Hello and welcome to our series on women in tech at Axway.
We wanted to highlight some of the women of Axway,
get to know them a little bit,
and also discuss some of the issues facing women in tech,
and what we could do to get more women in tech,
specifically in our field of IT and computer sciences.
So, today we are with Daniela Lupu.
And Daniela, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Tell us where you are in the world because Axway is very spread out.
What you do at Axway, and how you got a start in your career,
what got you interested in this field.
Thank you, Lydia. I'm very happy to be here.
I have a scientific background, and more than 20 years of experience…
…and evolved in multicultural environments and different fields of activity.
I'm passionate about technology and started my career in mathematics…
…at Bucharest University,
transitioning from teaching, and research,
to IT consulting, R&D, and operation.
I'm currently EMEA Cloud Services Director at Axway.
I’m based in Paris,
working with a diverse team of customer obsessed techie girls and guys.
If I'm looking back at what got me interested in tech,
my first memories are guiding me...
...to my first role model, my mom,
who started as an aircraft engineer,
and she was bringing me,
a little girl, to her teaching class,
and letting me draw engine parts, and function diagrams
...along with her students. I have vivid memories
of how fascinated I was to discover…
…“I can do grown people stuff,”
and then complex solutions can be made accessible…
…through clarity, and then complexity unveiled is beautiful.
I love that complexity unveiled.
It's interesting too because many of the women we've spoken to,
for them, their role model was often a parent as well,
their dad or your mom, like you mentioned.
So that is such a neat story that you got to grow up in that influence.
And as I mentioned before, Axway is very spread out around the world.
It sounds like you had a very Axway-typical career of moving around…
…and getting to meet and work with lots of people.
What do you think from your experience,
from your background and perspective,
that we can do to encourage more women to want to join the tech industry,
and to feel comfortable there?
Exactly what we are doing right now.
Advocate for diversity.
And I would encourage everyone, it's never too late.
Every one of us can turn to a woman in our life.
Encouraging curiosity and exploring.
Often it's just a small suggestion that can spark something.
“Hey, you're good at this, you should look into this.”
Sometimes it's just that small little hint…
…that people start thinking,
-“oh, maybe that is a good fit for me.” -Exactly
So, yeah, you never know the influence you can have in someone's life.
What would you say to a young girl or maybe a young adult who's considering…
…or maybe somebody who's reconverting in their career needing to do something different?
What would you say to a woman considering a career in tech?
Do you have any advice?
What are some of the opportunities...
...and what are maybe some of the skills they might need?
Technology is an integrated part of everyday life,
and continuously evolving.
There are so many opportunities for...
...impactful and meaningful change.
In cloud ecosystem,
industry cloud platform, sustainable technology,
AI trust, risk, and security management.
I actually did an experiment. I asked ChatGPT...
...the exact same question
what are the opportunities for women in tech?
And I would like to read it to you.
-Sure. -Is not so bad.
-Chat GPT is pretty good. -Yes.
“Women have a wide range of opportunity in the tech industry…
…such as software development, data science,
AI and ML,
cybersecurity, product management,
UX/UI design.
The industry is actively striving to promote diversity and inclusion...
to foster a more equitable and flourishing workforce.”
And would you want to know what ChatGPT answered...
...to the question a little bit changed?
What are the opportunities for men in tech?
It was the exact same answer.
So, I would invite women to join the STEM fields…
…to make an impact.
And just think how cool is to know…
…that when you get into a car...
...and maps magically appear on the dashboard,
or you take the train, or the plane,
or when a team needs to share...
...a top-secret document,
how cool is it to know your work contributed to making this ecosystem,
and knowing that you can produce an idea...
...that will potentially improve experience, assist someone in need,
increase user satisfaction, create a new product or a new service.
All of this is meaningful and ultimately...
...contributing to making the world a better place.
Yes, I will say that's one of my favorite things about working at Axway is…
…knowing that we're in the background of...
...basically everything in most people's lives.
And that is really neat to be a part of that.
What would you say you love the most about your job in tech at Axway?
What is one of your favorite things?
My favorite thing in my job is…
…working with people,
and at the end of the day,
feeling that I made an impact, even the smallest one.
Being at the service of my team and my customers.
Yes, and it's interesting that you bring up that collaboration and communication aspect,
because I think sometimes an assumption about the STEM fields is that…
…it might be lonely, you're on your computer all by yourself,
or that you're in a dark server room or something along those lines.
And the truth is, there's a lot of communication skills needed as well,
and working together on projects and that sort of thing, and so good to know.
Technology is important, but this is an important part;
you don't necessarily need to have a mathematical background…
…to work in technology.
You don't necessarily need to start in IT to work in technology,
but you do need some technical skills.
These can be learned.
Everything can be learned.
I'm a strong believer that...
...communication can be learned, curiosity can be learned.
Curiosity is maybe one of the skills that is very important in technology,
and any other field of activity.
Absolutely.
Yeah. And I've noticed…
…nowadays, especially, there are so many more opportunities to do boot camps…
…or trainings or things that help you reconvert.
And I think that's really neat.
I'm thinking specifically of moms who may have stepped out of the workforce for a long time.
There's all these really cool programs,
allowing them to get this boot camp training and get back into the field.
So, lots and lots of opportunities available today.
Thank you so much for joining us today, Daniela, and sharing
your experience and your perspective.
Thank you, Lydia. It was a pleasure.
-Thank you. -Absolutely.
And thanks for joining us for our Women in Tech series.