How to be a role model
15 April 2017
Being a role model leads to a sense of responsibility and the desire to be perfect. Unfortunately reality is not perfect. … More How to be a role model
Don’t worry about the best-before-date
28 October 2021
While going through the weeklies, my eye fell on a column by Liesbeth Wytzes in EW, entitled ‘Don’t worry about the best-before date’. Liesbeth gets a phonecall from one of her children asking advice on the expiration date of a product. She answers that before 1991 we used our noses to determine if a product … More Don’t worry about the best-before-date
Keep your 6-16 year olds busy solving Bebra’s puzzles
9 May 2020
In the past months all schools were closed and all children had to work from home under guidance of their parents. This was a huge challenge for both parents and children. As a parent you are not trained to be a teacher… How do you keep your children busy? How do you avoid endless hours … More Keep your 6-16 year olds busy solving Bebra’s puzzles
A pledge for technical community empowerment
23 June 2019
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Politics does not solve any problems…
16 June 2018
Some years ago my eye was caught by an e-mail from the European enterprise architecture leader. The e-mail contained a request for an IT architect who could help with a critsit in Russia. I responded to the e-mail writing that not only am I a certified architect, specialised in performance engineering and infrastructure design but … More Politics does not solve any problems…
No talent for submission…
7 June 2018
Yesterday’s newspaper featured a story about the life and work of a female Dutch politician who had been active in the Dutch social Democrat party, Sonja van der Gaast – Bakker Schut. She was a convinced feminist and activist and knew how to motivate and activate her environment like no-one before…. However, the necrology said … More No talent for submission…
Outstanding!
5 November 2017
When I was just hired, the project most people in the Uithoorn laboratory in the Netherlands were working on was the development and maintenance of DOS. Yes that means Disk Operating Systems and no, it was not the Microsoft system that ran on early PC’s. It ran on medium-range IBM mainframes, big blue boxes in … More Outstanding!
How to be a role model part 3 – Father and daughter
5 November 2017
I have a phantastic coach, who helps me outline my goals and frame the ghosts from the past. She encouraged me to share my personal story in this blog to inspire young women to pursue a technical career and never to give up no matter what roadblocks turn up. In one of my previous blog … More How to be a role model part 3 – Father and daughter
How to be a role model – continued (1)
15 October 2017
In one week I received two requests to present to a group of technical professionals as a role model! One request came from my good friend Nnenna Elkins, one of the leaders of the Women in Technology initiative in IBM in the Nordics; the other request came from Paridhi Verma, the communication manager of our … More How to be a role model – continued (1)
The pride
30 July 2017
Many years ago, I guess it must have been around 2004, when we still used to organise large kick-off events at the start of the year I was invited to attend a kick-off event in the London Tower Thistle hotel next to Tower bridge. With two other technical women from my department I traveled from … More The pride
The no asshole rule
3 June 2017
Although you would expect civilized behavior to be the standard in Western European corporate life, it is amazing how often people end up in abusive and intimidating situations at work. I captured some of the unpleasant incidents that I personally experienced in short case studies. The students of the ‘Taking the stage’ curriculum that we … More The no asshole rule
IT needs Girl Power! 