International Day of Women in Engineering

“The technology industry has become increasingly relevant, where each new member is necessary and has great potential for growth. This is why it is a perfect field for more and more women to develop professionally”

The International Day of Women in Engineering is celebrated every year on June 23rd, and it is an opportunity to commemorate this beautiful and relevant profession in an industry dominated by men. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness in an international level about the importance of more and more women training professionally as engineers, contributing to economic and social development globally.

Currently, in Uruguay, only around 20% of the positions in the tech sector are held by women, and in an even lower percentage, these are held by women engineers.

For this reason, we asked Eng. Eugenia Álvarez, who has been part of WorkWithPlus for almost 15 years, and is currently part of the Innovation & Development team, to share her experience as a woman engineer.

How was your experience as an engineering student in a profession led by men?

When I started the degree, only 20% of us were women, which makes you bond a lot with men, both to do work and to study, as well as to create new friendships. This begins to happen from the moment you take the scientific orientation in the fifth year of high school, so you are already prepared for that reality when you start your tertiary degree. Regardless, my experience was very positive.

Would you recommend your profession to young students in our country? If so, what advice would you give them?

Of course. Systems Engineering, and the IT area is booming, and it will continue to do so in years to come. It's challenging, it's constantly evolving, and it has countless areas to focus and specialize in, plus it has zero unemployment, which is a very attractive factor to consider.

Although in the IT area there are short courses that allow you to enter the job market quickly, my advice is to study university degrees as much as possible. University degrees give us a great technical base, but even more important is that they provide us with tools to learn to solve the problems that arise, something very common in a world where technology changes rapidly. Today, it is very common to course the degree while working in the area of technology, and I think that makes it more feasible for more people to study these careers.

Do you think it is important that more women are trained in Engineering?

Without a doubt. It is important that more women are trained in Engineering. As I mentioned before, there are more and more jobs that require people from the IT area, in addition to the fact that the classic Engineering careers will always be necessary. We aspire to be fairly represented in this industry, in order to have equal opportunities in the work environment, and thus reduce the gap between genders in the sector.

Do you think that the technology industry is an area for more women to develop professionally as Systems Engineers, and to work in programming?

The tech industry has become increasingly relevant, where each new member is necessary and has great potential for growth in a wide range of areas. This is why it is a perfect field for more and more women to develop professionally, and achieve the aforementioned equal opportunities. More and more women should be encouraged to enter this world, as there are still many great ideas to contribute in this sector.

Do you feel that at WorkWithPlus you have had the opportunity to broadly develop as a professional?

Since I joined WorkWithPlus, they have trusted my work and have given me opportunities to grow professionally as the company grows as well.

I started working in development on GeneXus projects and migrations, and then I began to focus on the tools currently known as WorkWithPlus, where at the beginning the same people did various tasks (development, support, trips abroad to give training and consultancies, among others), but as the products were more widely adopted by the GeneXus community, the team expanded to focus on the tasks of each one and continue to meet the expectations of our customers. Our vision is that for every GeneXus license there is a WorkWithPlus license, that is, that everyone uses our tools. I am currently working as a Product Manager.

WorkWithPlus is a company that is aware of the digital division that exists between men and women in the industry, and promotes women in it to achieve equality.

Conclusion:

The role of women in the technology industry is fundamental, and its importance cannot be underestimated. As the world moves into a digital age, the active and meaningful participation of women in this arena becomes increasingly crucial. The International Day of Women Engineers gives us the opportunity to recognize and applaud the achievements of women in the tech industry, as well as to reflect on the challenges and barriers that still persist.

Women have unlimited potential to bring innovation, creativity, and unique perspectives to the tech industry. Additionally, their leadership and example inspires future generations of women to explore careers in technology, breaking gender stereotypes and fostering greater equality of opportunity.

At WorkWithPlus we are committed to working in this sense, in order to try to contribute our bit so that this barrier eventually disappears. It is by recognizing talent, creativity and personal skills that we can grow as an industry and encourage many women with great potential to join this incredible industry.