Moderator Jessica JnoBaptiste and panelists Maya Sheriff, Mena Castillo, and Edge Quintanilla at Trailblazers in Tech.
A lot of tech career events can tell you about the best programming language for certain situations or the fastest way to organize your tasks. Not every career event can give you real talk about impostor syndrome, networking, and the misconception that engineers are socially awkward.
The goal of the “Trailblazers in Tech” panel hosted by DPI’s Tech Talent Accelerator offered exactly that: a chance to be candid among friends.
Gary Nixon, assistant director of recruitment and alumni engagement, had started contacting panelists who were outside of DPI, then thought, “who better to join the panel than our own alumni who are now thriving in their tech careers?”
The panelists:
Mena Castillo, who finished her DPI training in May 2023 and is now a senior instructional designer at Oak Street Health
Edge Quintanilla, a senior software engineer at Discovery Education and the only panelist who was not a former trainee — though he has mentored trainees and spoken to students at PTTL’s ChiTech Discovery Days.
Maya Sheriff, who finished her training at DPI in August 2024 and is now an apprentice application developer at CIBC
Moderator Jessica JnoBaptiste, who finished in December 2024 and is now working at DPI as a junior sales enablement and solutions architect.
Here are some highlights from the conversation:
On impostor syndrome and self-doubt
Castillo recommended finding a good support system. “Just ask for help. Just tell someone you trust, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here.’”
A former third-grade teacher, she also talked about “the power of ‘yet,’” as in, “I don’t know this yet, but I will.”
To deal with self-doubt in the moment, Castillo said, “I try to sit with it and be OK with being uncomfortable and having an issue with it. And then thinking about: what can I learn? Is there something I can do to get over this, to be able to jump this hurdle?”
Quintanilla was more blunt: “Get over it. You got this.”
Sheriff recommended the book Atomic Habits and added: if you’re feeling overwhelmed by a project or task, take it in small steps. Ask for help. Find a mentor.
On professional settings where you may not look like or have the same background as other people in the room
“It definitely motivates me to find the subversive way to present yourself fully while also preserving who you are within the context of the company, but also within the context of who you are as a person,” Quintanilla said. “There’s always this context switch, this kind of duality. This kind of multiple, not identity, but spaces that we take up. It’s something you’re always conscious of and have to kind of step around. I think at the end of the day it’s a worthwhile challenge.”
Industry insights and strategies for success
“Know how you work and how you stay organized,” Castillo said. “It’s good to know how other people do it, but it won’t necessarily work for you.” Even if you feel like you’re not organized, she said, find strategies to help you stay as organized as you can. She herself uses pastel colors and stickers and recently learned to track tasks via Google Sheets.
Quintanilla recommended leaning on soft skills: critical thinking, empathy, self-advocacy. “All of those skills are all part of who you are and what you bring to the table, whatever industry you’re going out for.”
Sheriff encouraged networking, even once you’ve landed a job. She still has coffee chats with people throughout CIBC, whether or not they’re in her department.
How to keep current with new tech
The group recommended YouTube, podcasts, reddit, social media including reddit and LinkedIn. Sheriff sets notifications for topics of interest, and Castillo said, “I’m always looking for tutorials on, how do I make this better?”
How mentorship and/or networking has shaped their careers
Castillo said it was hard to put herself out there at first, but networking has helped her in interviews — even if any given interaction is not necessarily going to lead to a new job or promotion. It’s good practice talking to leadership and sometimes an opportunity to learn about different roles.
Since Quintanilla didn’t have a mentor when he was entering the business, he tries to fill that role for DPI trainees and others. “It definitely motivates me to be the mentor I didn’t have.”
Sheriff told a story about a coworker who went to a networking event; one of those people is now his manager. “You never know what relationships you’re going to build and where they’re going to get you.”
Why tech needs a workforce with a variety of backgrounds
Quintanilla said that when a team sets out to solve a problem, “the solution to that problem is informed by all these different perspectives … The more perspectives you have around the table, the better solutions you can come to.”
Building on that idea, Sheriff said that just as a product may have a range of people in its target market, a range of people should go into creating it.
“Tech is for humans,” Castillo said. “Being able to make that a more human experience depends on diverse opinions: having different opinions, having different perspectives. At the end of the day, it’s all about making it human-centered.”
Biggest misconceptions about tech
Quintanilla: “‘Engineers are socially awkward; they can’t hold a conversation.’” Quintanilla works at an education technology company, where a lot of the engineers are former teachers.
Castillo: “‘Soft skills are not necessary.’”
Sheriff: “‘You’re programming all the time.’” A lot of her time is spent in meetings and “just defining whatever you’re about to do.”
What excites you most about the future?
“The speed of zero to one is getting so much faster,” Quintanilla said. Developers can iterate faster, technology moves faster, ideally problems get solved faster.
Castillo is just excited about learning whatever comes her way. “What’s going to be next? Can I learn it? Please just give me everything.”
Sheriff’s big question: What comes after AI? “I don’t think we’re close to that yet,” she said, “but I’m just curious.”
Author: Jeanie Chung