"Hubble Women Making History"
My name is Daria Outlaw and I am a systems administrator here at
Goddard and I provide IT support services for the Hubble Space Telescope project.
Systems administrators are IT professionals that provide services to ensure that organizations
computer systems are functioning, our role and responsibility is to provide support to users,
to troubleshoot issues, and to provide overall network and support. IT and IT infrastructure
is the foundation that makes things possible for Hubble, and as systems of administrators we have
a tendency to work in the background, but we are the ones that kind of keep things running. I am
from a small town in North Carolina, and I was educated in the public school systems there. From
there I did my undergraduate studies at North Carolina Central University, and my Graduate
Studies at Johns Hopkins University. I actually have been working at Goddard Space Flight Center
for 25 years. Once I am at the office the first thing I do is go through email and voicemail,
setting priorities to address user requests and then just kind of going out to solve whatever
problems that have come our way. Alongside of that we have daily ongoing tasks, things such
as patching and upgrading systems, or replacing or upgrading hardware, supporting computer systems,
servers, and the overall network in general. My favorite part of the job being able to work
directly with our users. Hubble has a remarkable talent and being able to work face-to-face,
day-to-day with remarkable people I think is probably one of the highlights. My advice to other
young women that are coming up in this profession or any profession is to surround yourself with
a network of positive people that you can learn from. You cannot be afraid of mistakes, mistakes
are valuable learning tools. Being a woman in any male dominant industry some of the challenges that
we face or the challenges of being seen, or being heard, or just being accepted for our overall
gifts and talents. But what I've learned is that you have to have confidence in yourself, you have
to believe in yourself, stand your ground, and just keep moving forward. It gives me a great
sense of pride to be able to work on Hubble and to be able to work alongside so many remarkable women
that through their profession they're changing the game and opening up so many doors for others.
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