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A software engineer for 16 years, Linda Lovero-Waterhouse took a years-long hiatus from coding and then retrained and returned to her technology career. Today, she’s an ECS software development engineer enjoying the rewards of supporting critical national security programs.
We sat down with Linda to chat about her career path and learn more about her work.
Linda Lovero-Waterhouse
Software Development Engineer
Q. Could you tell us about the government missions you help to support at ECS?
A: At the highest level, the projects I work on help federal agencies keep U.S. citizens safe.
The team I’m on now supports a program that helps government officials assess security risks around events like music festivals, big auto races, or championship sporting events. It also helps state and local organizations get the federal cyber and physical security assistance they need to hold safe, secure events.
Before my current work, I was helping to support a government-approved log management solution that’s free for small organizations that don’t have a ton of cyber experience or resources. The solution gives those small organizations the ability to monitor their networks, know whether people are trying to hack them, and take steps to secure their networks. That work really mattered to me a lot. There are so many small state and local organizations that provide vital services for many people, and we help to protect them from bad actors.
Q. You made a big career change a few years ago. Could you describe why you took on that challenge and how you managed it?
A: Yes, I went back to software development work after 20 years away from it. I worked as a software engineer for 16 years after college. Then I stopped working outside the home for a time and started my own digital marketing business.
After years of that work, I began to miss working with a team. I had a friend who’d gone back to engineering after not working for a while. We were chatting when she said, ‘Programming is really fun.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah, it was fun. Should I try to do it again?’
I went to coding bootcamp to retrain and realized that development had changed a ton in 20 years. The things I’d worried about as a developer years ago nobody even thinks about today. And there are many different languages now. I was working in C back then. Now I’m working in Java and JavaScript.
Members of the ECS Seasoned Professionals and Young Professionals employee resource groups at a networking event held last fall in DC.
It was scary to come back to development work. But one of my favorite mottos is “feel the fear and do it anyway,” which is from a book by Susan Jeffers. So, I pushed ahead and ended up working here at ECS.
I work with smart people who know so much. I’m able to pick their brains and learn from them. It’s very rewarding, and I’m really happy I made the switch.
Q. Why did you get involved with the Seasoned Professionals employee resource group (ERG), and what has that been like?
A: I’m one of several officers for the Seasoned Professionals ERG, or Sea Pro. When ECS first started the ERG program, I learned about the concept and found myself believing in it. It’s important that groups that have traditionally not felt like they’ve had a voice have a support system.
Also, I was working mostly from home, and we’d recently moved from New Jersey to DC, so I didn’t know a lot of people here. I thought the ERG could be a way to meet more ECS coworkers and more people who live in this area, and it has.
Sea Pro has exposed me to parts of the company I wouldn’t otherwise know about. It’s fun going to company events and getting to know people working in different areas. It’s also important to get out of your little cocoon, know who the players are, and know other areas of the company. It’s a very interesting company.
Software Development Engineer Rachid Mrad, Linda, and Business Analyst Vicky Chin at a pickleball event sponsored by the Seasoned Professionals employee resource group.
But what our ERG really wants to do is help facilitate a mentoring program, and members of the Young Professionals ERG have told us they want mentors. So, we’ve been exploring different kinds of mentoring opportunities we could offer. We’re talking with the ASGN mentoring program director and learning about how to prepare people to mentor.
We feel like we have a lot of knowledge to offer, but we want to make sure we offer it in the most constructive ways. For mentoring to be effective, the mentee must welcome it, and the timing and subject matter have to be right. We’d like to establish a program that helps make that happen.
