Allie de Lima and Lindsay Jones both know very well what it’s like to be the only woman in the room.
Both work in information technology, a field where up to 75 percent of workers in the U.S. are male. Steve Monaghan, director of Nevada County’s Informational Services and General Services Agency, said he is glad to have both on his staff. “There is a real need for more women in the IT industry and they are both great examples.”
Allie de Lima
De Lima, an information systems manager, began work for the county July 31. She supervises the staff that keep county employees’ computers running smoothly. “Any time anyone comes and asks for help, it’s my team to the rescue,” she said.
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, she moved to Nevada County in 1992. She originally wanted to be a geneticist but decided against it because it would mean leaving the area.
She found her new path in a Calculus class at Sierra College, where a classmate suggested she go into high tech. She took his advice and got a job at TDK Semiconductor Inc. in the research and development facility then in Nevada City. She started the company’s Quality Assurance Department and hired technicians.
TDK ended up paying for all her schooling at both Sierra College and later, California State University, Sacramento, and she remained with the company for over six years, until it closed its doors in Nevada County. She also worked as a consultant for Clientworks, a Nevada City IT provider, and later worked for over 17 years at Telestream, a Nevada City company that provides world-class live and on-demand digital video tools and workflow solutions.
De Lima said Nevada County is the first place she has worked where she wasn’t the only woman. “I’ve always worked as the lone woman in the IT departments of the companies I’ve worked for” she said. “Even in college, there were only four women that graduated with a degree in computer science alongside me. The other graduates were all men.”
De Lima has a 13-year-old daughter and cares for her mother who has Alzheimer’s. For fun, she enjoys getting together with a group of about 20 Brazilian women in the area, traveling, skiing, camping and playing with her pets. She has a big white dog and a tiny black cat. “They’re my yin and yang,” she said.
Lindsey Jones
Lindsey Jones is a Geographic Information Systems analyst who has worked for the county four years. She makes interactive maps on everything from wildfire evacuation routes to COVID-19 hot spots to election results. Her goal is always to make a visual representation of what people want to know. “My passion is communication and outreach and understanding,” she said.
Jones grew up in Baltimore and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental science and geography from the University of Maryland in Baltimore County. While on the East Coast, she met her husband, who grew up in Nevada County. In 2018, the couple moved back to the area.
Jones said she loves it here and is grateful for an opportunity to give back to the community. “It is so meaningful to me to be a public servant,” she said. “I owe everything to the people of Nevada County. I take (my job) with great pride and I feel so lucky that I get to do it and the community that I live with.”
Her interest in GIS began when her college professors suggested it as a career path. When Jones arrived in Nevada County, she was honored to work under Diana Carolan, who was a pioneer for the GIS program at the county. “She laid out all the groundwork,” Jones said.
A challenge of working in IT has been that people often underestimate her. “People make assumptions about me partially because of my age, partially because of my gender,” she said, adding that they think she’s too young to understand things. “I’ve learned to take a patient approach and let my skills speak for myself,” she said.
In her free time, she likes reading, cooking and getting outdoors. She is also teaching herself to knit and quilt.
Like others, she finds it difficult to fit in everything. “There’s not enough time to do all the stuff I want to do,” she said. “If it was up to me, I would give myself 30 hours to make the most gorgeous print map of Nevada County anyone has ever seen, but I can’t because I have so many other tasks.”