notification systems to let us know what may be going wrong.

This does not absolve us from manually checking -in, usually remotely though. Bots are now not a luxury, they are a necessity, but they still do not override the humans who run them. Remember, you come first, people come first. We need to take the sailing saying “one hand for yourself, one hand for the boat (to hold on). This is the epitome of taking care of yourself and whatever your “boat” is, and being safe.

You can’t give away what you don’t have. If you’re not ok, you cannot help or be of service to someone else. Remember self care? Give yourself a minute or five for meditation, a walk, a phone break to connect to another human (especially if you’re working completely remotely).

Speaking to that end, make sure you stay connected with your boss, and work team. If YOU are the sole team member, reach out to others outside of your group to interact with them, take a class, join a business volunteer group – stay connected, and communicate. Communication is key.

Luckily in production, even technical fully remote production, I HAVE to communicate with colleagues daily. It is very satisfying to me when I’m solving problems – fixing issues is how I work. Find out what excites you, and go after it. It may not happen overnight, but it is possible. The journey is not always easy. That maybe just for me though. I do feel that if I’ve worked for something and the “result” isn’t what I wanted, maybe I wasn’t specific enough as to what my intention was. So, I drill down to more details of what I want (which is always to be challenged to fix something).

This applies not only to work. I love fixing things in the house. Whether it’s spackling and painting a hole or spot on wall, changing out the broken igniter on the heater, reinstalling the screen on the front door, or cutting the hedges in the yard. This is also the basis on how I approach sports.

Take golf for instance. Recently a good friend bought a brand new set of highly technically advanced Callaway clubs. Now, there are many choices out there, and her “old set” of Callaway Rogues are in perfect condition. I’m a newer golfer, but have found a great love for the game and its process (even on a bad day), but I bought the “old” set of Rogues for a deal. I took my golf lesson with them, and then played a round with them the next day. Today I’ll goto the driving range, chip out of sand bunker, and putting green to continue my process.

“New” used Callaway clubs, my old bag, but it all works

The point is, we never know when or where an opportunity will pop up. I in turn gave away my old set to someone just starting out like I had last year. Yes, I bought the set, but watching someone have a true love and interest in growing themselves made me want to pay it forward and give to them in turn. I do a lot of volunteering as well, there are many ways to give back. Your time and attention to someone in need is invaluable!

Pay it forward in all aspects of your life, whether in-business, health, friendship, volunteering, being a good neighbor. We are here for more than ourselves. It’s a great-big world out there, be apart of it, you’ll be better all around for it. I call that being IN the green room.

My new job is completely remote, it’s a great team, and we learn everyday. We “live” our work-lives virtually in the cloud, but we are together in the production “green room”.

Career, Life Choices, Moving Forward

Idea Box…Being Present

Be here now. Being present, showing up, paying attention on a personal or work related phone call; Zoom, TEAMs, Chime, Blue Jeans, WebEx conference call where you’re camera is off and you’re muted, and “multitasking”. But are you really? Are you actually retaining the information while eating lunch, cooking dinner, surfing for a cool pair of shoes, or paying a bill? Let’s explore this a bit.

The TV is on with a show you’ve seen a hundred times. You get on your standard 9a call (whether it’s video or otherwise), and the coordinator goes over the agenda, then the meeting really begins. You don’t have to present anything on that particular day, soooooo you zone out, this content is as old as the TV show you have muted (with captions running in the background).

Change the dialog. The only way to do that is to listen, participate, oh and turn on you video camera at least while your asking a question, and especially if your pitching an idea, or presenting new material. It makes an impact. Don’t just literally show up and tune out, actively participate in the conversation, even if it is just in the chat box. You may find out an answer to a question that will help you later on.

This premise doesn’t stop at work, do you “multitask” at home while listening to your family while cooking dinner, Swiffering the floor, or considering where to place the decorations exactly? Did you remember that your spouse or significant other wouldn’t be home for dinner because they had an out-of-town client meeting that was going to run late?

Put down the skillet and spatula, turn off the TV, put down your phone, heck put it on silent mode! Stop surfing the net for that perfect pair of running shoes that are 80% off. Don’t answer every text immediately. It really can wait 5-20 minutes while you actually give the person your connected to the richly deserved time to connect in a real visceral way.

People are feeling more disconnected than ever since COVID. There’s a reason for that, and it’s not just the social distancing and masks. People have gotten so used to being separate, they’ve forgotten to be apart of something too.

