Opening doors: Hafsa Bibi
A computing student at the University of Portsmouth has won a place at the prestigious Women in Technology event run for women studying traditionally male-dominated subjects.
Hafsa Bibi, in her second year of a computing degree at the University’s Faculty of Technology, was one of just a few young women from the region to be offered a place.
The biannual event, called ‘IT’s not just for the boys!’, took place at Bloomberg headquarters in London as part of the Steminism UK network. The event aims to provide information, support and guidance about careers for women studying science, technology, engineering and maths, commonly called STEM subjects.
Hafsa said: “The event was really inspiring; I met a lot of females in technology and networked with many different people in the industry. The networking was particularly enjoyable as I got to meet and talk to professional women from a variety of companies.
“There was a session with a confidence coach which was fun, but also very useful, and a question time session, where we could ask top female employers about who and what they were looking for, how they got to where they are now and what the industry is really like.
“It was interesting to hear about the different routes that women had taken to become successful in their careers.”
The event was run by Target Jobs in partnership with global technology giants including IBM and Microsoft.
Emily Parry, senior student employability and enterprise officer at the University, said: “Many STEM industries are male dominated, so events like this highlight career routes for female graduates and will hopefully go some way to helping redress the balance.
“I’m delighted that Hafsa took advantage of such a prestigious opportunity. She was one of only a handful in our region to be selected. It’s really helped her think about the type of career roles she might pursue – not only for her industrial placement in the next academic year, but also once she graduates.”
