The cycle of
lifelong learning

Social work or technology? Tourism or industry? There are endless options when choosing a career, and often, the first decisions we make set the course for the next few years or even decades – “but they don't prevent us from reinventing ourselves in the future” says Sylvia. And that's exactly what she did: the trained travel agent and former flight attendant now works as an SAP Reliability Manager in Corporate Information Technology at ZEISS. It's a journey where she never stops learning.

It's clear that Sylvia isn't one to sit still. After some exciting roles in the Global Service Desk team, it was time for another change – within the same department, because it's hard for Sylvia to imagine not being part of IT. Sylvia moved to the SAP Digital Core Excellence team. Her job now is to optimize the reliability and interaction of SAP systems at ZEISS. This requires a thorough understanding of the complex SAP landscape at ZEISS and the various interfaces between SAP and non-SAP systems. 

But it is not only professional advancement that drives Sylvia forward – as a self-directed professional, she completed a distance learning course in economics with a focus on business application systems. Life-long learning and further development is a key priority for her. With her extensive professional experience, Sylvia is passionate about supporting young people in their professional growth and promoting their individual strengths. She has one thing explicitly in mind: “The IT industry is still very male-dominated. For a long time, I was the only woman at the table, and that sparked a desire in me to change something.” With this ambition, she founded the ZEISS Women's Network, which provides a platform for exchange, further development and visibility for women. Mutual support is at the heart of this. The network offers regular meetings, workshops, and events, as well as a comprehensive mentoring programme, which helps women to actively share experiences and receive support. As a mother of two with many years of experience in the field, Sylvia is well aware of the challenges women face. “Equality and equal opportunities are essential building blocks for both innovative companies and a modern society. To achieve this, it is important that structures are designed to break down barriers to equal opportunities and create an environment in which diversity is valued and promoted.” 

Recently, Sylvia took on her new role as SAP Reliability Manager. This position offers a lot of creative freedom and also presents major challenges: Site reliability engineering is not yet established in the ZEISS SAP environment and is being designed and developed step by step. For this self-taught professional, it is another opportunity to grow, develop, and show that many paths are possible if you want them to be and believe in them.