Q&A with New In Tech Scholarship Winner Soumia EOs

SheSharp: Can you tell me a bit more about yourself? (Name, where you live, what you do for your career, etc.)

My name is Soumia, I live in Amsterdam for the last 7 years and I work as API Specialist and I am doing a bootcamp for full stack web development delivered by IronHack.

SheSharp: What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?

I started working closely with developers over the last couple of years and I found what they were working on to be very exciting. Due to my disability, I have been refused a job promotion which triggered my desire to develop my skills and move to a field where there are constant attractive job opportunities.

SheSharp: How long have you been in the industry? Can you tell us a bit more about your journey to get where you are today?

I am still not yet in the industry as I will finish my bootcamp next year then I will start job hunting; wish me luck!

SheSharp: You're a recent recipient of our scholarship - I'd love to know more about what you put the bursary towards and how you applied what you learned to your career?

I invested it to pay part of my bootcamp cost provided by IronHack. The course is still ongoing but I've already been able to apply some of my learnings to my current job in the API field.

SheSharp: Do you have any advice or lessons for women entering the tech industry?

1. The most important advice would be to learn alone by following an e-course and give yourself the time to practice what you've learnt before continuing your education in a group setting. Everyone will start at a different level when you learn in a community environment and you will be unintentionally comparing yourself to your peers that may be more advanced than you, which may be really difficult to deal with if you don't already have a baseline knowledge.

2. Take the time and the space to learn - and practice again and again....

3. Help others while learning in a group; it will consolidate and validate the concepts you've already learnt as well as boost your motivation.

4. Be kind to yourself. New concepts might take some time to start making sense. You will be overwhelmed at times, in those moments, make sure to take the time and space to breathe and come back energized.

We'll be opening up our applications for our next round of New In Tech Scholarships on October 3, 2022. More info can be found here.