Erin M. Thorpe – Breaking Through the Jargon; Communications Break Through

Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Erin Thorpe is assigned to USCG Command, Control & Communications Engineering Center (C3CEN) in Portsmouth, VA. Her responsibility is to oversee the security and accreditation of IT systems supported by the Communications Area Master Station Product Line.  Her USCG assignments include three USCG Cutters, an Aviation Training Center, a Sector Command Center (Search and Rescue Controller), and a District Telecommunications Office.  CWO Thorpe consistently seeks opportunities to mentor fellow Coast Guardsmen.  She is an active member of her community, volunteer tutor at a local elementary school and participates in various local charity events.  CWO Thorpe is the proud mother of three amazing, high energy kids.

Which skills or attributes do you value most in coworkers that are just starting their careers?
Communications: being able to take complex information and translate it into something that anyone can understand, ability to make subjects approachable and not sound so scary. People in tech use dense language with a lot of jargon; especially in the military, acronyms are everywhere. I value being able to break away from buzzwords or terms that only your small work community can understand

Describe a decision you made early in your career that has had a big impact for you.
When starting in the technical field in the coast guard, you used to get a choice between operations or IT. I chose operations. It gave me a diverse skillset and experience as the end user of IT products. I have since looped back around into the IT side so I design and maintain systems for the operations folks to use. With that experience as an end user, I design better products. I also know the questions to ask when designing a new product.

If you completely changed courses today, what would your new life look like?
I would be an elementary school guidance counselor. I love talking about future endeavors and I like the age range. I now tutor special needs students at my local school. The moment when the kids “get” a concept for the first time is so exciting.