Women in tech: 3 influential women share their experiences since joining the Herd at Tucows
In recognition of Women’s History Month, three influential women in engineering at Tucows share a bit about their career progression and professional achievements since joining the Herd.
Gwendolyn Witecki — Manager, Engineering
When I started with Tucows I was a contractor. I was brought in on an assignment to help extend the Ting platform shortly after TMobile purchased Sprint, and Dish had made the commitment to become the third telecommunications carrier in the United States.
The agency I was working for at the time promised Tucows that they had someone up to the challenge, and in very short order I was pulled off of the project I had just started to pivot and join the Herd.
Almost as soon as I was onboarded I became fascinated with feature management. I read everything I could about it, worked to improve the interfaces we had to align the ideas of features and SOCs. There was one class in particular, the netcracker feature set class, that I read over and over again, even my spare time, because I was convinced that there had to be a more flexible way.
When the MSE project began, I was asked to join the team, despite still being a contractor, and having been contracted for Ting.
I spent my Winter holidays re-imagining how a flexible feature management system would work, how feature management could be done with as minimal coding time as possible, and that Christmas was when my initial idea for the catalog was born.
The first meeting where I pitched my idea to the other engineers, our principal engineer listened very patiently and asked very little. At the end, he told me “It sounds like you believe this will work, and I believe you.” It was enough to give me the space and time I needed to put together a proof of concept.
To demonstrate the potential of the idea, when we were asked to show that a single plan could be activated, I demonstrated that with only a few configuration changes that all five of the plans we wanted to go to market with were already ready to go.
After that demo, we fully committed to the catalog, and I have led the initiative passionately from that day, continuing to today, through all of its evolutions.
I was hired on full time after about a year and a half as a contractor and, despite later being promoted to an engineering manager overseeing two teams, I am still very much at heart the engineer who arrived here four years ago with a wide-eyed fascination for feature management.
I am so grateful to Tucows for giving me the opportunity to present my vision, and to spend so much time, energy and effort on expanding and delivering it. I love my work, and am excited to be at work every day.
Béatrice Pierrette — Manager, Engineering
Let me tell you about my journey with Wavelo.
Reflecting on my journey here fills me with immense pride. It all began in November 2020 when I joined the company, fresh off a relocation to Canada and emerging from a year and a half of maternity leave.
The prospect of returning to work filled me with a mix of excitement and anxiety. I struggled with self-doubt, fearing that my recent hiatus might obstruct my prospects, a concern that indeed proved to be a blocker with some hiring managers.
However, I found myself embraced by a remarkably understanding team, led by a manager who valued skills and expertise above all else. Their support provided the foundation I needed to thrive in my role.
Despite my initial reservations, I was entrusted with important responsibilities from the get-go, including leading a full accounting service implementation with technologies that were still a bit unfamiliar to me. But that trust? It pushed me to excel.
Those first six months were a whirlwind of challenges and small victories. As I successfully led various initiatives, my role evolved, and before I knew it, I was promoted to Team Lead. Suddenly, I was guiding and mentoring two senior Engineers, a clear sign that the company had full confidence in what I could bring to the table.
Fast forward to today, I am a proud Engineering Manager leading a diverse team of Engineers. Wavelo has been instrumental in my growth, nurturing my confidence and leadership skills.
I am determined to pay it forward by encouraging more women to explore opportunities in the tech world, just like Wavelo encouraged me.
Bindu Shivakumar — Manager, Engineering
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I wanted to take a moment to share a little piece of my journey here at Tucows.
I joined the herd back in 2022, filled with enthusiasm and a drive to make a difference. My journey began with the opportunity to lead a team of backend engineers in ISOS and to leverage my background in solution architecture and software development. I was briefed about the challenge ahead — the recent transition to a new underlying architecture and the project’s missed deadlines. But instead of feeling discouraged, I saw it as an opportunity to make a real difference.
I am humbled to have been part of the relentless teamwork and strategic planning in the months that followed. We managed to launch a beta version of our product within five months. And within a year, it was out there, in the wild — a testament to the dedication and hard work of everyone involved.
But our journey didn’t end there. Our next mission was to migrate legacy users to our new platform, a challenge the team tackled head-on. To date, we’ve successfully migrated over 31,000 customers and 36,000 subscriptions.
I’m continually awed by the talent, kindness, and open-mindedness that permeates every corner of Tucows. As we embark on our next adventure — delighting another client with our product — I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this remarkable journey.
Given that it’s Women’s History Month, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the incredible gender diversity within our team. It’s a rarity to find such equal representation of women in engineering teams, but I’m proud to say that my team of incredible software engineers reflects this balance.
Additionally, we have a strong representation of racial diversity, showcasing the richness of backgrounds and perspectives that contribute to our collective success. This inclusivity isn’t just a matter of chance; it’s a testament to the dedication of our talent teams who actively put forward an inclusive and diverse set of candidates. It aligns with the essence of Women’s History Month, highlighting not only the accomplishments of women throughout history but also our ongoing efforts towards equality and inclusivity in all domains.
About Tucows
We do a lot, but at our core, we’re in the business of keeping people connected and keeping the Internet open. We’re made up of three companies: Tucows Domains, Ting, and Wavelo.
As Tucows Domains, we help people find their place online as the world’s largest domain name wholesaler and the second-largest domain registrar globally.
As Ting Internet, we deliver high-speed fiber internet service to communities across the United States.
As Wavelo, we believe the future of telecom is simple. We build telecom billing and operations software for Mobile Virtual Network Operators and Fiber Internet Services.
#JoinTheHerd at https://www.tucows.com/careers/
