We talked with Vildana this week about the industry stereotype - engineers’ world as a man’s world and how she decided to become an engineer. We hope Vildana's story will inspire any strong female individual out there to pursue her dreams.
As Vildana is entering the conference room where we arranged our interview she immediately begins with a small story from her childhood “Back in elementary school, I was really good at maths, physics, and chemistry. I used to compete in those subjects, so I guess you could say l knew what I was doing. I remember some of my teachers telling me how I should go to a medical school afterward because working in IT is more of a “man’s” job. I didn’t like that wording nor the excuse. The more I got into programming during that time the more I liked it, so I thought to myself “let me prove them wrong”, and years later, here I am. This is just the beginning, but for me, it feels so good.” In those days when she needs additional motivation, her sanctuary is music and Beyonce. In Vildana’s words “she gives me that extra power”.
Vildana has been working in IT for two years and she’s spent the last ten months here in Symphony. She’s been working as a Frontend Engineer on a project that is very interesting to her. She continues “I get to do things that you cannot see every day in my job, so even after ten months, not a day passes without me learning something new while working on this project. I like that challenge. You know, I go to work and I know that I’ll learn either from my team members, colleagues or the client. That’s a good feeling.”
When we asked her what she likes here in Symphony, a smile came up immediately. “I really like it here, maybe I’m saying it too often but people here really do make the biggest difference.” From her first day, she felt the difference because everyone is friendly and welcoming. “I worked in a smaller company before Symphony, so of course this was something different to me. Symphony is a big community, but we manage to keep the bond. We joke and laugh around, but when it comes to work tasks everybody gets it done. We all share that sense of accountability. We know that we’re building something magnificent, a product or software that will make a difference in the world tomorrow and we all feel very responsible for our work.”
We didn’t share this immediately but you should know that Vildana is always happy, so we had to ask her does she ever gets exhausted. “No! I don’t know if that’s because our processes are so well arranged or because our office offers so much freedom to rest however you like, but it’s true.”
In the end, we asked Vildana to share her future plans and she responds easily “I can see myself growing here because Symphony sees me grow. I’m surrounded by colleagues and managers who are invested in my career growth. It starts with regular feedback sessions, clear goals and directions to strong guidance and aspirations that guide me in my growth, both professional and personal. I feel like my managers are genuinely invested in making me better and more prepared to move on to the next stage. I feel supported and that matters to me!”
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