Alejandra Reynoso Barral – Chairwoman – ccNSO Council – Guatemala
What motivated you to join the tech industry?
I have always liked problem solving games. When I had to choose a specialty in high school, I chose computing because programming caught my attention. In university, I went for a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering and then a master’s degree in computer science technology. Once I graduated, I was hired by the university to work in the computer science department as a teacher. As time went on, I wanted to do more and moved on to domain registration.
As the Chairwoman of ccNSO, can you share with us what you do?
The international organization I currently work for is the Country Code Name Supporting Organization Council (ccNSO). In every country, a country code is assigned to its domain names, which is what we often see on webpages or emails, such as “.gt” for Guatemala and “.es” for Spain. The ccNSO is an organization that brings together all the focal points of the countries to discuss topics of interest and share experiences, news, knowledge, etc., to foster collaboration. I started working in the council since 2015 and it has been a very enriching experience. I’m in charge of all the domain registration systems, which includes the servers, the configuration updates, maintenance, software development, administration, and all services. Because of this, I must be attentive to all the new technologies and good practices that are recommended. I also need to maintain good relations, both nationally and internationally, nbecause I must participate in different committees regarding the internet.
Can you share one obstacle that you had to overcome to achieve a successful career?
No one’s career is easy no matter how far they have come. In my case, there have definitely been long hours of working and studying to understand new concepts and technology. When I was elected as chairwoman, I felt the weight on my shoulders. Now that it is my responsibility, I read and studied a lot to prepare, but in the end, I realized that not everything depended on me. As chairwoman, my role is giving guidance and directing, not doing everything. So, although I felt scared at first, I realized that I have the support of the council and those around me, so I calmed down. They chose me, not only because they trust me but also because they support me.
What is one piece of advice you would like to share with girls and women in tech?
We should not be so hard on ourselves. We demand a lot of ourselves. Demanding is not wrong, punishing ourselves is. We can put in all the work and effort to prepare; but if things don’t go well in the end, it’s not the end of the world. Things are never going to be easy. You’re going to have to do them repeatedly. But in each iteration, we improve and that is what’s important.
