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Women's Success Stories
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WENDY WALTER “Don’t expect to be given all the tools you need in order to accomplish something. Go do the exploration on your own, find the tutorials that you need, develop a relationship with a professional who may be able to help you along the way. Do these kinds of things so you get the support you need. Don’t expect it to be given to you.” |
Career Quick Look
| Salary: | $2500 - $15K per website project | Education: |
| Years in Field: | 1 year |
Multiple courses, Cañada College (digital media, 2D and 3D
animation, web design, and illustration) Art courses, Skyline College and the College of San Mateo B.S. Degree, University of Utah, dual major in architecture |
| City/State: | San Carlos, CA |
Getting Started: Wendy had two earlier careers before her recent transition into web design and 3D animation. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in architecture in the 1970’s, she got a job just out of college that assigned her responsibility for building out the top 15 floors of a 30-story office building in Houston. This job launched her into a career which included freelance and corporate architecture and interior architecture for companies such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America, and for a time she served as a design director in an architectural firm. She left architecture to raise her children, and then launched a second career when she wrote a curriculum – and then taught it – for a school art program. She loved teaching and working with children, but she found this position to be quite wearing and it did not offer the salary she wanted.
Wendy discovered that she could use her art and design skills in a new way when she happened to take a course in Illustrator at Cañada College – and then went on to win some contests using her new skills. This encouraged her to take more classes, and she gradually expanded her design and animation skills. For several months, she provided web and animation services on a pro bono or low-fee basis to build her professional portfolio. Six months ago, she began to charge for her services as a freelancer. One of Wendy’s goals is to continue to expand her freelance practice to include the development of e-learning courses for children, where she can combine her love of teaching and kids with the challenge of a complex project while retaining her own business.
Education: Wendy obtained a bachelor’s degree at the University of Utah, with a dual major in architecture and interior architecture. After college, she continued to take community college courses. “I’m truly an advocate of community college. I think everyone should take a class at their local community college at least once a year,” says Wendy. “It so enlivens and enriches your life, just to learn something new – you never know when those skills will be viable out in the workplace.”
The Illustrator class she took for a project she was working on prompted her to investigate the possibilities of digital art. She then continued taking courses at Cañada College in web design, illustration, and 2D and 3D animation, along with art classes at Skyline and the College of San Mateo. These courses gave her the knowledge and hands-on experience she needed to enter a freelance career as a web designer and animator. She also attributes her earlier bachelor’s degree program with helping her learn to write and communicate effectively, and develop other skills useful in the business world.
Wendy has found particular inspiration and guidance from her professors at Canada College, especially Dani Castillo, a professor who also does freelance web design. “She’s just so much fun, she’s a wonderful teacher.” Another professor, Paul Naas, has also provided sound advice and direction.
Greatest Professional Achievement: Although she has just a year as a freelancer, Wendy describes a project that was especially meaningful for her. She built a website for a Stanford master’s student in Education to teach English medical terms to the Spanish-speaking community. She assembled a team with specialists in video and animation and together they learned on the job as they designed a website with useful high tech features. Wendy found her previous experience managing architecture projects helpful as she led this project.
She’s also very proud of the work she did at the start of her career as an architect on the Marathon Oil Tower in Houston, a job which she feels really launched her. Even though she was fresh out of school and inexperienced, “I had to be fearless,” she says. “You just have to go and do, and if you fail, you learn,” says Wendy.
Barriers: Wendy encountered problems when she entered the architecture program as one of the few women in the course – and as a result she got called on in class more than the male students. Although this increased her anxiety at the time, it also prepared her for the work world. “I had been a quiet, polite little girl, but I learned how to stand up for myself.” Wendy has observed that things have changed for the better since then, although she notices that men still sometimes judge or question her competence until they see what she can do. “You need to come across as someone who can work well with people, but who is not afraid to state her opinions boldly and defend them as necessary,” she says.
Working with Men: Wendy advises women working in a male environment to “Remember that you’re a very different kind of person. Use those differences to your advantage. Use the ability that women typically have to multitask, work well with groups, keep groups on task, manage personnel – women definitely have the edge there. But you can’t pretend to be a man and do it well. You have to use your resources as a woman.” She suggests that women take a step back, look at who they are, what their strengths are, and try to figure out how to use them effectively.
Advice for Women: When Wendy made the transition from high school to her architecture program in college, she learned the value of relying on herself. She suddenly found herself in a highly unstructured environment where she had to solve problems without having all the tools at hand. “Don’t expect to be given all the tools you need in order to accomplish something,” she advises. “Don’t hold back. Go do the exploration on your own, find the tutorials that you need, develop a relationship with a professional who may be able to help you along the way, do these kinds of things so you get the support you need. Don’t expect it to be given to you.”
Wendy has learned a lot from taking on projects that seem impossible at first glance. “Be fearless, be absolutely fearless,” she advises women who are presented with a challenging opportunity. But she adds a cautionary note. Before Wendy takes on a new project that seems difficult or impossible, she makes sure she can put together a viable plan to get the job done – either alone or by collaborating with others. She’s philosophical about what happens then. “If I crash and burn, I learn from those mistakes.”
Typical Workday/Environment: Wendy manages her freelance business out of a home office. Typically, she has one or two initial meetings with each new client to determine needs; after that she stays in touch via e-mail or phone. She plans her schedule to hold phone meetings with clients during the morning hours and works through midday. In the afternoon, she spends time with her family, and then she goes back to work in the evening.
Since most of her work is at the computer, she also uses other Internet resources, such as conference calls, online whiteboards for sharing works-in-progress, and server space from which her clients can download resources. She uses many software tools in the course of her projects, including Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, PhotoShop, Maya (a 3D animation program), and PowerPoint. Since she mainly works at home, she wears comfortable clothing such as sweats. “I get to commute in my slippers,” she says, laughing.
Career Ladder: Wendy began to work as a freelance web designer quite recently, and only began charging for her web design services six months ago. Currently, she is charging $2500 for a typical website, but expects that the size and complexity of her projects will increase and result in charges from $5000 to $10,000 per site within approximately a year. She sees a variety of options ahead: staying as a freelancer and working with low- to mid-sized website projects valued at up to $15,000, running larger projects from inside companies on a salaried basis, or moving into the e-learning field. She feels she may be able to make a greater difference with the smaller projects or e-learning, but has taken a wait-and-see attitude as she builds her business.
Professional Associations: Although not yet a member of professional organizations in her new field, Wendy plans to explore the animators’ groups for networking as she continues to expand her web design business. “I have never gotten a job through a personnel department. I think that the best way to do it is through contacts, through meeting like-minded people,” she says.
Hobbies: When she is not working or studying, Wendy paints large oils (four to six feet in size!), and enjoys travel to Europe (especially Italy), hiking in national parks, and running.
 Copyright 2010 National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science | http://www.iwitts.com |