MEDIASCAPE: Insights From Digital Changemakers
Join hosts Joseph Itaya and Anika Jackson as they dive into conversations with leaders and changemakers shaping the future of digital media. Each episode explores the frontier of multimedia, artificial intelligence, marketing, branding, and communication, spotlighting how emerging digital trends and technologies are transforming industries across the globe.
MEDIASCAPE is proudly sponsored by USC Annenberg’s Master of Science in Digital Media Management (MSDMM) program. This online master’s program is designed to prepare practitioners to understand the evolving media landscape, make data-driven and ethical decisions, and build a more equitable future by leading diverse teams with the technical, artistic, analytical, and production skills needed to create engaging content and technologies for the global marketplace. Learn more or apply today at https://dmm.usc.edu.
MEDIASCAPE: Insights From Digital Changemakers
Global Tech Leadership: Insights from Armenia's Digital Trailblazer
Mariam Chtchyan never planned to enter the tech world. With a linguistics degree and plans to become a teacher, she accidentally found herself in an interview for a tech company when she thought she was applying for a translator position. Today, she's the COO of HackTech, an Armenian software development company that partners with clients across the United States and Europe.
This unexpected journey forms the backdrop of our fascinating conversation about navigating career transitions, building confidence, and the changing landscape of global tech development. Mariam shares her early struggles of learning technical terminology – keeping a notebook during meetings to write down unfamiliar words she would research at night. This determination to learn, coupled with transferable skills from her linguistics background, propelled her from project manager to executive leadership.
What makes HackTech stand out is not just their global client base but their commitment to diversity. With women making up 51% of their workforce, they're challenging tech industry norms. Mariam discusses how maintaining an in-office environment (rather than remote work) creates stronger team dynamics and communication channels, particularly valuable for complex software engineering projects. She also reveals how they've mastered working across time zones with their exclusively international client base, some relationships spanning nearly nine years.
Beyond her executive role, Mariam hosts the "Digital Shifts" podcast, coaches aspiring project managers, and balances being a mother to her young son. Her perspective on continuous learning, embracing AI tools as productivity enhancers, and building confidence as a woman in tech offers valuable insights for anyone considering a career pivot or looking to advance in the digital space.
Subscribe to Mediascape for more conversations with digital changemakers who are transforming industries and breaking barriers across the global technology landscape.
This podcast is proudly sponsored by USC Annenberg’s Master of Science in Digital Media Management (MSDMM) program. An online master’s designed to prepare practitioners to understand the evolving media landscape, make data-driven and ethical decisions, and build a more equitable future by leading diverse teams with the technical, artistic, analytical, and production skills needed to create engaging content and technologies for the global marketplace. Learn more or apply today at https://dmm.usc.edu.
Welcome to Mediascape insights from digital changemakers, a speaker series and podcast brought to you by USC Annenberg's Digital Media Management Program. Join us as we unlock the secrets to success in an increasingly digital world.
Speaker 2:From 12 hours away so many time zones. I am excited to welcome Mariam Chuchan of HackTech. Thank you so much for being here and taking your late evening to be with me.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Of course, and I don't know that I've ever had a guest on from Armenia who's actually physically there as well. So this is really exciting, and I'd love to hear a little bit more about your background and how you found your way into development, into technology.
Speaker 3:Sure. So I think it is interesting to start from the beginning, when I was not in Armenia. I grew up in Czech Republic, I was living there for almost 12 years and then we decided to move back to our motherland Armenia, so I started here university and then I accidentally appeared in IT Sphere. I thought I was sending CV for translator and tutor for English, and then it appeared they wanted someone that will be able to communicate in English with their customers. And after seeing me and knowing better my skills, yeah, the previous company where I was working before HackTech, decided to set me up as a project manager, and after a year working there, I decided that I need something more interesting and more challenging and I accepted the invitation to work with HackTech, and I'm there already for eight years, if not nine. So, yeah, pretty interesting story.
Speaker 2:Amazing. And HackTech. What exactly do you do there?
Speaker 3:story, amazing and HackTech. What exactly do you do there? So currently I'm as a COO. I started as a project manager and I grew up to be in the CRI position where I am right now. So, yeah, I'm helping with operations. I'm responsible for project managers and QA department in our company, managers and QA department in our company, supporting with all the processes that there are for managing projects or our products properly and helping to have high customer satisfaction Wonderful.
