According to a study by Catalyst about the gender divide in technology-intensive industries, “Women coming out of business schools, looking to advance their careers, are looking elsewhere.” Anna Beninger, the report’s author, says women see these testosterone-fueled tech cultures “and they run screaming”. But not UMass Boston College of Management MBA grad, Jing Jiang (’12).

“I strongly believe having female mentors was very helpful.”

Jing shares, “I didn’t let it stop me was because I was able to grow tremendously and develop my skill set, knowledge, and confidence over the past two years working at Localytics. I strongly believe having mentors was very helpful.”

Jing is now the Business Analyst at BlackDuck Software, reporting directly to Ed Loftus, the VP of Sales and Marketing Operations. She helps Ed with all the in-depth analysis of business practices, business forecast and year over year business planning. She also monitors and tracks the ROI of sales and marketing performance based metrics and provides recommendations on ways to improve the processes.

“I really like my new role and the people here at BlackDuck. I’m looking forward to move my career to the next level,” Jing shared.

Jing began her professional career in tech at Localytics in 2013, introduced by Hacer Demiroers, who was Director of Operations at Localytics. We profiled Hacer’s rapid rise last year and it looks like Jing is on the same trajectory. A recruiter from BlackDuck Software reached out to Jing last October and the conversation went really well; she started there in December 2015.

“I graduated from UMASS with my MBA in May of 2013. Afterwards, I was trying to spend some time figuring out what to do. While working at Boomerangs, the second-hand boutique store that benefits AIDS work, Hacer reached out to me and mentioned the Sales Operations opportunity at Localytics, a tech start-up in Downtown Boston. Back then, the company only had under forty employees, including Sales, Marketing and Engineering. Since I was the only Operations person in the company, I was involved in a lot of different things across the departments; I hardly had a clear defined job description. For example, I was working with Finance on doing our monthly billings. But I was also involved with Marketing and setting up campaigns. At the same time, I worked with Sales Managers in running different performance reports, sales metrics and pipeline forecasts. Finally, I was the system administrator for both of our CRM and ERP systems. I can’t say I miss those days, although I was very fortunate to be able to join Localytics and experience its’ rapid growth in the past two years. The experience helped immensely by providing me with opportunities to quickly learn the business while also preparing me to expedite my career to the next level.”

“I strongly believe having female mentors is very helpful. Since I started [at Localytics], I have been constantly reaching out to other women who have an Operations background. I desperately try to learn from their experience and hear all of their valuable advice. That being said, knowing Hacer is definitely a plus. I knew Hacer since I started my MBA program as my college roommate and she has been someone I’ve looked up to since. Watching her start her Operations career in the similar position as I was and to see where she is today, is very motivating. Overall, my experience at Localytics was very rewarding, I was able to learn a lot while being surrounded by all the inspiring and lovable people,” Jing explained after having been asked what the key to her success was at Localytics.

Jing was at Localytics for two and one-half years. As the company grew, so did Jing. She was promoted into a more well defined role of Senior Salesforce Analyst: “My job involves interacting with the Salesforce system in a daily basis, such as maintaining, establishing and implementing best practices in our CRM system environment, and capturing the organization process and business requirements and configuring them into systematic process in Salesforce platform.”

When Jing was asked if she agreed with Anna Beninger, she replied: “Female graduates see these testosterone-fueled tech cultures, and they run screaming.”

“Reading Anna Beninger’s Catalyst research report on “High Potentials in Tech-Intensive Industries: The Gender Divide in Business Roles” really pointed out some shockingly sad facts. I guess the reason I didn’t let it stop me was because I was able to grow tremendously and develop my skill set, knowledge and confidence over the past two years working at Localytics. In addition, I strongly believe having female mentors was very helpful.”

When Jing was asked to share her career advice for her colleagues, she replied with: “It’s important to leverage the resources that are available and grab a hold of all the opportunities present. I was fortunate to be involved in so many aspects of the company, that I was able to get better insight into our company from a big picture perspective. I feel like if you want to grow yourself, don’t limit yourself to only your job description. Surround yourself with great people who can help you achieve your goals, and always keep yourself motivated.

Jing has in fact been following the VDC; Jing illustrates: “When I was in school, I still remember the first day I walked into the VDC area, where it was so far advanced and refreshing. I felt like I entered into a modem world, which is so different than any other buildings from UMass Boston back then. I was interested in trying to find out more about it and I am very happy to know that UMass has such place to support people who are seeking to create their own opportunities.”

Students like Jing in Boston have an advantage most others elsewhere don’t. At their doorstep are hundreds of new ventures like BlackDuck creating thousands of exciting jobs for entrepreneurial students from diverse majors. Join your UMass peers on a fast-track to career success.