From Secretary to Cloud Director with Rhonda Lemke | Ep063

Описание: "It's easy to teach someone to restart an instance. It's hard to teach someone how to talk to the business." - Rhonda Lemke

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
Rhonda Lemke built a nearly 30-year technology career starting as a secretary, working through help desk management and IT consulting at Accenture, and eventually reaching Director of Cloud Infrastructure roles supporting AWS environments. She shares how soft skills consistently opened more doors than certifications, why she took a step down in title to move up in career, and what it looks like to earn your AWS certification and MBA in your 50s. This conversation is for anyone building a technology career without a traditional technical background.

KEY TOPICS COVERED:
• Starting in tech as a secretary with no technical background
• Building a help desk and ITSM system from scratch
• 15 years at Accenture and the value of internal mobility
• Why soft skills matter more than technical skills for leadership roles
• Overcoming ego to take a career step down
• How growing up in an unpredictable home built emotional intelligence
• A Marine mentor who changed how she leads teams
• The polar vortex that triggered a move from Chicago to Las Vegas
• Navigating politically charged environments in unionized organizations
• Hiring the Pizza Hut manager who became a NOC team leader
• Breaking into AWS cloud infrastructure without a developer background
• Getting an MBA and pivoting in your 50s

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
02:00 Rhonda's background - Lansing, Illinois and early career
06:35 Teresa Poganpole - the mentor who asked her to go to college at 19
10:45 Building the help desk and early tech mistakes (the DELTREE story)
15:00 Joining Accenture and 15 years of internal mobility
20:00 Learning consulting: it's about the people around you
22:37 Joining cars.com without Linux or Unix knowledge
28:45 Ego, pride, and the decision to take a step down
33:00 The Sears.com NOC: building for scale in a bigger environment
44:17 Reading the room: EQ learned from growing up in an unpredictable home
48:00 Translating tech to business - soft skills in the NOC
52:24 Dennis Foy: screaming matches, Friday affirmations, and real mentorship
55:18 The polar vortex that moved her from Chicago to Las Vegas
01:00:00 Culinary Health Fund: negotiation and organizational politics
01:08:25 Dave the Pizza Hut manager - hiring for soft skills over credentials
01:14:55 Director of Cloud Infrastructure: "I don't even know how to spell AWS"
01:19:22 "Embarrassment and people pleasing are a prison"
01:22:00 Closing reflections on advocacy and career mobility

ABOUT RHONDA LEMKE:
Rhonda Lemke is a technology executive with nearly 30 years of experience across IT operations, help desk management, service management, and cloud infrastructure. She began her career as a secretary and built her way through Accenture's consulting practice, network operations at organizations including cars.com, Sears.com, and Arthur J. Gallagher, and director-level cloud infrastructure roles supporting AWS environments. She earned her MBA at 52 and holds an AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification.

CONNECT WITH RHONDA LEMKE:
LinkedIn:   / rhondalemke  

ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:
Career Downloads is a technology career podcast hosted by Manuel Martinez, exploring diverse career paths in the tech industry. Each episode features conversations with professionals sharing their journeys, lessons learned, and actionable advice for managing your own career more successfully.

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