Xue Wang loves her work because it helps her apply her passion — technology — to real business problems. As a staff consultant at Citrix, she works with customers to design, assess, build, and manage environments to deliver a great experience for end users and improve how they work every day. She’s also active in the company’s Leadership Development Program, where she mentors new hires just out of college, providing guidance as they start their careers. This blog post is the first in our Women @ Work series spotlighting women at Citrix.

How did you get into technology?
I always assumed that I was going to law school after I graduated college and work for a major firm, focusing on business contracts. As I began college, I realized going to law school was a dream that my parents laid out for me. I began taking classes outside my major, focusing on computers and technology, and realized that was where my passions were. My computer programming classes allowed me to tap into my creative nature in solving problems and enabled me to create something from nothing. The summer of my junior year, I changed my major to information systems and interned for a financial corporation. I realized then that I had made the right decision, switching gears into technology.

What do you like about working in technology?
I’ve always loved exploring new technology. Whenever something new came out, I would do research to understand the components and how it would change our day-to-day lives. The thought of making an impact in someone’s day or changing the way they live and work excites me. And there isn’t one path for developing new and innovative tools. Your imagination is the limit.

What advice would you give to women who are building careers in technology?
Always stay curious and challenge the status quo. Being a woman in technology, we are often outnumbered when we enter a room. No one asks for our opinions, and we tend to blend into the crowd during uncomfortable situations. When you blend in and don’t share your experiences, you are depriving everyone around you of your great ideas.

How can women help to shape a more empowering culture in technology?
Women should support each other and provide guidance for the next generation. We should share our experiences and challenge the status quo. We should speak up about our ideas and share insights on areas where we’re experts. We should seek allies to help shift the culture. We need to get more women into the room, so it’s not unusual to see women in a STEM field. We need to normalize the concept that women can do anything we put our minds to and that we should share our ideas, no matter whether the room agrees or disagrees.