Speaker 2:Let's go back to that job, because you went to a linguistic university, you thought you were applying for a translation job. You still had to possess the skills to become a project manager, but in it, what was that like for you? Did you have to take extra coursework or extra certifications, or did it all just naturally to you?
Speaker 3:no, I think it was really hard to weigh, and the days that passed during that learning process were really difficult. I remember I had this notebook always with me and every time when I had discussion with developers, I was just taking notes from the words that I don't know and I was like, okay, I'll look later. Okay, I will look later. And I really sit during nights and searching for those words, to understand what they were speaking about, for me to be able to communicate with them properly and feeling comfortable understanding them, and, specifically, as I was also communicating with customers, it was really important for me to sound professional. So that's why, yeah, it took me a while to have that technical knowledge, but now I think I'm more than yeah, more confident than I was before.
Speaker 2:Well, clearly you're COO now, so that shows a lot of trust in the organization. What does HackTech do for clients?
Speaker 3:So we are positioning ourselves as partners engineering partners for different companies that want to have it dedicated teams and they don't have this experience of having engineering teams on their side. So we are helping with having this kind of auditing process when we are going through processes that they have and having suggestions and, of course, if they have any engineering like the product ideas that they want to give a live to. So that's where we are helping them with having dedicated engineering teams with developers, qas, product project managers, designers and everyone that is needed basically for going live with your idea of the website or, like the application, any idea that is like software touching world.
Speaker 2:We do live in a global economy, right, a global world. We can hire people from all over, so I'd love to hear about that part of the business. Did it start out as primarily working with people in Armenia or in your region and then expand? Do you work with companies throughout Europe, throughout the United States and Asia? What does the day-to-day look like for you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a very good question. So one major kind of feature of our company is having everyone in one place. So we have this huge office that we moved, I think, a year ago and we have everyone there, which is one of the kind of like good things because we have this communication going on the same time and everyone is able to communicate and have these meetings and understand each other without any of this kind of like atmosphere of remote work, which I think is a benefit actually, and specifically for engineering teams, it's really working good when you have everyone in the same room, both the managers and developers and everyone. So, yeah, basically we almost live in that office all together from morning till late evenings.
Speaker 3:And I think how it started actually, our CEO was very young when he decided to start a business and he decided why not to do that in software? He's actually two years younger than me, so it was quite interesting when I was already married, when I got to HackTech and I saw him and I was like, is it okay that I will work for a person that is younger than me? But then I realized he is such a smart person and he's really inspiring me even today and, yeah, he has great motivation, skills and all that stuff. So he decided to basically have this company and have all talented, very talented people working with him on this, and we have people that are with this company for a whole 10 years that Huck Tech actually exists.
Speaker 2:I'm not very familiar with the tech industry in Armenia specifically, so I'd love to hear a little bit about your experience. Was it very open to you? Are there a lot of women in tech, or did you really have to make a name for yourself?
Speaker 3:always during this podcast and interviews, always saying about that. We have 51% of women in our company as employees and it's something that is not very usual. I wouldn't say that it's usual for Armia to have this percentage of women working in one company, but I think it's still something that is genuinely getting better and better, like having these both C-level positions being handled by women and all this stuff, and also having this trust that we can do it and we are strong enough to be able to do that stuff that previously was done only by men. So I think that's quite interesting to see, and specifically for Armenian women, when it was not very easy, like in the past, and now seeing people specifically in IT sphere, seeing women that are now CEOs and co-founders of very famous companies. It's making me very happy and for us as HackTech, as I mentioned, it's like 51%, which is, I think, great, great number, yeah fantastic.
Speaker 2:What about you mentioned? You work really long hours. You all work in one office. You're married, right how is? And I hate using the word balance, but I'm a mom, right as well, and so I know that it can be hard sometimes to get everything done that you need to and also make sure you're giving time to your family, and so I talk about this from the American perspective. But I'd like to hear you know are there different expectations of you in Armenia? Are you able to find that time to make sure that you can pour into everything you want to? And then I also know that you have your own podcast cast.
Speaker 3:You are into self-development.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, I think no matter in which country you are living, as a woman, you are expected to do a lot and manage a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3:So I wouldn't say it's specific to me or USA or any other country, but it's the pressure that we have to manage everything, and I think it's coming from ourselves as well.
