Eileen Anderson is a developer with Rulesware, based in Los Angeles. She first encountered Rulesware while working as a Business Analyst for another company and was so impressed that she knew she wanted to be part of the team. We chatted with Eileen about what it’s like to be a woman in tech, and what it’s like to work at Rulesware.

RW: Hi Eileen—you’re a developer turned Business Analyst turned developer, and you’re a woman! We’d love to hear about how you chose Rulesware, and how your career went down the path it did.

EA: That’s right. I started out as a developer with a large company and after some time decided to try my hand as a BA. When I encountered Rulesware, everyone seemed so welcoming, friendly and down to earth. I realized I really missed development work, so I went to Rulesware and told them I really wanted to join their team and do more work around Pega and development. I wanted to be a technical person again, and they were wonderful—they brought me on board and helped me ease back into that technical role with some great training and support. My second project was actually a 5-month job in Hawaii—that was a dream project. It sealed the deal and I knew I’d made the right call (laughs).

RW: Between the business side and the technical side, which do you prefer, and why?

EA: I love the technical side, though I wish we had more women. The reason I prefer the technical side is I just find it so rewarding to see changes you make instantly take effect. It’s fun to do the debugging and to figure out what’s wrong with things and problem solve in such a practical way.

RW: Why do you say you wish more women were attracted to technical careers?

EA: I think diversity is great, it’s nice to have a mix of both men and women. Women bring something unique to technical roles.  And I’d say that here at Rulesware we’re very welcoming to women. It can be intimidating to start a new project, but once you start to know people it’s better.  If I had a message for women thinking of a technical career, I’d say try it out. If you’re curious, take a class and see what you think. Don’t be intimidated, you shouldn’t be. Anyone can do it with the proper training and support like we have at Rulesware. It’s a lot of fun.

RW: Would you say working for Rulesware is different than working for a larger company, and if so, how?

EA: Yeah, it’s unique here. It’s a great atmosphere—everyone helps each other, we go for lunch together, people make an effort to introduce themselves, you really don’t feel like you’re just a number. It’s been such a fun environment for me.  I love being in the war room and working together with everyone, I love the travel and the mix of working from home sometimes.

Another thing I love about Rulesware is that we can freely talk to the executives. They’re really approachable. What you say matters and you can reach people anytime, it’s definitely an open door policy. Some larger places say they have atmosphere, but here it’s really the case. And our El Salvador team, compared to other offshore teams, is very open and easy to communicate with. I can just jump on Skype and ping people for whatever I need. Everyone wants to help and does a great job. I am looking forward to a great future here.

Thanks for chatting with us Eileen, and best of luck in the future!