Role Model Videos: Career Options for Women -- E-Commerce

The “Career Options for Women: Emerging Opportunities” videos introduce your female students to high-wage careers in traditionally male-dominated occupations. Each program reveals the personal experiences and insights of successful women in technology and trades occupations, and sends the all-important message to women and girls that the sky is the limit!

E-Commerce

This 24 minute video features profiles of three women who have embarked on careers in the e-commerce industry.

• Kerry Sizer, a programmer who has helped shape her company’s online business model
• Sheila Zoghaib, a webmaster who administers multimedia learning websites
• Barbara-Judith Caron, a web consultant tasked with staying on top of current trends and tastes in website design

Additional information from co-workers and supervisors supplements each job profile.

Developed in 2006, the Career Options for Women series is an outstanding resource for schools wanting to attract women and girls to science, technology and trades.

Note: These videos are interspersed with Canadian salary and labor statistics, which are similar to the numbers in the United States. As there is a no-return policy on these publications, please make sure to look at the preview video clip for the DVD(s) you are ordering.

Kerry -- Programmer

3Programming was not high on Kerry Sizer’s list of to do’s when she first began her career search. However, as she worked her way through a multitude of computer programming courses, she learned to appreciate the finesse and creativity the job offers.

Essentially, programming is a series of commands written to make a certain action occur. Because there are several different programming languages, programmers generally choose a specialty.

Like many e-businesses, the company Kerry works for has focused its business model to meet the changing opportunities in e-commerce. Together, they’re programmed for success! “The people I work with are the main reason I like my job. Also, there’s a great feeling of accomplishment when you work hard for a project and it’s finally done.”

E-commerce is an important aspect of the Internet as it allows people to exchanges goods and services immediately with no barriers of time or distance. Any time of the day or night you can go online and buy just about anything you want.

How much programmers get paid depends on where they work. Larger firms pay higher salaries, but smaller firms offer more responsibilities and faster promotions. In the future Kerry wants to get into project management and become a team leader.

Sheila -- Webmaster

Sheila Zoghaib, a webmaster for a company called GCL Multimedia creates and maintains multimedia learning websites for a variety of clientele. As the webmaster, Sheila builds the structure of a website and fills in the written, interactive and graphic content. She also maintains all the sites she builds.

Sheila’s work is very detail oriented and her end product is right up there on the world wide web for all to see. Getting it right takes a strong mix of education, experience and creativity. “Other women would like this job because they can use their sense of creativity and work with the public.”

Sheila has always been inspired by computer science. After taking a programming course, she landed her current job. Skills needed to be a webmaster include a strong knowledge of HTML and Java programming along with training in graphic arts. Sheila plans to stay in her field for a long time because she likes the fast pace of technology. It’s always a challenge to stay on the cutting edge.

Barbara-Judith -- Web Consultant

Barbara-Judith Caron's job didn't exist when she was in high school. That's how new it is. She is a web consultant specializing in the design of commercial Internet sites.

What keeps Barbara-Judith interested is the fact that it's constantly moving and changing. That's an aspect of e-commerce that Barbara-Judith finds different from other industries. It's evolving so fast that there's been no time to establish a hierarchy in the workplace.

One of the things that Barbara-Judith loves best about her chosen field is that it's so new, and technology is always changing. “If you can keep up with the technological advances and keep your skills up to date, then this field is wide open for anyone who's interested.”

Barbara-Judith doesn't feel that gender is an issue with the Internet in general. In her case, since most of her work is done through the Internet, by the time she meets a client, she's already proven her abilities.

Barbara-Judith’s greatest challenges are not only to keep up with the technological advances, but also to keep up with current trends and tastes in web site designs. It also helps to know something about consumer psychology.