Women in Tech: Today we celebrate all girls and women in science!
International Day for Women and Girls in Science was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to promote full and equal access and participation in science for women and girls. Today is a great opportunity to celebrate the important role women and girls play in science and technology. System Verification promotes and values diversity and inclusion among its employees. Gender equality, flexible working, fair salaries but also supporting a work-life balance are some of the things we stand up for.
On this occasion, we gathered inspiring and engaging women from our offices in Sweden, Poland, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meet Samra, Angelina, Minja, and Paula who answered a few questions regarding their role and experience as women working in the IT industry.
Besides working as test engineers, these incredible women have the opportunity to work as consultants and also delivery leads on important projects. “Consultants are only super skilled experts that help out customers to solve problems that they possibly can’t resolve themselves. – That is in some way true, but it is not always so. The most important thing is the mindset and the strong will to learn new things and be ready for new challenges and changes”, says Samra, our test engineer in Germany, who recently finished a remote assignment at Space Stockholm.
We had a chance to take a peek at Minja’s workday flow. She is a test engineer, delivery lead, and part of the Advisory Board for System Verification (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
“An Interesting thing is that there are no two workdays that look the same when you work in IT. However, my general responsibilities at the project are to ensure that the software our client is delivering is quality software and that the delivery of our development team is coordinated and effective.
Usually, during the regular workday, I sync with my colleague from the QA team to discuss our priorities for testing and plan for the work that needs to be delivered. Throughout the day I also regularly verify the quality of the delivered work and ensure it is delivered to production. Coordinating with the development team to ensure they are not having any obstacles is another important daily task for me. As a part of the Advisory Board, I have had a task to be available on daily basis to our colleagues and take their suggestions as valuable input for constructing proposals of various improvements to our leadership team.”
To answer the question of what is the best thing about my work Angelina said, “I don’t know where to start, I really enjoy being a test engineer. As a former chess player, I enjoy thinking outside the box to try to find something that my opponent (or in this case, developer) has missed. But the best part is to have so many nice colleagues, both at Ikea and System Verification.”
“From time to time I like to have some changes in my work. That makes my job interesting and gets me out of my everyday life. So every new project is a new challenge for me that makes me curious, and I get new energy to learn new things. Even if a new project mostly matches my skills, there are always things that are new for me. So I need to be prepared for new technologies, tasks, and tools depending on the new project. It gives me the opportunity to develop myself and invest in myself. A new project is also a new chance to meet new people, so we can learn from each other a lot”, Samra adds.
We also brought the topic of stereotypes that women potentially face in the tech industry with Paula, our IT Recruitment Team Leader in Poland. “The classical stereotype is that the IT sector is for men only. Luckily, I meet more and more outstandingly skilled women who are specialists in this sector. I had the pleasure to hire some of them, and I hope that women statistics in IT will only grow”, she said.
Apart from getting to know their experience in the tech industry we got some insights into the personal life and hobbies of these fascinating women. Samra said, “In my free time, I like to spend time in nature, especially in spring and summertime. Mostly I like biking and having long walks.” Angelina played in the Swedish National Chess Team for 10 years. How cool! “I am a huge fan of Mortal Kombat and in my free time, you will usually find me playing it. Another great interest of mine is watching true crimes series”, said Minja. You can never go wrong with a movie or game night to unwind and end the day, right? Paula is a fan and collector of Japanese comic books.
Times have certainly changed and we can all see the positive improvement and changes. That is not the case only in this industry but all around. Our advice for every girl and woman out there, searching their way in this IT world, is – apart from having the willingness to learn and a positive mindset just like for any other job role, surround yourself with like-minded people and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Minja adds: “Women should be aware that we are capable of many things. There are many exquisite role models which we should look up to. Work hard to become a role model for someone else, as well. If we do not believe in ourselves – old stereotypes will remain in our heads as the biggest obstacle for us to overcome”. We hope we have inspired some of you women out there – thinking about and working towards a career in IT, and hopefully, we will continue to be inspiring examples to current and future colleagues. The possibilities are endless!