Welcoming Cynthia Lee to the Victorian Branch Executive Committee in 2017

This week we introduce to you Cynthia Lee, incoming Branch Executive Committee (BEC) member for 2017. Cynthia is one of five women who will be representing the ACS Victoria Branch next year.

Cynthia Lee – Manager, Technology Strategy & Architecture at Deloitte Consulting

Please provide a brief rundown of your career & current role.
I am a Manager at Deloitte Consulting in the Technology Strategy & Architecture (TS&A) practice. I started with Deloitte as a summer vacationer over 7 years ago and have worked on a large range of projects including the assessment and resolution of telephony issues, test management, large scale transformations, complex demerger transitions and IT strategy reviews. IT operating models are my chosen field of specialisation within IT management consulting.

Why do you love working in IT?
I love the fact that IT is so pervasive that no matter what you do in IT, it has an impact on the business and on people’s lives. This may be on an employee’s everyday working life, or the customers, or even customers’ customers. I love IT management consulting in particular in that my work is project-based. Every project is like a new job with a different team, based in a different office location, solving different problems and working with different client members. I am always learning, challenged and growing. I rarely have the chance to get bored.

Why did you decide to nominate for the ACS Victoria BEC?
I have been working with the ACS as one of the unofficial Deloitte liaisons for some time now. In that time, I have found that communication of ACS’s value is one of the biggest blockers to membership sign-up, retention and participation. I applied so that I could make a bigger impact as a BEC member.

What do you see are the challenges for the sector? And how do you wish to contribute to resolving them?
As in every sector in our society, diversity and inclusion is a continuous journey of improvement and affects everyone from a personal, social and commercial perspective. Diversity does not just refer to gender equality but also to LGBTI, age, race, educational background, cultural background, and the many other ways in which we label ourselves. Until our society changes our biases, groups of people, including girls, will continue to self-select themselves out of STEM and IT studies. These biases are formed at a young age so we need to start there.

Do you have any inspiring words of wisdom for those looking into a career in IT?
IT is fast paced and always evolving. There are so many opportunities out there that you can create the career you want.