2024-04-06 21:41:20
She grew up in a family of educators in Netanya. Her father was a teacher who raised a generation of male and female engineers in the ORT network (in the past he served as an engineer in the Halbiya project) and her mother is a kindergarten teacher. These facts contributed to the fact that the issue of education was a central element in her home, but the decision that most influenced the course of Chen Bokai Kaminer’s life, a senior project manager at Intel, was when she decided to join the Maccabi Netanya girls’ basketball team. An unusual decision for a young girl and certainly much less about 30 years ago. But joining the basketball team was a critical turning point for her. On the one hand, she wanted to show at a young age that she is not afraid to make rather unusual decisions, and on the other hand, facing difficult games against much stronger opponents taught her not to be afraid of failure and to continue with determination both when it is difficult and when you have to overcome challenging obstacles.
The experience and determination she acquired in the basketball games served her well later on. When she wanted to be admitted to engineering studies at the Technion, she discovered that although she has a 5-unit matriculation in mathematics, chemistry and biology, she cannot teach at the Technion without knowledge of physics, so she stopped everything, took the help of a private tutor and completed the missing studies to continue on the path she had set for herself.
Chen Bukei Kaminer is an impressive woman, from the very beginning of the interview it was clear that she came to our meetings with a series of messages and would not be silent until she conveyed them all sharply, clearly and above all with the utmost kindness. She has a winning combination of focus on the goal, excellent human relations, and.. determination, we have already said.
Today she divides her time between three main challenges. The first, her work as a senior project manager. In this position, she is forever responsible for the automation solutions for testing Intel’s chips while working in cooperation with the company’s customers. She is also the program manager of Intel’s innovative Data Science solutions that combine the benefits of machine learning with Intel’s automation solutions. The second challenge in her life is taking care of her family which includes her husband and four sons. And besides all this, she finds time to lead the activities of the women’s community at Intel.
Let’s go back to the beginning shall we? Tell me, where were you born and raised?
I was born in Netanya to a mechanical engineer father who worked in the aviation industry on the Halvea project and a kindergarten mother. I am the third child after a brother and sister and at home there was always an awareness of the importance of education and also a push forward to study, progress and succeed. My joining an unusual sport for girls like basketball was very significant in my life. It helped me deal with failures and gave me a lot of motivation to try harder to reach my goals. Today I encourage other parents to send their children to competitive sports because I believe it will help their children as it helped me.
It sounds very promising, but in practice many women shy away from the path you took?
True, but it’s important to understand that it wasn’t easy for me either. When I started teaching at the Technion it was very difficult for me. I came to the Technion realizing that I was a smart girl and suddenly I found myself not so smart and even a failure. Other female students also failed, but I had strong support from home. It helped me overcome the difficulties and even become excellent. I recently read a book called Grit written by a psychologist named Angela Duckworth. She talks about how persistence and determination are more important than talent and this is the secret of the matter.
So do you think women are less determined than men?
In my opinion, for many years, women were paved for soft and less realistic professions, and today it is already different. About a month ago, I was invited to give a lecture at the middle school of Bashemt School as part of the activities of the “Equal” association. I was very excited to find out that there are girls there who strive to succeed just as much as the boys and boys who believe that women are a strong and equal force.
We haven’t talked about your work at Intel yet. I would appreciate it if you could tell me what you do today as part of your job?
I manage a team in the United States and Israel that specializes in solutions based on machine learning algorithms. That is, we use machine learning to improve processes within the organization. I call it “AI inside” which means we use automatic solutions inside Intel’s laboratories. And besides, I lead the women’s community known as WIN (Women in Intel) at Intel Israel.
So in terms of the women’s community, what else do you think can help more women reach high-tech?
One of the things that helps a lot is if you have a role model. When you have someone you want to be like, then the chance that you will succeed is much greater. I once had the chance to hear Yael Arad (the first Israeli athlete to win an Olympic medal and currently the chairman of the Israeli Olympic Committee) and I found her to be an excellent role model.
And yet why don’t we see enough women in high-tech?
I think that traditionally there is the matter of paving here. Women are less likely to choose to study electrical engineering, because it is seen, unconsciously, as a less “feminine” profession. By the way, we do see a change in trends such as computer science, but in electrical engineering it is still not enough. I think that what needs to be done, and this is part of the activity we do at Intel, is that the change should already come from the schools and the academy. The academy should give incentives and scholarships to women who want to study electrical engineering. And already in schools, girls should be told about the importance and amazing things that are happening today in electrical engineering. As you know the field of chips is our future. If we look at Tesla today for example and the amount of chips in each vehicle, it is huge. The future is there.
You mentioned the activity of the women’s community at Intel, which you head. Tell me what exactly is this?
As mentioned, this activity aims to help encourage women to join high-tech, but we work no less within the organization to support women who already work at Intel.
As a worker in a managerial position, this allows me to see the female underrepresentation in key positions and positions of influence. I am there, and in most meetings I am the only woman in the room. On the other hand, I understand what a career development path is at Intel and I can take women with me and tell them “come on, I know what needs to be done”. I can also reach the managers in the organization and bring to their awareness the problem of the representation of women in the company.
We also support the women themselves in several ways. First, every employee who feels the need for a mentor, we make sure to assign her a mentor. We also hold professional courses aimed at promoting and strengthening women’s social ties. We have an activity called Lunch Club in which women hold discussion circles to create an intra-organizational support network. Another unique activity of ours is called “mini” in which we make sure to preserve the relationship between an employee who went on maternity leave and her co-workers in order to update the employee on what is going on during her absence and give her a more pleasant feeling that will also ensure a smooth return to work at the end of her leave.
We also recently launched a new program called Winerit and it is designed for girls in middle and high school. As part of the program, we hold four meetings a year where we work on improving the abilities of girls. We started the program in Kiryat Gat and it was supposed to continue to other cities where Intel is active including Jerusalem, Petah Tikva and Haifa but following the war that started on October 7th we stopped it for now.
impressive! It seems that you do a lot to help women within Intel
It is important for me to say that this is a joint effort. Although I lead it in Israel, at every Intel site we have someone who coordinates support for the women’s community. It is also important for us to bring to the attention of Intel managers at all levels of management the importance of the representation of women in the company.
And where do you aspire?
Intel has set itself a goal called RISE, according to which by 2030 we want to double the number of women and minorities in key and management positions, and increase the representation of women in technology jobs to 40%. So we still have a lot of work to do, but there is a plan and there are clear goals, and we are already seeing that it has an impact. I believe that the students we meet today in high schools – they will be the ones who will make up 40% of our leaders in the future.
#formula #success #determination #Chiportal