Transcripts of Judith_Bruner_Women@NASA-MASTER_youtube_hq

My name is Judy Bruner, I work here at NASA Goddard and I'm the Director of Safety and Mission Assurance on center. (music) That means that I have the organization that's responsible for overall safety of all employees at all of our sites, as well as mission assurance for all of our flight missions, so we insure that the mission we are developing will be able to do what it's designed to do. So we provide a level of independence and over site and through the mission live cycle at various stages, observing the steps that are being taken to implement our flight missions. And again the goal is mission success. I can remember driving through the gate and I just could not stop smiling. I was actually here, I was actually working for NASA. It was awesome. I was working on Hubble Space Telescope. So, when I left active duty and came to NASA as a contractor, it was the first time in ten years that I actually got to use my computer science degree. So, my initial job was to design and develop the software, the ground system for Hubble Space Telescope. So, I wrote the code that they used in the control the center, that actually command the Hubble, for the first few years. I tested every single line of that code myself. I was putting myself through college, and at the end of my junior year I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay for my senior year, and an Army recruiter came to the dorm and was telling us about a program in the Army. If you enlisted then they would pay for senior year. So, that certainly got my attention, I thought that was appealing and went to talk to some of the other services. I was very intrigued by what the Navy recruiter had to say and so, I enlisted in the Navy at the end of my junior year in college. In the fall completed my senior year and graduation day I got my degree in computer science in the morning and I was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy in the afternoon. The most important lesson that I think I've learned in my life is to take advantage of every opportunity that you have and when a door opens take advantage of that as well. My career has not necessarily gone the way I anticipated, because along the way opportunities presented themselves that I never anticipated. But I was in the right place at the right time and took advantage of those and it all worked together to help me move forward and do the things that ultimately I wanted to do. My advice to women would go back to the principal that's guided me through my career and that is just be open to opportunities. Even if it isn't something you think you can do or you've ever do or thought you would want to do. If an opportunity presents itself take advantage of it and be aware, because sometimes doors open that are unexpected and take advantage of that. It's an opportunity to learn to figure out what your own capabilities are and in some cases it may lead you down a totally different path than you thought you were on initially, but that's ok and again the main thing is don't be locked in, always be ready to make a course correction. If you're given that opportunity. (music) (music) end