Yasmin Jivraj, president and co-owner of Edmonton-based solution provider, Acrodex, credits her interest in math and science at an early age as her gateway into what is now more than a 30-year career in IT.
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Jivraj graduated from the University of Alberta with a computing science degree and worked at a number of different IT-related organizations before founding what is now known as Acrodex. Some of her past employers include Dexcent, a global provider of industrial automation solutions and Arcspan, a technologies division of Acrodex.
In 1984, Jivraj and her husband formed Atlas Systems Group, which eventually merged with a company called CompCanada in 2000. A year later, the company became known as Acrodex. Today, the company employs more than 600 people across Canada.
Jivraj first got started in the IT industry developing business applications and doing development work within the government and private sectors in Edmonton.
“As women, we bring a lot of talent, creativity and intuition into the field,” she explained. “I haven’t found many barriers in the field because I’ve found that working hard and being able to understand customers’ business problems and providing solutions that use technology as a strategic enabler is most important.”
Besides her role with Acrodex, Jivraj is also the co-founder of CIPS (Canadian Information Processing Society) Women in Technology – Leap Towards the Future program, which is an annual one-day event that helps to motivate grade nine girls and encourages them to choose a career in IT. The event is put on with the help of the University of Alberta and also through help and sponsorships with IBM Canada Ltd. and Acrodex.
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