Telling Our Stories – Banovsha Isgandarova
Each year we meet incredible women at womENcourage™ celebrations. We ask womENcourage participants to tell their stories in blog posts. We continue 2022 with Banovsha Isgandarova, who was a master student in the field of Electrical Engineering.
Hello everybody!
My name is Banovsha, I am a master student in the field of Electrical Engineering, my bachelor’s degree was Mechatronics Engineering, and I am experienced in building robotic systems for automation processes.
WomENcourage conference is one of the amazing events that unite female students and speakers from different parts of the world. The main goal of the conference is to motivate females to continue their career in the field of IT and Engineering despite the obstacles they meet during their career path and to share their own experiences with other participants. This year (2021) was my second time attending a womENcourage conference, and I am very glad to be a part of this community. First time I attended in 2019, it was the face-to-face conference where I gained many new friends who still support me in any challenging situations. In 2021 the conference was virtual, but very well organized, so I was able to share my experience with other girls and learn new skills from them. I was a member of the volunteering team, we work hard to host zoom meetings and manage helpdesk on Slack channel throughout the conference sessions. The conference was full of awesome speakers who shared their stories related to their career path and their achievements.
For me the best experience was the participation in the hackathon, we were separated to groups of three-four members from different countries, and all day long tried to solve the given problems. I was in a team named “Purple”, our team was made of 3 members. I was from Azerbaijan and the other members were from Brazil and Germany. In the beginning we faced the time zone problem, as the start time of the hackathon was different for each of us. From early morning we joined the zoom meeting and started to discuss the given topics, we brainstormed through many ideas and finally decided to continue with the idea of a mobile app which aimed to bring the young and old generations together. The mobile app structure was organized in sections for different activities. Activities designed for young people such as cooking, baking, sewing and others that the oung generatuon would like to learn from the elder; and activities such as visiting cinemas and museums designed for the elder generation. The process of the development and discussion was so amazing and motivating for me. In the evening all the teams presented their solutions to the specified problem. After 15 minutes from our presentation, the chair of the conference announced the team’s name which won the hackathon. It was unexpected for us to hear that we won the hackathon competition. We were so happy and inspired, full of confidence to continue our career in the computing area.
I advise all readers of this article to participate in womENcourage 2022 or later ones, even if the event is hosted virtually, as it brings you a new experience and increases your confidence and motivation. Join and be inspired to be successful in your career!