“As a woman in IT I was always the minority, wherever I went and worked. I had so many teams in which I even was the only woman. It feels quite good to have a lot of women either working or interested in IT with whom you can share experiences with.” Who are you? What do we need to know about you? I’m Asli Aladag and I currently work as a product owner at MOIA in Hamburg for 2 and a half years where I am taking care of two operational core products.
“For me, seeing someone’s confidence grow, and helping someone to feel empowered to go for their dream job is really awesome.” Who are you? What do we need to know about you? Hi, my name is Emily and I am from England. I relocated from London to Hamburg in 2017. I’ve been working in tech for four years now; for the first three years I worked in software implementation. During this phase of my career, I decided I wanted to challenge myself so I did a stretch program within marketing.
“what I haven’t seen until now (at least not very often) are mentoring-programs for young women. I wanted to be part of that process. „Be the change you want to see in the world“, right?” Who are you? What do we need to know about you? Wow, what a difficult question. You always think you know the answer and then someone puts this question right in front of you ;) I would say, I’m an all-rounder, in my private life as well as in my professional life.
Can you introduce yourself to us? Hi, I’m Dafni, I am a data scientist with a background in biology and computational neuroscience. I come from Greece but I’ve been living in Germany for nine years, the last five I’ve spent in Hamburg. Why and how did you learn programming? Since high school I was really intrigued by computers and I liked interacting with them. Of course, 20 years back it was all quite different, think of DOS for games, Windows95 and DSL internet connection.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and tell us something about your professional career? I am currently working as a data scientist at the Otto Group and develop machine learning solutions for the group companies with a wide range of use cases. I started with a dual study of applied computer science in Stuttgart together with IBM. In the various practical assignments, I noticed that I particularly enjoy working with data.
On 22 September we had our first remote meetup with MOIA. The nice thing about it: We were given a little virtual office tour on the side, because the speakers were all sitting in different offices at MOIA. A big interesting topic of the evening was the application of the Radical Collaboration concept at MOIA. Radical Collaboration is a practical approach to increase the effectiveness of team cooperation. Pioneer of the radical collaboration concept is James Tamm.
“Everyone is different and does not follow a set path, certainly not in technology!” Who are you? What do we need to know about you? I am Brintha Koether, a tech executive with over 20 years of international experience. Why did you join our program? What makes it special? To give back. We need more women in technology and I want to help those early in their careers get the support to explore the options for a career, not a job.
“ I think there is still a long way to achieve gender equality in the professional world.” Who are you? What do we need to know about you? I am Christelle. I am a French-Mexican, living in Hamburg. I’m an optimistic person who loves to learn and gain new experiences. Why did you join our program? What makes it special? I joined the program because I felt I could help women with my experience.
Anna, you first started your career as an officer in the German Bundeswehr and now you are studying eGovernance and Public Sector Innovation. How did this all come up? It’s actually quite an unusual story. I was an officer in the Bundeswehr for almost 15 years. I started in 2005, and after my basic training and officer training I studied political science at the University of the Armed Forces in Hamburg for my bachelor’s and master’s degree.
“Learn and practice networking with people in power, identify sponsors in your company and surroundings, […] challenge your thoughts with your sponsors, and engage beyond your plate. Allow a sponsor to become a mentor over a while!” Who are you? What do we need to know about you? I’m an international IT Executive with long-term experience from different industries, acting as transformational Interim CIO/CDO in global organizations, optimizing value contribution by means of IT and Digitalization of business models.
