Women at our IT departments
Read the interview with 4 women proving that being a woman working in the IT world is no longer a rarity. They will tell you how they got to IT, what funny situations they have experienced and whether they have ever fought against prejudice.
Ing. Marína Schiffer
Executive Manager
Fare collection systems
Ing. Nadežda Klaudíny
Software Developer
Parking systems
Ing. Mária Prekopová
Project Manager
Fare collection systems
Ing. Lucia Némethová
Software Developer
Fare collection systems
When and how did you decide to work in IT?
Marína Schiffer:
“I've been interested in technical subjects since my childhood and I have always loved maths. That is why my mathematics teacher has turned me away from medicine and brought me to try 'computers'. When my brother brought home the first Sinclair ZX Spectrum, everything was clear. At the University of Žilina, I began studying Cybernetics in Transport and Communications.
My next career move in IT area was, by a coincidence, the combination of political development and my own trying. In 1992, I was given a chance to do my Master’s thesis in Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH in Mönchengladbach, as one of the first students ever.
After completing my Master’s thesis (and my wedding with German husband J), I was offered a job of application developer for travel ticket vending machines by Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH. It was an offer I could not refuse and since then I have been a part of Scheidt & Bachmann family.”
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“The first time I met with programming was at the primary school. We used to solve some tasks in children’s programming language Baltik. I was quite successful, but I did not realise it was connected to programming and its use. It was just a game for me.
At the secondary school, I focused on mathematics so I thought that applied mathematics would be my future. When we started programming in Pascal I realised that it was the same. Just as easy as ABC. So, I reconsidered my career in mathematics and started studying IT. I have never regretted it J.“
Mária Prekopová:
“At college, when I studied radiocommunication technologies. From radiocommunication networks to information technologies it is not that far, so the transition to the IT world was natural to me and, moreover, supported by the projects I used to work on. “
Lucia Némethová:
“I discovered my interest in IT a little bit later in comparison to the others – in the 4th grade at the secondary school, when I had to sign up for several-months seminars. From the options offered computer science seemed to be the best option for me. I told myself that it was just a few months, I would try, I would see, if I had not been able to handle it nothing would have happened. I thought I would just participate in the seminar.
After a few weeks of the seminar, my professor convinced me that after I had already started learning programming I should have also taken the maturita exam (final exam) in programming. So, a few-months seminar changed into my maturita´s subject and into the university application. I graduated from the Faculty of Management and Informatics at the University of Žilina.“
What do you think IT is interesting for? What do you enjoy at work?
Mária Prekopová:
“The variety of projects and tasks. The structured job. Creative approach. Interesting colleagues.“
Marína Schiffer:
“The connection between management and IT. Management is about working with people and IT is about constant changes to which we need to react. To correctly join both fields could sometimes be the art, but I enjoy it. I do not take management as managing people, more as a partnership.
My task is to create the appropriate conditions and sufficient space for so called 'self-organisation' for the teams. I am grateful for every single impulse from my colleagues and I am proud when I see that the individuals as well as the teams move forward and their work fulfils them.“
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“I was tempted by the fact that a man sees the immediate (even tangible) result of their work. It is an important aspect that motivates me. It is also great that this job despite many prejudices is very creative.
Only a few problems is the same, a man must model specifically – tailor-made. A man must look for the most elegant solutions in the trick of the code, so it makes sense and is practical. To analyse to see the connections, to realise the requirements – it is like to work on a small piece of a big mosaic. And at the end you walk back and have a look how it all fits in and works. This is a very satisfying feeling.“
Lucia Némethová:
“What I like the most is the fact that IT has a lot of areas where a person can work. And the fact that a person needs to use the logic. Everything else can be taught or studied. That is the great thing, thanks to which I also found my place in IT.”
What do you like the most about people working in IT?
Marína Schiffer:
“The passion and the team spirit.
The moments when no one asks whose responsibility it is, but when all together work as a team and together they can do impossible. Exactly these people work for our company and that is fantastic.“
Lucia Némethová:
“Especially the fact, that I mainly meet very intelligent people. As I like learning and gaining new experiences, I need such people to be around. In our IT company we have many to choose.”
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“Immediacy and rationality. These people are far from being such introverts as the other people think.“
Mária Prekopová:
“I am not sure if people working in IT are significantly different from those working in other areas. Generally I like responsible and positive people looking for the solutions, how to do the things, not the problems, why the things cannot be done.“
Do you think that women currently enrich the male IT domain?
