Shayna Atkinson

Nicole Roy interviewed Shayna Atkinson, Consultant at Spherical Cow Group, in August, 2021.

Can you share a little bit about what it is that you do and what a typical day for you is like? 

I work with clients implementing solutions to address their IAM needs. Typically I’m coding and testing, writing documentation or configuring infrastructure. I spend a lot of time learning - vocabulary, a new tool, a new language, a new framework, etc. I also spend time with colleagues each week learning about the projects we’re working on together and getting the big picture.  In addition, I’m starting to take on part of the COmanage Training for I2. 

How has the pandemic affected your work/life?

I started working from home right before the pandemic hit, so it didn’t really affect my work life other than everyone came home to be with me! Both my daughters had to come home from college (one was a senior) and my husband, whose office is about an hour away, began working from home as well. We’ve managed to spread our workspaces out within our home, and my older daughter just moved into NYC in anticipation of her office opening up. 

Many people don’t plan to work in Identity and Access Management, but end up doing so through a circuitous career path. How did you end up in this field? What has kept you in the field?

My past work experience was with AT&T Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, doing software development. I worked on government projects and in wireless technologies. I took an extended break from computing after I had my second child. I missed it but didn’t know how to get back in. Fortunately, I spoke with my college friend Laura Paglione about this and was given the opportunity to first subcontract for Spherical Cow Group and then become a member of the Group. Scott Koranda took me under his wing and mentored me. I am still learning a lot, but I believe my past experience has helped me grasp the key concepts and now I am filling in the blanks. It’s also fun to be involved in open source projects, something completely opposite to the work I did in enterprise.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your position?

I get to work with and learn from truly brilliant people.

What is a pivotal moment in your career or a moment that you are proud of?

About a year ago,  I was just beginning a client project to move an on-premises system into the cloud. I did not know much about AWS or event-driven architecture. While we haven’t gone into production yet, the development environment has been running well. I am proud of all I’ve managed to learn and put together into a meaningful deployment.

Are there any projects and/or initiatives you’re working on currently that are especially interesting?

I am helping with a project to support the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases  with their Global Research Program in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are helping them with authentication and authorization based on federated identity and using COmanage Registry. It’s interesting to see the different ways that tools can be put together to help clients with diverse needs.

Where would you like to go with your career? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

At the moment I want to continue to learn as much as I can about this space. I hope to continue helping clients put together solutions that make it easy for them to get their own work done. 

Is there anything in particular about being a woman in this field that you’d like to comment on?

I have worked with many really smart women and men, and I’ve never personally felt like being a woman was a disadvantage in my chosen field. I know some others have had different experiences, and I realize I may not even know what I’m missing.  I am happy that we have this IAM-HER space to get to know all the talented women doing this work.

What is your biggest stress reliever?

I love to read. I am in a book club that started in 2003! The women in that group challenge me to read things I would have probably never picked up, and think critically about so many things that I glossed over earlier in life. Another stress reliever is eating my husband’s delicious gourmet cooking!

What’s a fun fact about you?

I sing (women’s) bass in a barbershop chorus (we have over 90 members) and quartet.