Christine Vidmar
Name: Christine Vidmar
Current Job: Project Manager / Sr. Business Analyst at Avantia
Favorite restaurant in town? We typically don't go out to eat too much locally, as I love to cook and we travel quite often for sport and fun. When we are in town, we most enjoy all the local breweries with friends, such as Noble Beast, Bookhouse Brewing and my local favorite - Cleveland Brewery.
Favorite thing about Cleveland? The 'real' personalities, the diversity, and the kindness and generosity of others, especially in this current pandemic situation. I love walking or cycling to downtown, visiting neighborhoods in Ohio City, Tremont, and exploring coffee shops and breweries. I'm an avid walker/hiker, so I typically put many miles on foot around downtown, Metroparks, and around my awesome Euclid neighborhood and local parks.
Q: Can you tell us about what Microsoft TEALS is and why you joined it? TEALS bridges the gap between high schools who do not have Computer Science programs (or teachers to teach it) and tech professionals who are motivated to give back and help students get exposed to computer science. Initially I heard about TEALS through a friend's son who was instrumental in bringing Computer Science AP classes to a Detroit high school. I was intrigued and wondered why we couldn't implement this at my kids’ high school, which didn't have a program (like many others locally). I pitched it to Villa Angela-St. Joseph, they applied and were accepted into TEALS. I initially was unsure of volunteering myself as my career-focus is now on the business side, and I was out of the loop on the technical side. I took the plunge and it's been a great experience. My passion and a longer story were shared in an article I wrote for LinkedIn here. The program has been successful at VASJ, and they are offering two CS classes in their curriculum next year.
Q: Christine, you took a break from working for over 10 years. How did you prepare for the transition back to the workplace? My degree and early career path were CS related and technical - mainly consulting. When I left work to raise kids, I knew I wanted to return to the workforce, but like many women, didn't know how it would happen and my confidence was low. Many things fell into place organically. Through my volunteering and cultural involvement, I initially worked in the local office of the Slovenian Consulate General, a diplomatic mission. Those years really didn’t align with my initial career path, but truly gave me confidence in knowing my skills could be applied in many industries. Then out of the blue, Jennie Zamberlan (Avantia, Inc. CEO who I spent most of my initial consulting career with) found me on LinkedIn. My re-entry into IT consulting with Avantia was exactly what I needed and wanted. I always loved the change involved with consulting and now I'm on the business side- managing projects, providing requirements analysis and designing software solutions in a wide variety of industries.
Q: How are you adjusting to the quarantine? Professionally, I've never been busier. I'm extremely fortunate and grateful that the projects I'm involved with are moving forward and we just received a signed agreement on a new one that I was involved in proposing. I've worked remotely before and I'm realizing again, how productive and successful it can be. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and have found new ways to make connections with coworkers and clients. Personally, it's been a bit rough. I was the caregiver for my husband, who successfully recovered from COVID-19. We also have two daughters who are seniors this year - graduating high school and college. It's been disappointing thinking about missed experiences and our college kids' living arrangements and internships have unexpectedly been upended. They have rolled with it and will learn from these difficulties. On the other hand, we are fortunate to live in a friendly walkable Euclid neighborhood near the lake. We've been able to meet neighbors and friends outside with social distancing, take walks and go to parks often. There are truly positive things that have come out of these strange times.
Q: You work as a project manager at Avantia, what does Avantia do and what does your role entail? Avantia, Inc. is a local software development consultancy. We build high-quality IT solutions tailored to client-specific needs, using the latest technologies. My work pivots between business analysis and project management, spanning many industries – lately healthcare and manufacturing. I meet with clients to determine scope and functional requirements. I quite often document current state and then produce visual communication tools (such as wireframes) to move towards product design, then manage projects through the software development life cycle. I am the liaison between the client stakeholders and our technical team to move projects forward, keep them on track, and make sure requirements are met. I thoroughly enjoy the relationships with both the client and our internal tech team... and digging into details with them.
Q: How do we get more women involved in technology in Cleveland? Great question. The numbers haven't improved over the last couple of decades. I see a couple of avenues. Many women with technical acumen may benefit from going the bootcamp route towards being a developer – this can be a quick re-entry into the workforce or a career change. Also, women are often great communicators, organizers, planners, and multi-taskers – which matches skills used in business analysis and project management. These positions can be an ideal career change and are a key role in any successful IT project. Ideally, exposing female students to Computer Science (through a program like TEALS) while they are young, normalizes the path and gives them a firm basis to decide if a further education path in Information Technology fits their skills. TEALS had 35% female/minority students in the 2019-2020 school year – in my mind, this is huge and wonderful. I would encourage any tech professional reading this to consider volunteering for the upcoming school year.