Jamrah Binti Othman is the VP of Operation at CSP Global Technologies, she joined the company in 2011 starting from an executive level and now is the VP of Operation. The management treats business operation as the “heart” of the company, Jamrah has to ensure the company is always at a healthy level in terms of financial and current business situation.

She graduated from University Putra Malaysia with early education in Human Resources Development and continued with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication. Jamrah also took accounting courses during her employment to take up a bigger portfolio. 

CSP Global is the door for her to enter the Tech Industry, after 11 years she is still enjoying the business operations and working style in this industry. This ever-changing Tech World opens her eyes and mindset and gives her excitement to grow and keep learning all the time.

#1 What is the interesting part you found in the Tech Industry?

The Tech Industry has changed our lifestyle, for example, we can easily buy food or anything online compared to 10 years ago. Works become faster and easier to reduce waste resources with used items (all can be found online). The Internet has become a necessity in our life, everything turns digital. We got the news faster, we communicated with people on social media, and it made the world distance closer.

I personally love cutting-edge technology products. It is not only for entertainment, but it helps to improve the environment and makes our life more convenient. I can’t imagine without technology how we are going to survive in this pandemic.

Frankly, I don’t really face a big challenge throughout my career journey. Even now I’m in the IT company, but my scope of work is on the operation part and it’s more on the management side. The biggest challenge is that I have to learn from A to Z on the products and the solutions that the company brings. I came from a different educational background, hence the technical terminology is a bit tough for me, but I never give up and feel excited to learn new things. For me, as long as we have patience in doing things, everything is possible. 

Being a mother is not a reason to stop me from being a career woman, as long as I understand the priority of every task and manage it well. I have three principles to manage both career and family:

1. Make myself prepared at any time

I try my best to avoid doing things at the last minute.  This is important because we don’t know if any emergency will happen. 

2. Make things simple

My husband and I have a long-distance relationship, it makes it tough for me as a mother and to act as a father at the same time. It could be stressful, but stress is not good, in fact, it will make things worse. Therefore, I always have to make things simple, flexible, and casual, then the tasks will go smoothly. 

3. Manage my time

Pre-schedule my day-to-day routine. I have a “to-do list” and I follow it as a plan. I will avoid discussing or thinking unnecessarily, always do things following my time frame and not dragging it. 

1. Sharpen communication skills

Talking with men is different from talking with women. Hence, as a leader, we need to have good communication skills, mindset, and work with a flexible style.

2. Respect every gender’s needs 

Be a good coordinator and sensitive with the environment, this will bring us to the golds that we want to be.

3. Be versatile

I like to work in a versatile environment. Do not work emotionally, nor be arrogant and bossy. Always try to avoid autocratic leadership.

4. Be brave and knowledgeable

To be a leader, we have to be able to speak out about new ideas, evolution, and solutions. 

But do remember this, “If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream.”

#5 What do you think about women in the Tech Industry?

For me, women in the Tech Industry are absolutely gorgeous. Because as we can see, after all these years, the Tech Industry has been dominated by men. It’s not an easy journey for women to get into this industry.

The Tech Industry is not like the construction or marine industry that needs to be tough in terms of physical, so the Tech Industry should not be dominated by one gender. To limit a career just by their gender is just a typically old mindset that we need to throw away. The Tech World opportunity is open for all. We need to change the mindset that the Tech Industry is stereotyped only for men.

#6 What do you wish for women in the Tech Industry?

From the study, women make up 28.8% of the Tech workforce, a steady increase from the past few years. I think this is a good sign for women in this industry, so they won’t be too afraid to explore their abilities. I hope many women will be open-minded and could embrace their journey in this industry. The Tech Industry is wide, rapid, and keeps changing. They open a big door and give many career opportunities. Don’t be scared to try to move from your comfort zone.