Hello! We’re thrilled to introduce you to Tami Lau, Salesforce MVP and Senior Salesforce Engineer at Presence Product Group! As well as being such a great advocate for women in technology (she also coaches for our friends at Rad Women Code), Tami is co-lead for the Oakland Trailblazer community group and has been working really hard on her #JourneyToCTA.
Tami lives in California in the Bay Area, and she’s been working on the Salesforce platform since 2012, when she “jumped in the deep end as an admin and fell in love”. Tami had been a Raiser’s Edge and Convio admin for several years and she doesn’t have a “traditional” tech background. She was an Environmental Sciences major in college; and worked almost exclusively for government and non-profits. Tami was also a National Park Service ranger for a year and has a deep love for parks, nature and the outdoors.
” I’m as surprised as anyone to find myself in a tech job right now!” - Tami Lau
Tell us how you heard about Ladies Be Architects?
“I heard about Ladies Be Architects from a fellow Women in Tech Developers member (thanks Kate Vickery!). I was immediately intrigued – I had heard about CTAs (Certified Technical Architects) and there was such an air of mystery around them that I wanted to find out more.”
What feelings did Ladies Be Architects inspire within you?
“It has been such an inspiration! Ladies Be Architects was the first place I encountered actual people, and many women, who were on the architect path, and the first time I felt like perhaps this was something I was interested in and capable of doing.”
Tell us why the architect journey is important to you...
“This journey is important to me because it will improve my skills to be a better Salesforce admin, developer, and architect, but also because it’s a way to show others that not all architects (and developers) look like the stereotype.”
What’s the next step for you on your Journey to CTA?
“I achieved Application Architect (the “left side of the pyramid”) last year. The next step for me is to work on System Architect and the optional exams – I just passed Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer, and am working on Community Cloud Consultant next.
“My main concern right now is whether preparing for and doing the board review is realistic while working at a non-profit (and having had only non-profit experience). But one step at a time…still plenty to tackle before I need to think about that!”
Interesting……well, if you share the same concerns as Tami, take a look at this slide deck from the Connected Non Profit conference in London, where Ladies Be Architects addresses architectural thinking in a non-profit context! Keep going girls – looking forward to catching up with you a little further down the line Tami :0)
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