Meet the Women of Customertimes

Elena Shane is:

• Salesforce Principal Architects Lead at CT
• An avid hiker
• A triathlete in training

She’s also a vital part of our Salesforce practice, so we’re thrilled to feature her in our Women in Tech series.  

Elena! We’re so glad to have you as part of CT. How did you first get connected with us?  

I got a degree in Computer Software and Automated Systems. IT looked like a promising (and very interesting) career path, so I decided to give it a try after I graduated. Before I joined CT, I worked for 8 years at another IT consulting company as a C++ Developer and Lead Developer, but I wanted to go further in my professional development.  

Customertimes was a good choice to continue my journey in IT!  

What roles have you held here?  

I came to CT as a Lead Developer, but after I gained more project experience, I was promoted to Salesforce Solution Architect and then to Salesforce Principal Architect Lead in our Salesforce practice.  

What do you love about your job? 

I’ve worked in IT consulting for my entire career. I like it because consulting means speed and variety – we have to do our tasks quickly, and we get to work on lots of different tasks. It allows me to develop rapidly.  

What has been your most exciting project at CT?  

So far, it was the work we did developing a platform for a global healthcare organization. The platform served as a central location for patients and doctors to input information from virtual clinical trials. The information from the trials was processed quickly, which meant that results could be analyzed much faster than they had been in the past. The project was used for COVID vaccine testing results, but it will be used for other trials in the future.  

This was such an important project, and our entire team was very excited to be working on it. We knew the social significance of what we were doing, so we were very glad to be part of it! 

What would you tell other women who want to pursue a career in technology?  

Go! Do it! Don’t be afraid.   

What’s your strategy for successfully managing your team? 

People are our main resource. It’s important to adequately motivate them, give recognition and direction, and allow them the freedom to express themselves.  

I’ve also found that it’s very important to let people know you care about them. I appreciate when my managers do that for me, so I make an effort to do it for my team.  

What do you like to do outside of work? 

I love sports in any form, especially running, swimming and cycling. Before the war, I was training to do a triathlon this summer. I’m not sure it will be possible now, but at the moment, we have more important things to think about.  

My family also loves to go hiking in the mountains. Now that it’s getting warmer, hopefully we’ll be able to get back out there soon.