Speaker 3:So me myself, I'm pretty strict to myself on like, okay, I need to manage this, this, this, and having the schedule of having this time with my son, managing to I don't know do his lessons with him, having this fun time, but also be a strong woman in my working place and all that stuff. I think I wouldn't say it came to me very early on this like stage of being in IT sphere, but gradually I understood that it's really about we are not yeah, as you mentioned, we are not using this word but balancing stuff, because it's really, I think it's being a woman. It's exactly about this balance being able to do what you love and be a proper mom, be a good co-worker and doing your dream work and doing your hobbies and all that stuff. So, yeah, I wouldn't say it's easy, but I think it's just a matter of a person being concentrated on what they really want to do matter of a person being concentrated on what they really want to do, and I would love to hear a little bit about your podcast.
Speaker 2:When did you decide to start a podcast?
Speaker 3:Is it your own? Is it related to your organization? Sure, so my podcast was kind of idea that I had in my mind for a very long time I started it, I think almost a year ago now, and I discussed this with my CEO that I would love to share my experience in digital transformation sphere with people. But I don't want to do it alone. So in order not to be alone in these videos and speaking just about the digital transformation for myself, I decided to do this podcast where I'm sharing this experience with discussing the questions with other guests that have the same experience or like in different spheres, but they have this digital transformation knowledge.
Speaker 3:I think it came quite interesting and, yeah, there are people that are always giving me feedback about the podcast and so far, so good. So, yeah, it's all about digital transformation in different spheres with different people, and they're sharing their experience on stuff how they imagine. Because there's a lot of this question when I'm starting the podcast, isn't it too broad like a topic, digital transformation and I'm always saying it's not just because this place that it's allowing us to discuss everything. It's so such a big part that we can actually kind of discuss anything we want under that topic. So that's why, yeah, I decided to share my experience and have interesting people in my podcast too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's such a wonderful mechanism for meeting new people and networking with others in the space, I'm sure.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, definitely. I love exploring and I love communicating with people, having new friends and listening to their stories and experience. It's like you're gaining new knowledge again and again with each podcast, so that's cool yeah, let's go back to.
Speaker 2:You talked about starting this industry. You have a book and you started writing words that you wanted to research more. Yes, what are some of the other things that you've done to make sure that you're staying at the top of your field, that you know the concepts, the terms, especially now we have generative AI and systems and processes that we didn't have even a couple of years ago?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I wish I had GPT, at least like at the beginning of my career, because it would help me for sure, because, like again, maybe I wouldn't keep that notebook For sure, because, like again, maybe I wouldn't keep that notebook, like that on the paper, everything if I would have GPT. But right now I think, yeah, besides having that notebook, I was speaking with a lot of people, as I mentioned, like having this podcast with people that have this experience. I was doing the same, just without a podcast. So I was discussing and I wasn't always trying to look for people that have the knowledge in project management, in software engineering, and I was always asking them questions and I was always saying, sorry, maybe I will annoy you with my questions, but I think it will help me to understand better. And, yeah, I really love discussing everything with our customers too, because I think when you are getting this knowledge of what kind of product you're developing, it's helping too, both on technical side and also on like your soft skills and so on. So, yeah, I think I was speaking a lot with people that helped me.
Speaker 3:And also reading as you can see, I have a lot of books and there are also the technical ones there. So I think it's about reading and self-development. That is helping a lot. And till nowadays, I'm learning and continuously looking for some new courses in different platforms that will help me to develop my skills, because it's never ending. So you can't say, okay, I have this certificate and that's it. I have a lot of them, but I'm still going for new ones because not for certificates, of course because of the courses and the knowledge that I can gain from those lessons. So, yeah, I think it's self-development and communication for now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And what about AI in your work streams? What is it helping make easier when it comes to the work that you do for clients?
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's helping a lot. First of all, it's saving so much time, as I mentioned, like if I was writing everything on the paper or like I was doing research on what kind of words I can use. Now I'm just clicking on a button and it's just moving my like editing my email to such a good text, which is great. And plus, of course, on the research side, as I mentioned, about self-development and looking for stuff Right now, having this platform where you can search and giving this very specific answers to your questions is really helping.
Speaker 3:And, of course, it's saving the time. So I think it's about the time that it's saving a lot and you can do more stuff. I think being able to properly that I think that's the key word properly using these tools, because during my podcast, I'm always mentioning about this that it's not the fear of AI, it's not having the knowledge how to use it. So I think that if you are properly using these tools, they are really good help and they can really help you to develop and make everything that you do a bit more professional.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. They're tools to be used, not investments. Exactly, yeah, and Miriam, you were mentioning how your office everybody works in the same office. It's not remote work. Like you know, there's that push-pull all over the world if it's better to have remote work or in-person and some industries it works better. When it comes to your clients, are you mostly working with clients in Armenia or in your region, or have you expanded, you know? I'd love to hear a little bit more about that, and who is your ideal client?
