I generally don't make cold calls, at least when it comes to inviting folks to be on Real Technologists. Jess Szmajda and I crossed paths through our online cybersecurity and cloud computing networks. She's a general manager at AWS leading Network Firewall and Firewall management business. Previously, she was the GM for the VPN practice.

With her online profile saying she's located in Washington, DC, I made the assumption that she works with the federal government. Oops! Never make assumptions!

I could tell there was technical depth and a driving passion to impact others.

It was time to set up a chat.

When we met, it was during late August. The air was still warmed by the summer sun, and the evening was just beginning to hint at the cooler days ahead. Perfect weather for an energizing discussion and forward thinking ideas.

Jess Szmajda's presence was an instant uplift. She has a delightful laugh that punctuates many of her sentences.

Jess Szmajda: Well... I was actually born in the district. I think I was one of the five people born in DC that year.

I'm a general manager. I own some of our network security services... network, firewall and firewall manager. A general manager at AWS is a bit like a CEO of business line. So I've got a couple products that I own and responsible for P and L and... all people sales, go to market, customer support, everything you name it. I lived in or near DC for most of my life, and I've never worked for the government. I don't know , the government thing, it's just never made sense. It's never been the place for me.

We are approaching the midway point for Season 2 of Real Technologists. Senior, Pokie, and I wanted to take a moment to thank you and reflect on the past year. During Season 1, we learned that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, so to speak. We had decided on an aggressive schedule of weekly podcasts. And like our guests, we learned a big lesson and had to pivot.

This Season, Season 2, is focused on sustainability and growth. We love getting to know our guests, learning their stories, and crafting the podcast.

Real Technologists is about telling captivating stories and diverse journeys of those shaping our digital future. From the heart of innovation to the forefront of change, technology continues to redefine our world, and behind every breakthrough lies a human narrative waiting to be told. Our team is split. Pokie works from our New York office. Senior and I work together from our Camp Hill location. As radio personality Pete Womback used to say, "It's a beautiful day in Pennsylvania".

To keep the quality high and keep ourselves sane, we're delivering bi weekly. We embark on a journey of exploration, uncovering the unique experiences, perspectives, and challenges that have shaped the lives of our guests.

Trac Bannon: When Julie Holdren, co founder of DC based Watering Hole AI joined our call, I immediately noticed stylish designer glasses with a popped collar. That lasted for only a few moments. Julie had a ton of connection and bandwidth issues. So after disconnecting and switching networks, Senior asked Julie and I to talk "cameras off".

I'm glad we had those first few minutes visually... pleasant banter and noticing where my guests are zooming in from gives me additional clues for asking questions. The only clues I could glean is that Julie is very pretty, had her laptop perhaps sitting on her lap, and had what seemed to be naturally serious countenance... I guess inherently resolute.

When prepping to interview a guest for Real Technologists, Senior and I do a very small amount of detective work. I've been a guest before when someone has done a tremendous amount of research and at times, I felt like they were not getting to the real me. And that is why each Real Technologists episode is a journey of discovery; too much research would taint me from asking really interesting questions that just randomly pop up as we chat.

What we learned in our prep investigation about Julie is that she represents the new gig economy, but for executives in technology... a career style born of entrepreneurial culture, globalization, tech advances, and a changing workforce preference... giggers... instead of one role, giggers prefer many roles or jobs instead of just one... tons of gigs.

As a renowned technologist with extensive experience in communications networks, cryptography, mobile technologies, and data science... why did she gravitate towards gigging? I'd say it started when she was a kid growing up in DC!

Julie Holdren: I went to school in Fairfax County at the time. They were teaching Pascal and Basic in high school. So I graduated from high school already programming. and it was an elective. It was easy. It came to me easily. I was, one degree shy of a math major. So at the time, there wasn't code generation tools and debugging tools the way they are today, which makes things a lot faster. So we ended up doing and learning very low level code through high school. I initially got exposed through the DoD in middle school to one of the first computers through my Girl Scout program. And earned a computer badge in middle school. And I think that piqued my interest.