Natalie Camarata, COO Xcelerator Group
Natalie Camarata, COO Xcelerator Group
Natalie has over 20 years of experience in system analysis, architecture, design, development, testing, and implementation of complex software applications. With all of that experience, we asked Natalie about her journey to Chief Operating Officer.
I had the pleasure to meet Natalie some years ago and the word that always came to mind was competent. To launch our web site and celebrate International Women’s Day, I asked Natalie if she would share her insights and background.
Over a cup of coffee and a bagel, Natalie and I got to chat about what she does today, what it’s like working in a startup, trends she sees coming up and what the best piece of advice she would have given her younger self.
Natalie is one of the founders and the Chief Operating Officer of Xcelerator Group. Working in a startup, everyone has to wear many hats but being the bridge between the business and the development teams is her main function and it’s one she loves.
Natalie says one of her strengths is “I can talk to both the business and the technical teams acting as an interpreter of sorts. Companies that are missing that liaison between the business and IT can quickly find themselves wasting valuable time and resources".
Natalie on a Navy Ship.
When asked about the key differences between working in a startup versus a large company, she commented
“…in a large company you have one hat, you don’t get to see the full picture and the ability to make decisions is limited. You don’t have as much ability to influence the decisions. The opposite is true with a smaller company. A team is agile and has the flexibility to have a proof of concept up in a short period of time that demonstrates the value. Larger companies have multiple silos and often don’t have the freedom of time to innovate.”
Looking out into the future, I asked Natalie what she saw in the crystal ball.
“Definitely think we are looking at block chain as an evolving technology and a way to keep public information secure. Block chain helps verification and traceability of multi step transactions and is key to keeping those transactions secure. Once it is written it is immutable and can’t be changed. This is where tighter controls make for better security. The other area of growth is the expansion of the cloud serverless solutions. The ability to build more cloud based solutions means the user experience design has become as critically important as the developer’s experience.”
As I asked Natalie what advice she would give to her younger self, I was ready to take notes for myself…
“The number one is to always be looking to learn the next thing.
New technology, new business area, don’t settle that you know enough.
Always be curious and look to do something more.
And have goals!
Natalie shared that if you are someone who struggles defining goals, look at what you love doing and make a plan to get better at it. This fits into your work life and your personal life. When I asked her what she does when she isn’t working a gazillion hours a day, she said crafting! Considering she is definitely high on the STEM side of capabilities, she enjoys the artistic side of craft projects. This started when her daughter was in girl scouts many years ago and kept on going.
Speaking of children, her other hobby is her son and her daughter who have grown into amazing adults. I asked Natalie when they were smaller, what did they tell people their mom did? At that time, they loved to play the online game Webkinz. She told them she built things like Webkinz. Can you imagine how many times her kids asked her to build another Webkinz?