This year, I’ve reconnected to many people through sports, but also just calling to say “hello, how are you?”. A simple act, but meaningful. Stringing small acts like that together can create a ripple in an isolated world. Take down the partition. Who cares if your hair and makeup aren’t perfect? It’s the authentic you, and your friends, family, colleagues, even people you haven’t met yet want YOU, the real you who is willing to give them 2 undivided minutes. You never know what the effect will be until you try. They and You deserve it.

If you’re not ready to get out into the full world yet, just pick up the phone, you don’t have to say anything else except “I was just thinking of you, and thought I’d call (instead of texting) to say hello.” What a statement! You’d hear the other person’s voice, tone, inflection, and I bet you’d raise their spirits, and yours as well too.

Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Leave a short message, don’t expect a response, not everyone else is ready / YET. Just take it easy on yourself, go moment by moment, then it’ll be a day, then the next, suddenly it’s months later, and you may have literally changed you life, by simply being present.

Career, Golf, Life Choices, Moving Forward

Playing Thru Failing

Your chair at the table is waiting for you!

Whether you are just learning something new, or a seasoned veteran in your career, a new hobby, or completely pivoting your life choices, or how you approach “where you want to go next”, there are some simple premises that remain steadfast.

My actual golf bag

I started to learn Golf this year, I love it! I love the process, I love practicing driving the floater balls into the lake or range, I love putting and chipping areas, and getting even a half hour of practice in any day of the week that I can. In golf, my driving, isn’t that great – YET. But, my short game is actually wayyy better than anyone expected it to be (I’m not bragging, I have practiced a lot). I love to practice both driving, and “the short game” though. I actually have a lesson later today. With my “new” used Callaway Rogue clubs. I keep practicing BOTH areas which have very different approaches. The key is the consistency of practicing both areas, and sticking with it, even if I’m hitting a Callaway, Titleist, or my new favorite Taylormade’s Kalea ball well on any given day, even if the day before I was doing very well, the next day I may not (and usually don’t) do as well.

This is true in ALL areas of life, career, athletics of any kind. I play softball with a team. For the first time in years I’m playing again (re-learning some things), and I’m also learning pickleball (I used to play tennis regularly, so pickleball has been quite intuitive). I also swim, and run regularly, and have now done tough mudders. I have I found a great affinity for mudders because the premise is everyone helping everyone get through the obstacles together. I love the diversity of each sport, the skill set is different for each and every one of them. I employ this thinking when it comes to my work life, and career.

I’ve been fortunate to have had a truly varied work life. I’ve taken jobs that I knew would be a stretch for my skill set, where there was a lot to learn, and did them. How? Practice, reading, being curious, asking questions even before I accepted the job. That also lets the new employer know that you wish to grow and learn, and move forward, and that you are forward thinking.

The point is I had to be willing to fail too. If I kept trying, I could be “wrong”, but I didn’t necessarily “fail”. But I did “fail”, I took big swings, and sometimes I got a yes, and many times I got a “no”, but I kept going. I didn’t see it as a game, it was my life career, there was definitely a strategy.

Where did I start? I listed everything that I’d be happy to do, also what I wouldn’t be happy doing, and most importantly what would I be ecstatic to do. Then, within that, I listed things that I could already knew, what would be a challenge, and even further, what I didn’t think was even possible for me to do. It’s a tough list. Then I listed the WHY I had these beliefs. I then wrote beside that negative list, a positive list of how I could achieve what I thought to be impossible. The amazing thing was that breaking it down into these categories and the solutions to get where I wanted to be made it seem at least possible.

After much introspection came self awareness, looking at time, level of effort, how my life would change, how it would change my family’s life, I came to a much smaller list. I took the impossible list and broke each section down even more into chunks to begin. Just starting the list was the hardest part. It’s like going to the gym to workout sometimes, you don’t want to go, but when you get there you’re good to go, and revved up. It’s true. I began researching, and reading everything I could. Took every free webinar I could on what I wanted to learn, paid for others when I was ready, and suddenly I found myself suggesting things to my bosses. Again, not all winners, but I was putting myself out there.

If you don’t try and fail then you’re not reaching high enough. I built a time based formula, let’s say 6 months to a year. 10% would be things that I knew I could succeed at instantly, 20% I knew I could succeed at with a specific amount of research and effort (whether hands on or not), the next 20% I wasn’t sure if I could succeed in 6 months, but knew I could within a year, the final 50% were super stretch goals that I knew without great time and effort that I probably wouldn’t succeed at at all in a year. You know what? I found that with the time based goal schedule, a set plan for time and effort, I could reasonably do while still giving my family their much deserved attention, I succeeded at about 98%.

