Lily Louie is a computer specialist with the Army Material Command (AMC), Rock Island Arsenal, a weapons manufacturing Arsenal located in Rock Island, Illinois, on a 946-acre island in the Mississippi River. She works with a team of UNIX systems administrators in the Customer Support Division within Information Technology, providing UNIX technical support to the local user community.
Lily has a B.S. in mathematics with an emphasis in probability/statistics from the University of Arizona. "I learned about the job opportunity through an AMC Recruiter at a job fair held at Arizona State University, Spring of 1995," she recalls. "My first two years were with the AMC Career Intern Program , which consists of formal training and on-the-job training."
As part of the AMC Career Training Program, Lily took courses in management and leadership, programming, networking, and other computer courses. She provides a list of courses that demonstrates the wide range of areas she is expected to have knowledge of.
"I knew I wanted to be stretched and challenged in my job," she continues. "When this door of opportunity opened, I accepted it. I enjoy what I do and with technology changing everyday, the learning never ends. According to many job studies, computer specialist positions are expected to increase by over 100% yearly. I think the relocation aspect was the most difficult for me. I can still do without the Midwestern winters, coming from a desert climate area and all."
Her mathematics background helps on some aspects of the job. "Mathematics is used (indirectly) everyday in terms of problem-solving within our directorate," she explains. "I use mathematics when calculating disk space requirements for various software packages to be installed on the minicomputers, determining network addresses, programming which involves math calculations such as generating random number/letter tables, etc. "
Lily finds that it is a challenge to stay current in the computer industry, but not impossible. "The more well-rounded one is in computer technology, the better. It helps to be well-grounded in various operating systems, say UNIX, Windows NT, Windows 95, DOS, and what not. Subscribe to computing magazines if possible to fill in the gaps. Having several programming languages under your belt is always a plus. Object-oriented languages are also really hot including Visual Basic, Delphi, C++. Know some SQL. Get a clue with networking. Browse computing journals for the latest and greatest in the computing industry. The industry is growing by leaps and bounds, so stay up to speed."
Her advice, particularly to women entering a career, is to "know yourself, your abilities and your limits; communicate well; learn how to work within a team; and be willing to be stretch. The learning curve is not deep, but it is long."
"To me, a job with the government seems more stable than a job in the private industry. Companies are going belly-up or merging everyday due to greater competition or lack of know-how or for whatever reason. In that aspect the government seems more stable. Mobility in the government is also ideal. One can compete for promotions whenever slots are available and one feels qualified."
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