Meet
Coretta Knight

PDXWIT has a feeling of home to me.  I know that sounds corny and/or cliched, but it is my truth.  I was new to Portland, freshly laid off, and not really sure what my next steps would be in a brand-new city.  The people I met at various PDXWIT events were warm and welcoming.  I got help with a long overdue revamping of my resume, but also some new friends. Not only were the volunteers reaching out to me, but also just the people attending the events.  I feel like these events are needed to continue to foster community in what can sometimes be a bleak landscape, and I wanted to be a part of making sure that happened.  So of course I volunteered!  The work done by this organization is valuable not just to the tech community, but to the whole person, and I am proud to be a contributing factor.  My favorite events are the Happy Hours, especially the socializing portion of the program, because I love to hear the stories of others.  It is how I understand what drives others, and also learn about avenues of opportunity that I may not have discovered on my own.

I like to think of myself as a “supporting actor”.  I feel like I do my best work by taking an existing idea, situation or process and making it better, or adapting it to a new purpose.  For those of you who follow astrology, it’s a common Pisces trait.  I can see common patterns between subjects that are generally not connected and find ways to use processes from one to improve the other.  This also lets me sort of express my creative side as I find new ways to use old solutions.  I am a crafter at heart, and I view this as another way to “craft”.  It is really fun to make connections where others do not generally see them, and using those connections to make improvements. 

By day I am some version of Application Specialist.  Some call me an Application Engineer, Support Engineer, Software Support Engineer, but the bottom line is I am the person to call when the software won’t act right.  I love this work because it is always challenging, and constantly evolving.  By night, I am a social justice advocate, with a particular focus on those of us with neuro abnormalities.  I like to use my life, my story, as proof positive that being different is not an insurmountable obstacle.  I have volunteered with various Mental Health organizations, and I am currently working on a project that will allow me to combine working through mental health issues with encouraging BIPOC access to the tech space. I want to be able to encourage others to take the leap, and also be able to provide guidance on how to deal with both the personal and professional challenges of stepping out of a comfort zone.  I have not completely fleshed out the details but stay tuned!