Career goals were actually easier to attain than my physical goals. I’m not a scratch golfer – yet 🙂 but I’m working on it. I’ve done the tough mudders, half marathons, triathlons, bike-a-thons, and finished them all, but I didn’t finish “as quickly” as I wanted, but I finished. The point has been each time I’ve progressed. Athletically I’ve always been active. I got hurt earlier in this year, I recovered in about 4 or so weeks, and started out slowly to rebuild. Then, I needed surgery. It turned out to be far more extensive than the x-ray had shown, but 6 weeks later I was allowed to begin just walking again. The area “weeped” for weeks, I kept a bandage on it, I even went to the pool and just did a couple of very slow laps. In no time I was back at it.

Then, a few months ago, I was jumping out of the way of someone walking their dogs, I hopped into the street and rolled my ankle. Ok, that was annoying, I walked it off, so I thought. It felt ok, I iced, I put a wrap on it, and a few days later I went off in the early morning to play softball.

At bat

All was ok in the world for that moment. Then, I hit the ball, and ran hard to first base, there was a soft spot/hole and my right foot happened to hit it, I popped forward and double hopped on my left foot, getting to first base – I was safe! My right ankle was a bit angry at me, but ok, so I thought. The next batter made the last out of the inning, so I went to get my glove, and went into the field.

I played 2 more innings, but didn’t get up to bat again. I came in from making a play, and as I was walking in, my ankle had spoken. “You’re done”, and as I walked in – limping now, I said out loud “I’m done scratch me from the line-up”. I didn’t fail here, I listened to my body. I iced it for the remainder of the game from the dugout. I went home and iced it a lot more, put the Futuro ankle brace on it, had an ice-boot in the freezer (life saver), ok, I think it’ll be ok. Not so much.

Futuro Brace

The next day, I couldn’t walk on it without a brace at all. I luckily made an appointment with a orthopedist immediately, and he took an X-Ray. I had broken this ankle in August 2018, I have a plate and 6 screws in it. Luckily all were in place, all the screws were in place, it was all soft tissue damage, and my posterior tibial tendon was “angry”.

The doctor told me I needed a walking boot for 6 weeks at least. “Ugh Really?” Really?? And not just the shorty one, one that went up to my knee (to immobilize all of the muscles surrounding my ankle), I could get one there or order one on Amazon. Since getting a walking boot through the doctor would cost about 6x more than ordering a really good one from Amazon, I ordered through them, and it was delivered, I kid you not the next morning before 10am for no extra charge. The Aircast Airselect Walker boot (yes all the way up to my knee) became my new best friend. It truly did its job beautifully.

I went to softball games just to cheer, I went to the gym to do upper body work, I went to the pool (took it off and left it by the steps), and gently walked in the pool, I couldn’t full out swim, but when I did swim, I just dragged my legs. I did “cast” yoga, anything that I could do I did. 6 weeks did not go by quickly.

Then I was able to start wrapping my ankle again, so I walked around the house with just the wrap and good foot support. I finally went for a short walk for a couple weeks. I felt good, but I also ordered the Aryse IFAST Ankle Stabilizer Brace ankle support to fit IN a sneaker or shoe, and then they also have one that fits on the outside of my softball cleats the Aryse XFAST Exo Brace. Amazing, it’s all laced up and Ready To Go.

I’ve been playing softball, running and now swimming again (with the Nvorliy Ankle Brace for Swimming), no awkward kicks, and I’m still icing afterward, but I’m back in business. It sounds like a lot, but to restart and keep my ankle safe going forward, all necessary, and once it became routine, like anything else, it has become second nature, and I’m enjoying all my activities once again.

Again, I stress consistency, tenacity, taking decided chances, but also listening to your body, and stopping when you need to. Your body will tell you one way or the other. Listen to your body.

This does not just apply to sports, this applies to your work-life, and all life choices. If you give yourself the tools you need to do anything in life, you can accomplish it. Aside from reading, I watch YouTube videos for many things relating to my work (getting my CompTia Network+ certification), SMPTE2110 / AES67 Certifications, to golf tips. It all applies.

Never stop being curious, never stop trying. Put tasks into smaller attainable chunks, and build on that each day or week, whatever your schedule may be. Write is down. Write down your victories. Write down your failures, and what you’ve learned from them, and what you could do differently next time. Just keep trying until you get your win. No matter how big or little, just take it one step at a time, you are where you are at right now, just keep moving forward.