Talking to women in tech (I)
March, the spring month in which we celebrate women, is an occasion with which we want to highlight their impact in the IT industry.
I spoke with some of the incredible women I've worked with over the years, whose dedication makes it possible to push the boundaries of youth.
They are actively involved in setting the stage for the future of technology in Romania. These women are fighters, visionaries and tirelessly supportive of education among young people and technical communities. That's why you should know their names.
Magda Miu
Magda Miu is Engineering Manager at Adobe and Google Developer Expert for Android. She has over 12 years of experience in the Android world and has been actively involved in Women Techmakers, the community of women passionate about technology, but also in the Google Developers Group.
Magda also passionately conveys the knowledge of Android to young students from the faculties of profile (IT) in the program Google Digital Programmers Workshop.
Magda's journey into the fascinating world of technology began in high school, in computer science classes, where she first discovered what programming means. At first she was passionate about mathematics, but as she began to learn and practice, she realized that programming was even more fascinating. “For me it is very important that things have a logic, a clear structure, and the programming fulfilled these expectations for me,” explains Magda.
By this time, she has changed four roles. He started as an Android developer in 2010, and after five years he built his first team (eight mobile developers) and began to easily transition to leadership and management.
After eight years in the same company, he felt the need for a change. That change involved him taking on the role of Squad Lead Developer, and together with his three teams (about 28 people) he built the first 100% digital telecom subscription in Romania, all within a native mobile application. In 2021, it was time for a new change, so he is currently Engineering Manager at Adobe and handles two teams part of the Adobe Experience Platform.
The first technical community he got involved in was Google Developers Group Bucharest. This happened somewhere in 2013, as Magda tells, when she was still living in Pitești, and after work, she went to Bucharest to participate in the events organized by GDG Bucharest.
Google Digital Workshop
He has been involved in the Google Digital Workshop since the beginning, since 2018, where he took part in the creation of the curriculum for the Android Fundamentals course. So far it has had the opportunity to prepare more than 250 students.
“Google Digital Workshop was and is a very cool experience for me. I enjoyed preparing the materials for the courses, but even more I appreciate the interaction with my students. Each time I am pleasantly impressed by their intelligence, their perseverance, their talent and their curiosity.”
The Android Fundamentals course exposes students to theoretical knowledge, but especially practical (about 30% theory, 70% practice). In addition to the code writing part, during the semester, students also work on a project that they present on the last day of class (demo day). That project contains all the concepts studied in the course and includes the basic knowledge needed in building an Android application. Each demo dagis special for Magda and every time she is pleasantly surprised by the projects of the stuntmen and their involvement.
More details about his experience at Google Digital Workshop: Android Final Project — Winter 2021& Digital Workshop for Programmers.
Profession and dreams fulfilled
Magda had the opportunity to participate in Google I/O in 2016, which she considers an amazing experience. In addition to having the opportunity to travel to the US, attending in itself was a dream of his since college.
“During my two weeks in the US, I attended sessions held in Mountain View, at Google headquarters, I had the opportunity to see part of the campus there, but also to visit the headquarters in San Francisco. It was like a super concert for programmers from all over the world, and the stars were the speakers and developers at Google. It was also then that I had the opportunity to personally meet Reto Meier, whose books helped me a lot at the beginning of my journey in the Android world.”
After the trip, Magda returned home with more technical knowledge, a network that grew substantially, but also with more motivation to continue growing and learn as much as possible in terms of programming and leadership. “It was a revelatory experience. I highly recommend.”
Tips for women who want to join the field
From Magda's perspective, the most important thing is to make sure that you want to work in this field. And you can only discover this by experimenting and having the courage to try.
It also tells us that it is not simple, just as no change is simple, but with a set of practices and discipline anything is possible. “And if things get difficult, take a break, don't give up,” Magda added.
If you want to get into this field, here are Magda Miu's recommendations:
- Find a mentor/coach to help you make this change, but be aware that you are 100% responsible for your career.
- Learn as much as possible about yourself. You can create an personal SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats/impediments), because all these details will help you understand how you can act.
Establish a plan with goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely), but even more important is to create a system of habits that will help you achieve those goals.
Alexandra Nica (Bratu)
Another wonderful woman with whom Digital Stack works and whom he appreciates very much is Alexandra Nica (Bratu). She is the Team Leader Software Developer at NxData and a mentor in the Google Atelierul Digital pentru Prograatori. Alexandra is passionate about Python and involved in developing communities of women passionate about technology/programming.
She participated in the first Python course at the Informal School of IT and then at the Google Digital Workshop for Programmers four years ago. Since then, she has mentored hundreds of people in Python programming.
Alexandra chose Python out of curiosity, in college, for data analysis. Thus, she realized that it is a language with potential, which today she uses in the field of web programming constantly.
“Python is an easy-to-learn programming language with potential in many areas: artificial intelligence, web development, IoT, machine learning and data analysis. The community of Python programmers is very large, so there are many libraries that can be used directly,” explains Alexandra.
Google Atelierul Digital pentru Programatori
Alexandra is a mentor at Google Digital Workshop for Programmers since classes were held in physical format. “The interaction between students was different than it is now online, but the motivation remained the same. It helps students the most to connect with the reality within a firm, learn how they can translate their personal ideas into projects, and how to work as a team. We at Google Digital Workshop for Programmers are constantly changing the subject to help students be prepared for the demands of hiring companies and stay up to date with programming language news.”
We asked Alexandra what the world did not know about her and she told us that she loves to prepare cakes that she shares with friends.
As for advice for a woman who wants to enter this field, Alexandra told us that she needs to “be patient with herself, set goals and not give up — perseverance is the key.”
We continue the series of stories of women working in tech with Rafaela Voiculescu.
