Women in IT Series: Beth Nikolayevsky

BethNikolayevsky Name:  Beth Poliakoff Nikolayevsky

Job Title:  Technology Delivery Executive

Company:  Currently working at Lender Processing Services (LPS).  Prior to LPS, I worked at Bank of America and Accenture

What does your company do?  LPS is a leading provider of mortgage and consumer loan processing services, mortgage settlement services, default solutions and loan performance analytics, as well as solutions for the real estate industry, capital markets investors and government offices.  I work in the Mortgage Origination Technology and Solutions group.

Yes, but what do you actually do?  I manage a portfolio of projects to ensure they are flawlessly executed on time, on budget, on schedule.  I oversee a team of technology project managers who run individual projects. We manage the technology components of the project (development, testing, architecture, etc) and partner with the client and business partners. On a day to day basis I could be doing anything from managing client expectations, delivering status of my portfolio to the organization, troubleshooting a high impact code issue, managing issues that were escalated to me or taking my team out to lunch for a job well done

Where did you go to college? What is your degree in?  The George Washington University.  BA in Computer Science with a minor in Business

Did you always want to work in IT?  I have always been stronger in math/sciences, and I began college on a mathematics major scholarship.  As a gift for getting the scholarship, my parents bought me the coolest laptop on the market.  That began my obsession with electronic gadgets – I would save my allowance to buy the latest and greatest of whatever was hot at the moment.  I didn’t love my math courses, and a friend joked that I should change my major to computer science since I was such a gadget junkie – I took his advice, and I never looked back!

What is your favorite part of the job?  Implementing a project.  To me, nothing is more rewarding than seeing something you have spent months working on and sweating over come to fruition. 

Describe the work environment at your company.  An environment where every employee, regardless of job rank, is expected to contribute and do the right thing

What qualities do you need to have to do your job?  Excellent communication, technology aptitude, leadership, organization and relationship building

What is (in your opinion) the biggest misconception about working in technology/IT?  That everyone in IT is introverted.  I would not be able to be successful at my job without human interaction 

 Any advice for students or professionals going into your field?  Find at least one strong mentor or role model in the IT field and leverage their experiences and advice.  I have been really lucky to find great mentors over my career that have given me guidance on current roles as well as insight into professional development opportunities.

Personal hobbies and/or interests:  Spending time with my husband and dog, traveling, road biking, hiking, and enjoying the Colorado outdoors

 

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