Meet the Team: Irene Ramirez

Irene is our IT specialist. Her primary responsibility is to keep our technology infrastructure running smoothly. She is also a great graphic artist and designs infographics, charts, and more to help us best communicate complicated technical concepts.

It takes a village to innovate properly, and Irene plays a critical support role that allows the rest of us to do our jobs better. She sat down with us to share her thoughts on innovation and her role at PCDworks. 

How did you get into innovation?

The IT side is what got me here. I have an AAS degree in network technology as well as an AAS in game and simulation development (with a focus on illustration and game art). While I didn’t initially set out to be in innovation, I’ve found it to be a great fit for my skills, and I’ve grown to appreciate it a lot. In innovation, things are never boring!

What drew you to PCDworks?

I went to college in the area. I had just finished an internship with the US federal courthouse and was in my last semester when I interviewed with PCDworks. The culture was a good fit, and timing wise, everything worked out perfectly where I was able to start right after graduating. It just felt meant to be. 

What is your greatest strength?

My ability to learn new things. I learned Python during an internship, taught myself how to use Webflow and many, many new art programs, and have studied and explored marketing, design use, and much more. Whatever challenges I face, I’m quick to explore and learn the skills needed to find a solution.

My old illustration professor said, “We are never done learning ever” and that has always stuck with me. Life is a never-ending cycle of learning. If you are not learning anymore, you are not doing it right. You fail to challenge yourself and create.

What are you working to improve on?

Ii would love to focus more on animation and developing better skills within video editing 

What are you most fascinated by right now?

Right now I’m interested in the ethics and philosophy surrounding AI. Essentially, how can we use AI to improve our lives without sacrificing all the things that make humans and human creations so special? In particular, as an artist myself, I’m fascinated by Glaze/Nightshade, a tool to help prevent the theft of art for the creation of AI slop. It poisons the data so that AI models cannot use it.

I’m all for using AI in things like self-driving cars and phone interfaces, making workflows easier, and improving people's lives. I am against AI being so underregulated, though, as this is harmful on an environmental level and, honestly, an ethical one as well. However, AI art can never be true art. It is a generation of others’ hard work. It just steals and recreates from the pixels. The death of real art is the death of humanity. And while AI can be an aid in innovation, it can also be a hindrance if we rely on it too much. So I think it’s important for us to be thoughtful around how we use AI.

What’s your favorite part of your work?

I love getting to work on marketing-related things. It’s a chance to flex my creative skills, with photo editing, asset creation, and so on.

What do you think is most important to innovation?

In my opinion, the fundamental definition of innovation is to solve a problem or help others. That means creation with purpose and ethics. When you create without keeping humans in mind, you are creating for nothing. To better the world is to add to life.

What is your favorite quote related to innovation? 

"You can stay young as long as you learn."  

—Emily Dickinson

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