Explore Sezen’s journey as a female Embedded software Engineer. Uncover challenges, advice for women in engineering, and insights on her evolving career in this dynamic field.
Women In Engineering with Sezen
FPGA Insights has conducted an exclusive interview with Sezen, who is working as an Embedded System Engineer, to gain valuable insights into her experiences as a woman in engineering.
What’s your Name, job title & area of research/work?
Sezen, Embedded Software Engineer, Embedded Systems
What sparked your interest in engineering? Can you describe the moment you realized this was a field you’d like to pursue?
Zeitgeist mostly; it was the early 2000s, and several gadgets were starting to get on the market. It was fascinating.
What are your experiences of being a female engineer?
Mostly okay. In the beginning, when I joined my current company, I felt I was hired just for being a woman; they were specifically looking for women to meet a quota.
I can understand the reason, but the positive discrimination didn’t make me feel very comfortable, as it wasn’t based on merit. So, I do have some insecurities, but that mostly has to do with me. My current team is great, and I have mostly good experiences.
The company I work for is very small, and everyone is a software developer. The management also has a technical background, which sometimes makes some aspects of work difficult for me.
I think it is important for the management staff to have soft skills, be socially aware of what is going on, and have good communication skills. I don’t feel they are very inclusive and take me very seriously when I work on sales and account management activities outside of software development tasks.
Can you tell a bit about your career path so far?
I started working for a small IT consultancy company. Then, I moved into industrial automation as a SCADA project engineer, later transitioning to the software development department of the SCADA software package. I’m currently working for an embedded software consultancy company.
What has been your most challenging experience as an engineer?
You need to put in a lot of time, including your free time, if you want to get good at it. There’s so much out there, and new developments are constant. It’s a fast-evolving field and hard to keep up with. Sometimes, it can get a bit lonely socially, but once you are in the team that is right for you, then it gets better.
What is the most exciting thing about your job?
Seeing things work in the end. Somehow, it always feels like magic 🙂
What kind of impact would bring you great satisfaction in your work?
Constant improvement. It sounds simple, but it can be tough to achieve. I have times when there is no learning curve.
What do you think needs to be done to improve the statistics in terms of women’s participation in engineering?
the Netherlands, not many women choose engineering; it’s still considered a male profession. I don’t really know what would encourage more women; probably more women are already on the field.
In Southern Europe and Asia, it’s more common for women to choose engineering. While the work environment in the Netherlands is better for women (in my opinion), I think the work culture in Southern Europe (from what I’ve seen) and Asia (from what I’ve heard from colleagues and friends) isn’t that great towards women.
They are not taken seriously and are bossed around by their male managers. It’s a pity because it could be a great profession for women; you can easily work remotely in software development, which allows not only women but also men with families to have more free time without the need for commuting. In some households, maybe the woman has more household tasks, so working remotely can be an advantage.
What do you enjoy most and least about engineering?
Most: The way software is developed together; all phases involve teamwork, and there are many people around to help you improve.
Least: During free time or outside work hours, it’s not always easy to meet with colleagues because conversations are usually about work or engineering 🙂 which makes it less fun for me, personally. At work, the human and social aspects is also less emphasized; the focus is always on the technical aspects.
Who has been your greatest support, coach, and mentor across the industry, and why?
I was lucky to have good team leaders in all of my jobs. It makes a huge difference. When things are not going great, it is important to have an understanding and empathetic person that can make you feel better. I started late in software development and thanks to the patience and guidance of my team-leaders I got the opportunity to stay in this field and learn.
What is it like to be a woman in engineering? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective and experience from your male counterparts? Any advantages?
In terms of the actual work, I don’t think being a woman changes much; the challenges are the same for everyone. But in team dynamics, I do think it brings something different. I tend to pick up on social cues and emotions quite quickly, even if people aren’t saying things directly. That helps in understanding what’s really going on in a team or during discussions and sometimes even prevents misunderstandings before they escalate. It’s not something I do consciously, but over time, I’ve realized it plays a role in how I work with others and how I contribute to a team.
What advice would you like to give to women interested in engineering? What kind of practical experiences should they have? Which technical skills should they pick up?
Until recently, I wanted to do a bit of everything and not focus on a single area. But like in other professions, it takes time to understand things conceptually and get good at it. So choose one area you like and focus on it; the more you do it, the better you get, and the more you enjoy it. For software development specifically, it really helps to contribute to open-source projects, to learn, but also to get connected with the community. This is not something I did, but missed out on and I would advice young people to start there. In terms of being a woman, you can ask your managers to hire more women if you think that would make it easier for you; most companies are open for that now.
