Beyond the Code: How Caitie Dow Brings Humanity to IT
In celebration of IT Professionals Day, we shine a spotlight on Caitie Dow, Design Strategist at Kyndryl and proud ACS NSW Member. As an IT professional, Caitie plays a pivotal role in shaping technology solutions that empower organisations, often working behind the scenes to ensure systems run seamlessly. This recognition honours her contributions, and the broader IT community, whose expertise keeps our digital world connected, resilient, and thriving.
1.What area of IT do you specialise in? How does your role keep your organisation running smoothly?
I specialise in experience advisory and human-centred design strategy. At Kyndryl, I help shape digital systems, services, and experiences that are intuitive, inclusive and resilient. My work spans accessibility design, sustainability-focused innovation, and ESG-aligned transformation. Whether it’s rethinking a legacy interface, guiding service blueprinting, or embedding inclusive design into enterprise platforms, I ensure technology meet real human needs. When systems are designed with empathy and clarity, they scale better, break less, and earn trust.
2. What IT myth do you want to kill?
That designing for inclusion is only about accessibility. It’s not. It’s about designing for real-world messiness - language barriers, low digital literacy, cultural nuance, cognitive load. If your system only works for the ideal user, it’s not ready for the real world.
3. What’s one IT win you’re proud of that most people wouldn’t know happened behind the scenes?
I recently worked on a project, with its core pillar being accessibility. The challenge was designing for inclusion in a space that usually excludes. We built accessibility into the foundation, not the surface. That shifted how the team scoped future work. It changed how decisions were made. The product itself isn’t public yet, but the mindset shift is already influencing other teams. That’s the win. Not just the output, but the strategic ripple effect.
4. What makes a great IT professional?
They translate complexity into clarity. They know how to turn user pain into system decisions. They speak tech to engineers and speak human to stakeholders. They don’t just understand how systems work, they understand how people behave. That’s what makes their work usable, scalable, and trusted. Great IT professionals build trust through communication.
5. Who’s your IT hero?
I admire Kat Holmes. She made inclusive design mainstream. Her work reframed accessibility as innovation, not compliance and challenged the industry to design for difference. That mindset shaped how I approach every project, designing for exclusion first, not last.
IT Professionals Day 2025 celebrates the vital contributions of IT experts who keep systems secure, reliable, and innovative. Often working behind the scenes, they are the unsung heroes ensuring business continuity, digital progress, and user support. The day recognises their expertise, resilience, and the critical role they play in society.