What's it like to work in IT as a woman?

Learned young

“From an early age, I've been immersed in the world of IT. My father was a database administrator and brought home the first computers at the time. When he got a new computer, I got his old one.” Where an average child of about 10 years old uses a computer to play games, Miranda was actually interested in the technical side of a computer. Miranda: “I often completely disassembled the computers I received and then reassembled them to see if he would still work. From that moment on, I actually knew that I wanted to 'do something with computers' later.”

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From sniffing internship to HBO-ICT

“In the third grade of high school, I had to go on a sniffing internship. It was quickly clear to me that this would be with an IT company. After this sniffing internship, each child in the class had to record a video to tell them what they thought of it. At the time, it was noticed that most other children had trouble filling 1 minute, while after 10 minutes I couldn't tell how cool my internship was.”

A few years later, Miranda started the System, Network and Application Administrator course in Almelo (ROC van Twente). She was able to complete this study at an accelerated pace, so she was ready after 2.5 years. Miranda: “I then started in the company where my father also worked. I really enjoyed working here. Later, I started working at QL-ICT as a support employee and learned how to explain IT problems in a simple way and to solve them remotely with the customer.” But Miranda wanted more and found out that she needed a college education for everything she wanted. Miranda: “I went back to college: HBO-ICT at the Saxion in Enschede. While studying, a lecturer (Theo Lansink) came to me to ask if I wanted to manage Saxion's Cloud environment. That's when I first came into contact with VMware.”

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Infrastructure Engineer at Fundaments

After wandering through Previder and Lesscher, Miranda finally ended up at Fundaments, where she has enjoyed working for over 5.5 years now. Miranda: “Especially at the beginning, I noticed that customers weren't used to getting a female engineer on the line. Once, I was even asked “if a man” could come to the phone. As time goes by, that has all become somewhat different. Fortunately, I've never heard these kinds of comments within the team and I'm not seen as 'the only woman', but simply as a team member like everyone else. Sometimes oblique jokes are made and, if necessary, if it really goes too far for me, I'll say something about it. I also often hear that a woman actually provides a good dynamic in the team. I have now enjoyed working at Fundaments for over 5.5 years and hope to be able to grow even further here. The work I do just suits me incredibly well and remains challenging enough. I would therefore especially like to say to young girls who want to follow an IT course: it is an incredibly beautiful profession. Don't let it stop you because it has the image of a “man's world,” just be yourself and don't adapt because someone else expects you to!”

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