On March 7, 2019, a most wonderful IGNITE event took place when we arrived at the Global HQ of ExtraHop. Two schools, The Downtown School and The Center School, combined forces for a Monorail ride downtown and a day appreciating the work of women focused on the job of cyber analytics.

On this eve of International Women’s Day (March 8), we met a wide range of professionals, from marketing and sales managers to data scientists and analysts, from finance experts and software engineers. We were given an overview of the company, experts in enterprise cyber analytics – with over 400 employees and 800 customers. We had a lesson in “Noise,” which included an economic impact analysis of the real and potential impact to companies when their data and enterprise are compromised from often-unforeseeable forces. Students could imagine the backend securities and systems that must be in place for the interfaces we enjoy to operate efficiently and securely. Big shout-out to Machine Learning and analytics!

The messages from ExtraHop’s panel of women were inspirational: Be Curious, Ask “So What?”,  Find Your Passion, Lean In …and Lean On Each Other. We were also treated to a preview of their new corporate video for International Women’s Day – with a strong theme supporting women in the work force: “The better the balance, the better the world.”

The thirteen students noted highlights that included: have an open mind, pursue a computer science field against the odds of being underrepresented (“no matter how daunting”), your personal journey and unique path may bring you to unexpected jobs – including tech – which you may not be thinking about now, build confidence in yourself, your skills and interests.

We had an opportunity to talk with a wide range of staff, some who had worked at ExtraHop for years and those who’d been there only a few months. Everyone loved their job! The ExtraHop recruiters were very encouraging to the students: “Come back some day and work for us!”

Thank you to the ExtraHop team who organized this amazing event, as well as the ExtraHoppers who joined us for lunch conversations! We appreciate your time and the good work you do for our students.

By Wyn Pottinger-Levy (The Center School) and Lupe Fisch (The Downtown School)

On March 7th, the young women from Tech Access Foundation took an impactful trip ExtraHop.  There they gained knowledge around cyber analytics, how ExtraHop leads the country in cyber security, and how they too can reach their goals and achieve in the STEM field. ExtraHop also hosted a diverse panel of women mentors who shared their individual journeys to landing “the job they didn’t know existed”.

During the lunch hour our scholars were reunited with a few mentors from the panel to enjoyed delicious pizza, snacks, and in-house entertainment (ping-pong, scooters, etc.).  After, they girl stopped to dive deep in reflecting about the inspirational words and advice given from panel.

THANK YOU ExtraHop for hosting TAF! Congratulations to the women that are leading by example for women in STEM!

By Shaunte N.J.,  Career Readiness PM at TAF