Speaker 3:Well, it's funny that we don't have any client from Armenia. Every client that we have is actually from USA or from Europe, and it's interesting, during these almost 10 years that we are working with the American clients. We never had this issue of time zone. Just because, first of all, we already have that experience of working with different time zones and we always find these windows, I will say that we have basically the space where we are meeting each other. Maybe, like it will be, I don't know, 8 pm for us, 8 am for them.
Speaker 3:We are finding these slots that are working with both sides. Plus, we have really dedicated people that are enjoying their work and sometimes they're like, okay, I will just come a bit later to work and I can stay like one hour more in that, yeah, and having this call with customers, because what we love about the work that we do is the relationship that we are creating with customer, and it's one thing that we cherish a lot. We have customers with whom we work. We are working already for nine years. They are always bringing to us, like other people, other companies that are interested in software development, teams, and I mean, I think that's one thing that I'm really proud of the relationship that we have with our customers and the trust that we are gaining by showing the results.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's funny because I know when we think software development, a lot of times people, the default is India. Yeah, so I'm interested to hear you know, when you're looking at new clients or they're looking at you, how much do you have to talk about advantages to working with an Indian team versus working with a team in a different country. Does that come up?
Speaker 3:Well, that's a great question. I think the simple answer will be two calls. That's enough for us to consume people, that they can trust us. Two calls are enough for us. The first one is just like to understand their needs. We are collecting all that information. Then we are saying, okay, we'll take a week to understand everything, to look like through the market, to understand what is your product about, what are the needs.
Speaker 3:We have great product managers that are doing market research, like brilliantly, and we are coming up with these like slides or like the presentation that is showing, okay, maybe this is what you want or this is what you need. And after that, I think after that second call, it's already understandable that, okay, these guys know what they do and this is the quality that we want. And, of course, like, on the pricing set as well, we are negotiating. It's not like, yeah, this is our rate and that's it. So I think, because of this flexibility and dedication and understanding the market and having these experienced people in our company, that's helping us a lot to make these customers wanting to work with us. After the second call.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, fantastic. Is there a favorite project that you've worked on that you can tell us about?
Speaker 3:Ah, sure, I think it will be my first project that I started with. The name was High Attendance. It renamed a lot after that, but it was the product that we worked for, I think, for almost four or five years and I started on that project. So it was kind of like first real project for me where I was working as a full-time project manager. I had my team, my team. That was the first time that I had this dedicated team with whom I was able to work, and the customer was a great person.
Speaker 3:I think we are even now like friends outside of the work with the family, and he knows my son, I know his sons and his wife. So, yeah, it's, I mean, it became a part of me, the project itself, because it taught me a lot. There were difficult times, but there were so great ones too when we already saw how it's working. I was invited to a single project to see the product in real life, how people are using it, and yeah, I mean, I think that's the kind of partnership that we are always cherishing and I'm happy to have that experience with this kind of project. That both taught me a lot on my hard skills as well as on the soft skills on like communication and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, fantastic. When your son hears about your work, does he aspire to follow your footsteps?
Speaker 3:work. Does he aspire to follow your footsteps? I am not sure about about following my footsteps, but he definitely knows a lot like about the people that I'm working with and he on those, even customers, because of the calls that I'm doing, doing from home too, and it's so funny that they know him too and they're like, hi, our man, who are you? And he is like, hey, and yeah, I think his English skills developed because of those calls that I had actually, and I mean, I'm sure he is proud of what me and my husband are doing because both of us are in IT sphere. But I'm still not sure about him following my footsteps. But he's always saying, oh, wow, you are going to office. I like your office, but I think it's just because how colorful it is right now. So, yeah, we'll see. He is now learning Chinese, which I'm really proud of, and yeah, he's just on second grade and doing great job.
Speaker 3:I had a parents gathering today and I got this great feedback. I was a really proud mom today with the feedback that I got. So, yeah, we will see how it will go.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, fantastic. So if there is a woman somewhere in the world listening to this who wants to move into a new field, perhaps into the world of IT and tech, but is intimidated, what's the first piece of advice you would give to that woman?