Marína Schiffer:
“You should know how much :-). The problem is that the majority of people in IT is connected with programming only. Of course, without it there would not even be programming. We also have a few excellent women-programmers. But IT is even more. A good program will really be good, if it is based on a good design, if a programmer understands a customer’s requirements, if a tester reveals even the last hidden beauty flaw. And last, but not least, it is important that the management – at the project, team and other level, does everything necessary for these people.
The tasks of women in our company are diverse. For example, our best scrum masters are women. Excuse me, gentlemen – you are also super, but women... Women take the role of 'glue', a motivator, they bring the necessary spark, good mood and maternal care. They think and work more structurally, methodologically and procedurally. They bring these features to the team, thanks to what the team moves forward.
Our teams, in which there are more women are proud of that fact and those without women try to do everything to get them. Check out our new webpage to see, that women have all the door open in our company – in every single IT team. I personally fight for every single woman-candidate to become a member of our family company. Just send your CV.“
Mária Prekopová:
“Just the same way men enrich typically women‘s fields also women, in my opinion, enrich the areas in which there are predominantly men. This is caused by the idea, that male and female brains work differently. When the male and female point of view combine, the image gets more complex.”
Lucia Némethová:
“It is generally known that women in some areas have a little bit different thinking and perception and therefore with their 'other' ideas, they contribute to great IT solutions. I am not just talking about programming. Even the testers – women are getting more and more desirable, because they have a great ability to deal with people and to present the ideas to customers.”
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“According to the survey published by the Harvard Business Review, it is proven that by adding women to the team, the team dynamics changes what results in increased collective IQ. It is not just about intelligence itself but also about raising social sensitivity. In which there are, not always, but many times, women better. Maybe someone does not think about it on an ordinary day, but in some cases, it is better to trust the US scientists J.“
What have you already done during your working life, what are you most proud of?
Mária Prekopová:
“To maintain the good relationships with my colleagues – both current and former. Also, I had worked as an adviser to the European Commission for the Digital Agenda for 2 years. In Žilina, we founded ZaICT – an IT association of IT companies, schools and Žilina regional government, whose goal is to support and create excellent working conditions within the IT sector.“
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“Every time I finish some project and I get the great feeling of work done – I am proud of myself, because I have a job, where I found myself and I enjoy it. I do not take it for granted. It is priceless.“
Marína Schiffer:
“I am extremely happy that after moving to Germany, I got a chance to 'return' to Slovakia. I do not mind, that I regularly travel among Mönchengladbach, Žilina and Bratislava, because I can see how Slovakia is at an abnormal pace catching up with Western Europe. And thanks to my work, I am a part of this process. “
Lucia Némethová:
“A business trip to the US, where we successfully passed our system testing directly in front of our customers.“
What obstacles do you have to overcome as a woman?
Marína Schiffer:
“No special obstacles because of the fact that I am a woman or a stranger in Germany. Maybe it is good about IT. There are no prejudices. The colleagues, the superiors, the customers have never judged me by my nationality or gender, but by what I know and what I can do.“
Mária Prekopová:
“None as a woman. It was mostly about resistance to new, unknown things. The attitude of: 'I have been doing this for 20 years so why to change it?' and the resulting consequences.“
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“In spite of the time of progress, a person sometimes faces the fact that our professional opinion is seen in contempt, because we are women. Still, we sometimes and somewhere are given an inferior feeling. It is a sad reality, that will hopefully soon belong into the deep past. “
Do you remember any funny incident that happened to you in Scheidt & Bachmann Slovensko?
Nadežda Klaudíny:
“I remember, that when I was a new here, some male colleagues needed more time to realise, that there were more women in their department, so a few times happened, that I met them leaving the ladies bathroom :-)“
Lucia Némethová:
“There were many of these, mainly during the business trips we experienced lots of them. I do not remember any at the moment, but it certainly does not mean, that it is not funny. Even the IT colleagues can be really funny sometimes :-).”
Mária Prekopová:
“Every day we laugh together with our team. For example, when our colleague was leaving for paternity leave, we changed his PC screen saver to „blue death“. Then we had fun because of his panic (schadenfreude – the best joy) :-).”
Another funny situation was, when we tried to entice the customer from the test room in order to we could fix the error. When nothing happened (surprisingly) and the system stopped during the admission tests. I'd rather leave details for myself.
Thank you for the interview and we wish you all the best to Women’s day in IT.
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