Read about Wint Pyae Julie Lynn Htaik

What brought you to a career in technology at the United Nations?

I am a Biomedical Engineer and currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in biomedical informatics. I'm also working full-time as an administrative assistant at the UN. Initially, my role was strictly clerical in nature until the Secretary-General's push for data-driven results came about. For the Excel-heavy tasks, I began to incorporate Python scripts to automate repetitive tasks and cleaning up large amounts of data into charts. When we fully moved to SharePoint as a result of the pandemic, I was able to utilize the O365 apps more effectively. Most recently, I used Power Automate to automate workflows to alleviate administrative effort and increase efficiency and quality in data collection. I'm in my last semester of the degree as of writing with my final project being in Machine Learning. While I may not be able to contribute further with coding in my current role, if an opportunity presents itself, I would love to get into big data at the UN.

What has been your favorite IT project at the United Nations and what was your technical contribution?

My favorite IT project was a training nomination form built on SharePoint Lists and automated using the approved workflow. The data collected was normalized and took significantly less time to be collected. The administrative effort and hours needed in back-and-forths on missing information and typos are greatly reduced. As opposed to a normal Word form or a SharePoint form, I was able to customize the inputs through look-ups. The user-interface was made more friendly with the use of JSON.

What advice would you give women interested in pursuing a field in technology?

I would encourage all women to really invest in their trade no matter the circumstances. As a huge believer of meritocracy, where there is work, there will be a reward. Sometimes, be it by gender stereotypes, racial stereotypes, or the confinement of our job scopes, we could lose track of what we are capable of. When that happens, pick up a little project in your area of interest. It doesn't have to be work-related - just something tech. When that project works, at least for me, my confidence would return to reassure me that I do belong here and that I should keep honing my skills.