On April 18, 2016 in Kyiv office of Microsoft Ukraine the Girlz in ICT initiative was held. The event aimed at encouraging girls to be guided not by stereotypes, but by personal interests and abilities, while choosing a profession in IT. Girlz in ICT event, organized by Microsoft Ukraine together with GURT Resource Centre, brought together 75 participants. Among girls were students and graduates of IT specialties, IT-managers, software specialists and graduates of specialties not related with IT, planning to develop a career in IT.
Microsoft Corporation celebrates the International Girlz in ICT Day to properly assess
During the opening session of the event Director of Operational Management and Marketing at Microsoft
For more convincing arguments from Tetiana Marushevska for girls to build a career in the IT sector
The stereotypes about the role of women in IT became one of the subjects in the speech of Head of Business Development at KPMG Ukraine and the Board Member at the Ukrainian Women’s Fund Alina Sevastiuk. During her presentation «Trends in business: be prepared to change» the speaker cited data from the current labor market studies and assured girls that career success depends more on their readiness for change in professional and intellectual way than on the gender identity: «There are five unceasing waves of changes: person, global economy, physical environment, skills and team. The major trends that will impact on business and governments in 2030 all over the world are the trends related to opportunities of the concrete person, global economy and physical environment. To keep up with the changes it is necessary to acquire new professional and personal skills, namely, adaptive thinking, intercultural competence, ability to use new media and effectively work remotely. In addition, it is important to have knowledge from outside your specialization. Try to do something that is unusual for you. It is at the intersection of disciplines where startups and the most interesting ideas emerge». To learn more about the practical skills of the future, sociological research data and the role of strong-willed nature for women successful career, watch the VIDEO report.
Among the participants of the event were girls, for whom IT is a resource for research activities within other nonadjacent areas. Uliana Popova,
According to the career interests participants had the opportunity to choose one of three parallel sessions to visit during the second part of the event.
The lecturers of the session «IoT: technologies allowing to connect transducers, sensors and software for managing the physical environment» were the winners of IoT laboratory of Microsoft Ukraine.
The session on Internet of Things was opened by Lesia Kondratiuk. The representative of the OpenWorld project told about how the students of philosophy course taught by Ms. Kondratiuk sparked her interest in IT sector and how they together launched a project of comfortable city for persons with a visual impairment.
Natalia Hvozdetska raised the question of
RoboEcoBoxKid project co-founder Victoriia Haidar shared with the participants of the session on Internet of Things her own experience of successful cooperation with a team of male IT-specialists. Victoriia and her colleagues develop a project on smart garden system growing plants in compliance with the ideal climate conditions.
Not only speakers of the session on the Internet of things had their own projects. One of the participants, Iryna Holovnia, graduate of the National Technical University of Ukraine «Kyiv Polytechnic Institute», told about her project idea, which is currently under implementation: «The idea of my project has a global dimension, because, in addition to using IoT, my project provides integration with mobile applications. The project has already started, but I’m looking for opportunities for its promotion. Today, we lack only platform — Arduino or Raspberry Pi. On this event, I learned about IoT laboratory of Microsoft Ukraine, due to which I can develop my projects the way it succeeded speakers of the session on the Internet of Things».
The next session speaker, Head of the Ukrainian digital-agency Engine Volodymyr Halika, presented the report on «Digital marketing: # SMM and not only» during Girlz in ICT event. Based on the facts and striking examples from his own experience, Volodymyr showed how social media can promote a specific project.
Participants of the session on Digital marketing are very motivated to use and deepen their new knowledge for their professional activities: «Volodymyr Halika shared practical experience on how to develop a business official page in social media, how much it will cost, which content is perceived in the best way and what are the features of Ukrainian Internet audience nowadays. As for my
The audience of the session of technical evangelist at Microsoft Ukraine
After sessions female participants had the opportunity to talk to each other, to exchange contacts and new ideas.
Student of the Institute of International Relations at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University Anastasiia Holub, who also works in marketing and consulting area, spoke about her impressions on the event and communication with participants: «In the correct proportion we got new knowledge and a boost of energy to realize new ideas. It is pleasant to note that for the first time I participated in such an event, which gathered together so many smart and committed women. Despite the fact that today women have many opportunities for development and career building, both men and women have stereotypical thinking as if many doors especially for technical professions are closed for women. In fact, all the doors are open – you just should not be afraid to enter them. I hope in the future the phrase «She can not code» will provoke a laugh instead of the popular phrase «She can not cook».
