Learning something new, and my interview with Nora Borsare

18 months ago my daughter joined the school rowing team, then the club rowing team - and since then we have been at the local boathouse six days a week at least. Before that, I had never even been to this boathouse or seen any rowing of any kind (despite living my entire life along the Hudson River!). Fast forward to May of this year, when I signed up for an Adult Learn to Row program - mostly on a brief suggestion from my daughter that if I did, we could do the Row for the Cure together (this is a 'fun' race with costumes and such).

And that is how I found myself at my first practice wondering what had I gotten myself into. Even just getting the boat off the racks was eye opening to all of the unique ways rowing requires every muscle in ones body (lets not even talk about getting out of the boat!). I am WAY to competitive to not finish something, and knowing at the end of our six week session there would be a race, ~2000 meters, was all I needed to get learning quickly. The pic above shows my team in the race, none of us had ever raced before that day.

Having played team sports most of my life, I really enjoyed being part of a team - having to row so in sync with each other forces you to not just learn the sport - but each other. Lots of parallels to my daytime team sport - product management for IBM Z and LinuxONE. You have to learn when to power through, when to steady state, how to turn quickly, how to ride a wake.... all together. It was incredibly challenging, and incredibly fun - and that is how I found myself rowing again in the fall season. We are never too old to learn something new, never too old to make new friends, and never too old join a new team and race like mad down the Hudson River ;)

Nora Borsare , recently made a shift herself - taking on a new technical discipline as part of the IBM Z team. Going from performance testing to content development - quite a pivot, but she has jumped right into learning the work, the team and all the ways to create a great experience for our clients. My interview with her below.

What is your current role and why do you love it ? I just joined the IBM Z Content Design and Development organization, before that I was as a Holistic LSPR Performance Tester and a general factotum around IBM.? I love my role because everyday is different and a new adventure.

What is one thing you do daily to keep you on top of your game ? One thing I do daily to keep me at the top of my game is to have a hard stop with work at the end of the day and do something for me to disconnect.? I either go for a walk, work in my garden, quilt, read a book or watch a favorite show.? I think a key thing to remind yourself is that work is always going to be there so don’t overwork and remember that at the end of the day your overall well being is the most important thing.

Three words to describe the mainframe: widespread, reliable, cool.

If you could invite anyone in IT over for dinner, who would it be and why ? Oh boy what a question, so many interesting people in IT to want to talk to.?? I think I would go with a local to Poughkeepsie favorite, Frank De Gilio because I know at some point, I am going to end up laughing and who wouldn’t want a good laugh?

PS -- I even learned something new in this interview.... fac·to·tum: /fak?tōd?m/, noun, an employee who does all kinds of work.

You can join the IBM Z and LinuxONE Community to engage with others in working on the mainframe! Stay tuned as I feature many of the awesome women who make IBM Z and LinuxONE amazing (and who are already working on the next big thing)! Do you know an awesome woman working on the mainframe, maybe its you ? Send her my way !

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