To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day on June 23rd, Augury reached out to three of our “engineering heroes” to get more insight into their work and achievements. We hope their experiences will inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) calls to women to shape the world – while taking advantage of the many inspiring career opportunities related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
Let’s face it: the world faces many problems. Together, we can find the innovative solutions to solve these problems. With this year’s INWED theme being ‘Engineering Heroes’, we reached out to some of our own in-house heroes on how they ended up on their particular path.
A Natural Path
“I was always interested in physics and curious about science, so it felt like the natural path for me,” says Mica Rubinson. She’s a very experienced researcher with a PhD in multi-disciplinary Physics and Neuroscience from the Weizmann Institute of Science. As a squad lead at Augury, she now combines her knowledge and passion for science and data-driven research.
“I was always interested in multidisciplinary studies and found it hard to choose what to focus on,” says Mica. “But before diving into a niche, I’d start with following a broad scientific field. If you are interested in several different disciplines, I’d recommend starting with physics and later shift to a more narrow focus in biology or neuroscience – doing it the other way around is harder.”
“I believe my work requires a lot of creative thinking. And by emphasizing this aspect, I think we can encourage other women to go in this direction.”
Pressing Pause
While Mica’s often the only woman in the room (or Zoom), she doesn’t think gender is a barrier in her professional life. “The only time gender played a role was when I had to pause my studies for maternity leave. However, eventually I continued from the point where I left off,” says Mica. “And my partner and I share childcare responsibilities equally.”
She looks forward to when more women choose to pursue STEM-related jobs. “We talk about this at our office: about how there are so few women. Everyone seems to want to include more women, but unfortunately we don’t get as many applicants as we’d like”.
Follow Your Dreams, Welcome The Support
Michal Crombie Zagagi is a software developer at Augury. “I’ve never felt different than my male colleagues. It’s always been a very good experience.”
Michal also always knew what she wanted to do: “I love software developing ever since high school – I knew that I would become a software developer.” And she was encouraged by people around her to pursue her dream.
“I think it’s very important to believe in yourself and make people aware that you are there because you are good and not for any other reason.”
“Just make sure you are at a place that values your work and that it challenges you – in a good way – every day.”
Be Challenged – In A Good Way
Sigal Schwartz is a full stack web developer at Augury. Her passion also began early: “Since I was little, I really loved building things and understanding how they work. I just love planning and designing things and building them from scratch.”
“I don’t feel that my experience is different because I’m a woman. I’m part of the team just like any other engineer. I think you should do what makes you happy. Just make sure you are at a place that values your work and that it challenges you – in a good way – every day.
“We need to expose girls to science as early as possible.”
But Sigal understands that more women have to be convinced to pursue a career in engineering. “I believe my work requires a lot of creative thinking. And by emphasizing this aspect, I think we can encourage other women to go in this direction.”
Get Them While They’re Young
Michal also thinks it’s important to encourage more women. “I think we can do more in raising awareness in young girls – from the time they start school: to let them know that they can do it!”
Mica agrees whole-heartedly: “We need to expose girls to science as early as possible – to show them positive role models.”
Indeed.
Check out these great INWED resources. And do check out Augury’s careers page when you graduate – if not before!
