Dawn Skwersky is a Software Application Engineer at a prominent Internet company. She has a B.A. in Anthropology from Mount Holyoke and a M.S. in Film Production from Boston University. She is also deaf.

Here, Dawn talks about her remarkable career development and why deafness isn't a barrier when you're competent, skilled, and ready to learn.

What is your present job position/title?

Software Application Engineer.

Tell us about your job.

I implement Internet solutions. I am given web pages that are static and I add the functionality to make them dynamic. [Also,] I do client-side and server-side scripting.

What skills are required of your work?

Javascript, vbscript, ASP, SQL, HTML, DHTML, CSS, soon will be using XML and JAVA.

Tell us about your career development.

I was temping from 1994 to 1998. I started out doing word processing and data entry. I even had temp assignments labeling newspapers and stuffing envelopes. I eventually learned PowerPoint and that brought me into a "higher" temp salary bracket (ha ha). I took a course in C++ the fall of 1997. That same semester, I took a two-day class in HTML. That following February (1998) I landed my first permanent job as a graphics assistant at a business consulting firm. I was using Visio, Powerpoint, Photoshop, and Illustrator at that job.

[After that job] I immediately went on the Internet and looked for work. I found a job as a web designer/multimedia producer for a hospital close to home. I designed and redesigned web sites, created web templates, programmed web pages, authored CD-ROM projects using Director, created animations using Flash and Director, shot videos of different medical procedures and edited them using EditDV and Premiere. This was a very exciting job!

~ The most valuable experience there was authoring in Director. I had just learned Director the month I started this position, just three months later I became the main Lingo programmer for our CD-ROM project. I was there for 5 months. I now work at a software company as a software application engineer. My progression from HTML to software programming took me less than two years!

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job and why?

Creating a script that does the functions you want it to and SEEING it actually work.

What is the least rewarding aspect of your job and why?

I love it here. I don't think there is a least rewarding aspect of it yet.

As a woman, do you think you are treated differently in your industry? Why or why not?

I can't say that I have been treated differently at my current job. At my previous one, when I got my new job offer as a software application engineer, my boss mentioned to a co-worker that I was "trying to pass myself off as an engineer." During the time I was at that job, he could have let me develop my programming skills but he didn't think I was capable of it. I don't know if that was because I am a woman or because I am deaf or just because he didn't think to make me a more valuable employee.

Do you believe that the "glass ceiling" still exists for women? What obstacles or barriers does it consist of? How do you see the status of women in the workplace changing in the next five to ten years?

I think it is what you know that helps you go. If you have the [necessary] skills, you can get what you want or at least come close. I was able to get salary survey information online and talk with co-workers who were also interviewing for new jobs on what the offers were like. I had a ballpark figure to aim for because I knew the market. [As far as the] status of women in the workplace changing within the next five to ten years - I think that there will be more women and that childcare in the workplace will become more common."

~ What advice would you give other women entering your industry?

Don't stop learning. Employers like it when you can learn new technologies fast. Also, you want to keep up with the latest technologies to give yourself an edge.

Have you had mentors who have guided you in your career? Who are they and how did they aid you? Have you ever served as a mentor yourself?

At the place where I worked as webmaster/graphics manager, I had a mentor who introduced me to DHTML and Vbscript. He also gave me pointers on user interface design. We would meet once a week and I would learn something new each time. I would work on a project during the week and the following week he would look over my code and give me pointers/advice/solutions.

I never officially worked as a mentor on the job, but I give career advice to friends in the Deaf Community on preparing resumes, looking for work on the Internet, and interview tips.

Looking toward the future, where do you see your career going?

Up!

Are there other comments you would like to make about yourself, your career, women in the workplace, or other relevant issues? Please use this space to do so.

Deafness isn't a barrier if you can prove that you can do the job regardless of your hearing! My key selling point is that I learn new technologies fast and on demand. I was able to pick up Lingo programming fast enough to become the lead programmer on a CD-ROM in just a couple months. At my current job, I spent one month in training and that was enough to get me started in building solutions using Javascript, VBScript, ASP and SQL. I am still learning something new everyday.

~ Maybe my deafness prevents me from actually experiencing things that represent the "glass ceiling." There is a deaf comedian, Kathy Buckley in California, who was injured in an accident and the doctors said she would never walk again. However, when it was time to leave the hospital, she got up and walked. She says that she never heard the doctor when they said she was never going to walk again.