Behind-the-scenes with an IBM Master Inventor and Distinguished Engineer

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There’s no doubt the latest generation of IBM servers, storage and software can help clients scale and modernize using hybrid cloud and AI automation – but who are the great minds behind these innovations? Who are the scientists and engineers making the world more efficient and liveable in the years ahead? Many of them are IBM Master Inventors, who are IBMers who turn their research into patentable ideas. This elite group of IBMers have mastered the patent process, identified new inventions, and mentored broadly. Master inventors add value to IBM’s portfolio, demonstrating sustained innovation, leadership, and service.

One of those IBMers driving innovation within IBM IT Infrastructure is Tara, a Distinguished Engineer in IBM Systems Assurance and Master Inventor with over 80 patents filed. In this conversation, we delve into her extraordinary career journey to explore how she overcame obstacles, discovered her passion for engineering – and how she ultimately became a pioneer in her field.

 

Accidental engineer

Tara joined IBM in 2001, and has since served several roles in Enterprise Storage, Server and Networking Solutions, and Technology Support Services. Sure, this may look like a classic engineer’s journey, but as a kid, Tara didn’t foresee she’d become an inventor.

What she did realize was the importance of education, a value instilled by her parents.

“I was born and raised in Arizona. I grew up outside of Phoenix. I have a younger sister and super supportive parents. I was a bit of a tomboy growing up – super into sports. Fair to say, I played almost every sport growing up! I was however, still into my studies. I was always a good student, and I was the first to go to college on either side of my family, so that was a major achievement for me, having been raised where education was important even though my parents never went to college. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and my dad worked in the air conditioning & heating industry. It was great that my parents recognized the importance of education and drove that home to me and my sister.”

Tara’s values in education eventually led her to obtain a scholarship to attend the University of Arizona (UA) in the U.S. She candidly explains that she attended because the university provided her the best scholarship package.

“I didn’t have people in my family with corporate jobs or college experience to kind of help guide me in selecting a major. I just ended up going to the counsellor and I came out a Spanish linguistics and communication double major, with thoughts of becoming a social worker, or a bilingual education teacher. I always think back and wonder: my major, literally could’ve been anything depending on who was sitting in that chair that day, because I went in completely uncertain.”

Tara is Native American and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. During her senior year at UA, she says she got involved with the university’s Native American Student Affairs Group.

“They posted that IBM was looking for interns, and I thought that sounded really cool. It was a corporation I had heard of. I imagined that they would have a communications or marketing team, so I applied. When I got to Texas, I realized that it was an engineering recruitment.”

This eventually led her to interview with IBM, followed by an internship in Tucson, Arizona, right where she was attending university.

“It was a split role, where part of it was project management and part of it was engineering. I ended up loving the engineering, webpage development, database development part a lot more than I did the project management piece.”

 

 

Overcoming impostor syndrome

Tara says it is thanks to her amazing mentors that she gets to do what she’s doing today at IBM.

“During my internship assignment, my first mentor, who also was my manager, encouraged me to keep going down the technical path. They encouraged me not to worry if I didn’t know something.

I just jumped in there and the team I was surrounded with was so supportive and cheering me on, that it took away a lot of the pressure. I ended up getting pretty good at webpage development and database development, leading me to a full-time role in IBM as a software engineer.

I am still grateful for my mentor for giving me the room to grow and the space to do it without feeling like I was letting somebody down.”

Still, Tara says the impostor syndrome lingered. Yet another mentor a distinguished IBM engineer, played a crucial role, challenging her to step out of her comfort zone.

“They taught me that I could do more than I thought. They showed me how to learn quickly and trust my instincts, along with how to attack difficult problems.”

That mentor also taught Tara to think big about her technical career path.

“I always knew that I wanted to pursue a lifelong career instead of just a job. Working in research was on the top of my I could never list.”

Fast forward to today, she’s now an IBM Master Inventor, credited on 87 patents over 14 years.

 

Winning in tech with patents and improvements

Tara’s achievements are a testament to her dedication and innovative spirit. She has become a leading expert in her field and her work includes building cutting-edge Enterprise Hybrid Cloud and Blockchain Solutions for Technology Support Services at IBM.

“The turning point? A presentation crisis and the birth of my first invention, ‘End-of-life prediction for flash memory,’ earning my initial patent in 2008,” said Tara who gives further context on her invention.  “A flash drive or USB thumb drive have a finite set of read and write cycles. Writes are more intensive than reads. The idea was just to put a small little cache on the drive and track writes and reads and locations and predict failures, so that you can have like a green, yellow, red system for knowing where your flash drive is in its likely lifecycle. A lot of times we put very important stuff on those and if we knew that it was in the red cycle and about to fail, you would not put that there, you would go get another one.

Tara shared her views on collaborative experiences with innovations and patents:

“It does become like a mindset and habit, and we do things like patent farms, where you get three or four people working together and just start. We go through the list of all the things that annoy us or shouldn’t be so hard and try to innovate them.”

 

Giving back to the community

As someone who had great benefit from having mentors herself, Tara is a passionate mentor for STEM K-12 outreach, fostering a passion for technology in the next generation.

“As an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a first-generation college graduate, I understand the importance of mentorship and am a dedicated and passionate champion for Native Americans and women in their STEM pursuits.”

One of her favourite giveback activities is supporting the American Indian Science and Engineering society.

“I’m a Sequoyah fellow within their organization and on their corporate Advisory Board. I volunteer as a presenter, and I do a lot of mentoring work. That’s one of my favourite ways because when they awarded me in 2007 with the most promising award for an early tenure employee, that was one of those things that changed my trajectory and made me think I can stand out, move forward, and do big things.”

Tara serves on IBM’s Native American Executive Board, where she supports IBM’s Indigenous community.

“I enjoy connecting our communities and making sure that people feel supported, and that we can answer any questions that they have. I get a lot of inspiration in helping others advance their career. I’ve had many amazing mentors in my career, and I want to make sure that I’m equally giving back to the next generation.”

Tara describes her career as one where she’s jumped headfirst into opportunities. As Tara continues to give back to all communities, she reflects on advice given to her.

“One of my mentors once told me: ‘Someone has to learn it. It might as well be you.’ I took that to heart.”

 

 

Discover Your Potential at IBM

For more than 110 years, IBM has been a catalyst that makes the world work better, and we remain dedicated to driving actionable change and outcomes for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive society.

The Native American and Indigenous communities have been contributing to IBM’s inclusive culture for over three decades. Through individual and company support, IBM shares a deeper understanding and appreciation of Native and Indigenous peoples.

Tara’s story is a true inspiration for anyone looking to make a difference in the world of technology. Her passion, perseverance, and dedication to innovation have earned her a place among the leaders in her field.

If you’re inspired by Tara’s story, consider IBM as your employer of choice.

 

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