Speaker 3:I will say just be very confident in your skills, no matter if you are a junior, if you are a senior, if you have totally different experience in other sphere, just try to use that experience in this sphere too, because IT itself is very flexible. You can have so many skills that you can use in IT sphere from other spheres. Like I was planning to be a teacher and now I mean it's what I was learning in university in the pedagogy. So, yeah, I just use my soft skills that I learned during the time working with kids, I don't know communicating, all this stuff. I just used it in IT. And I would say to every woman there just be very confident. I think that this level of confidence is helping with even going to interview being very confident. Okay, this person knows what she wants, where she came, and I mean it's all about this confidence that each of us should have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic advice. I know we always hear the statistic about women won't apply for a job unless they feel confident in 100% skills, but men will apply even if they have maybe 60. I don't remember the exact number, but you talking about the fact that your organization is 51% women, that you've been able to ramp up and become the COO of your company, to have a podcast, to really pave the way for other women in Armenia, but also other women who are interested in going this field. I love that you're saying start with the confidence. Just feel confident that you know the information, you know where you want to go and if you don't know it, you're going to learn it and it's going to be okay.
Speaker 3:You don't have to come in knowing 100% of the answers.
Speaker 3:For sure. I mean, we all are human beings and we are not supposed to know all answers. It's just about the experience and the knowledge that you already have that you can share with people and I also partially working as a coach for a job project managers, like the future project managers and during first lesson I'm always saying you need to be confident. That's the one thing that you need to have. Even being junior, you can go to the interview with such a confidence that people will understand okay, this person at least knows something. Even if you don't have this experience, you know that you have this knowledge and you can use it. You understand how it can be used, all the skills. So why not to be confident and just saying I know it and I can use it and I know how?
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, fantastic. And then I also noticed that you are a coach, so you're able to fit in doing some agile coaching on the side.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right, so I started it. A year ago, I got this proposal from one of the Armenian companies that is basically giving these courses of different professionals, and I agreed to be an Agile project manager coach. So I'm teaching people how they can be a good project managers in Agile world specifically, and I really enjoy it because that's the place where I'm able to share the experience, besides having podcast and having people that are working with me. So, yeah, it's one other part that I'm really proud of to say that I'm helping those people to become good managers too. Yeah, Fantastic.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else that you'd want to share with the audience today when they're thinking about their journey into the world of tech, particularly today?
Speaker 3:As I mentioned about self-development, I think it will be the last point that I would like to mention, with the confidence I think it's all about the self-development that we always need to have. Continuous self-development is such an important point during your work, during your life, and I think we should never forget about learning and being open to new knowledge. And you mentioned AI, and a lot of people are afraid of it and it's just because we don't understand it yet fully. But if we will learn about it, I'm sure we will be able to use it on its maximum and it will just make our days more productive. So I will say, continuous self-development is one other piece that everyone needs to have and have those habits that will help them to grow as professionals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fantastic, and I know that, miriam, we're going to have people go to GoHackTechcom to learn more about the organization, and your podcast is called Digital Shifts and is it available on all platforms.
Speaker 3:Right now it's very active in YouTube, frankly speaking, so I would suggest everyone to go to YouTube to check it out.
Speaker 2:Okay, fantastic, we can add that link as well.
Speaker 3:Fantastic, well, well thank you.
Speaker 2:I just so appreciate you staying late at work to do this episode with me today, and now you know it's coming up into almost, you know, closer and closer to the midnight hour for you. So, yeah, how wonderful is technology that we can have these conversations and learn about other amazing women from around the world who are doing this work Very inspirational. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's been a pleasure. And is there one last family motto? Words of wisdom, something that inspires you every day to keep on going.
Speaker 3:I think it will be my son actually, for whom I'm kind of like doing all this stuff. And a role model that I have is, of course, my mom. She herself is an artist and it's such interesting that I mean, she is from the world that I think I will never be in, like this artistic world, but she is a strongest person that I know. Like we are four children and she grew up every like each of us with such a passion and I'm always amazed with the skills that, yeah, she taught us during this time. So I think think, as a role model, I will say my mom is the person that I'm really proud of to say that like, yes, I'm her daughter and yeah, and everything that I do is basically like just for my son to say the same one day about myself.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so beautiful. Yes, thank you. Well, thank you, miriam, for coming on the show today. Very much appreciate your time and thank you to everybody who's watching this episode or listening to it on your favorite podcast platform. We'll be back again very soon with another amazing guest to share their journey into the world of digital and inspire us all us all.
Speaker 1:To learn more about the Master of Science in Digital Media Management program, visit us on the web at dmmuscedu.
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