Hello! My name is Angie Ward and I am a cheerleader for streamlining business processes and finding easier and faster ways to get to the technical finish line. I have been working in the world of Information Technology and Data Engineering for over twenty years in various capacities, and I feel extremely lucky to have collaborated and created with some of the most brilliant minds on the planet.
I believe that our world changes fast and that we must change with it, so I have been using artificial intelligence as well as cutting-edge data mining and transformation techniques to help fill gaps in business processes and seek out and correct inefficiencies.
If you’ve ever heard the story about the truck that got stuck under the bridge and how everyone tried to get it unstuck using various methods but that it took a child saying, “just let the air out of the tires” to lower it enough to let it pass, then “Hi, I’m the child in that story!”
I feel that story is such a brilliant reflection of what I bring to the table. I have taught myself everything I know by DOING. I do not have the latest degree in Information Technology, and I am not a person fresh from university. What I DO bring to the table is an enthusiastic octopus disguised as a professional engineer who has colored outside the lines for twenty-plus years and found a way to make my mark in the world of IT.
I will follow the “rules,” but I am always going to ask why it’s a rule in the first place. I will meet deadlines, but I am always going to ask what else we can do for our end users in that same timeframe. I will deliver a beautiful product or project in the end, but I am always going to ask if we took it as far as it could go. There are good ways to do things and great ways to do things and my expertise is in finding the greatest way to do things.
In my spare time, I can be found streaming music, playing board games, reading voraciously, and petting my three dogs. I enjoy engaging in politics and volunteering for political campaigns, as well as supporting social issues like LGBTQIA rights, rights for unhoused people, immigration issues, and the rights of wrongly-imprisoned people. My philosophy on the world and in work is that we should always try to “Lead without Ego” and remain teachable because we never know when the next moment will give us our next big idea or new magical connection.