Every seat was occupied at the fourth annual Women in Technology panel discussion held during the PASS 2006 Community Summit. Over 130  enthusiastic participants enjoyed lunch and informal networking and heard speakers share their ideas on the topic “Stepping Up, Showing the Way: Developing Women as Leaders in IT.”

Kathi Kellenberger, PASS Program Committee member and frequent contributor to SQLServerCentral.com chaired the event. The panel included Erin Welker, Business Intelligence Practice Manager at Scalability Experts, Jana Hocker a Product Management Leader at Intuit, Jaime McGeathy, SQL Server Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services and Kalen Delaney, consultant and trainer with Solid Quality Learning and author of numerous articles and books on SQL Server.

The panelists touched on a number factors affecting women’s ability to advance in tech careers. They all spoke of the need for women to step up and ask for what they want. “Speak up, share your opinions” advised Welker. “If you don’t speak up, you’re not going to get noticed.”

Hocker suggested that women “need to have courage” at work. “We tend to think if we just do good work, we’ll be rewarded” she observed. “We need to show senior management we want to be involved, rather than wait for opportunities to be presented to us.”

McGeathy observed that to increase the number of IT leaders who are women, we need to increase the number of women working in tech. “IT has an image problem” she remarked. “It can be exclusionary and intimidating” which can prevent women from entering the field. “We need to change the perception of the IT worker” she said. McGeathy encouraged the participants to give presentations, get involved in local schools and write blogs as ways to interest girls and women in technology careers.

“I grew up thinking I could do anything I wanted to do” remarked Delaney. She explained how her mother, a university calculus professor, taught her to have confidence in herself. Delaney described her efforts to teach her own children that seeing women in professional and leadership positions should not be unusual. “We need to set an example, especially for our children” she said. “Setting an example is the best kind of leadership.”

Delaney commented that while she enjoyed participating in the event, she hoped for a day when it would not be necessary to have such gatherings. “Having a ‘women in technology’ group should be as strange as a group for ‘brunettes in technology’” she said.

Panelists commented on the importance of professional development in advancing in tech careers. “Find a mentor” advised Welker. She remarked on the role “soft skills” play in succeeding in management.

Hocker agreed, commenting that “technical people need to know how to speak to business leaders.” She observed that IT workers “don’t know how to translate technical issues to the business leaders in a way they can understand. Tailor what you are saying to your audience and it will lead to success” she advised.

A lively question and answer period followed the panelists’ remarks. Participants brought up a range of issues facing women working in IT, including the challenges of being a working mother, maternity leave, the importance of advanced degrees and the obstacles to effective communication at work.