Diversity and Growth — A Real Skills Perspective
The challenges of entry to the STEM industry can be overcome by exposing yourself to new opportunities, training in complementary skills, and connecting to professional networks.
By Juwin Lee
Seeking out opportunities for personal and professional growth has never been as important as it is today. The amount of STEM graduates in Australia outstrips the number of new jobs being created with only 59% of graduates finding full-time work in the 4 months after finishing their degrees. Furthermore, the STEM workforce is dominated by men, with women only accounting for 16% of full-time workers in STEM fields.
Diversity and equality of outcome can be driven by encouraging and supporting the interest of women in STEM during education. One such venture for students is the FEMEtech Hackathon held by Real Skills Education in collaboration with Nichol Stark, the founder of FEMEtech Revolution. This hackathon creates an opportunity for women to ignite their passions for the STEM industry. A past participant in the hackathon has agreed to share her aspirations and learnings.
Self-Introduction
“Hi! My name is Monica Kim and I am a second year student studying a Bachelor of Psychology at the University of Sydney. After my studies, I aspire to become a clinical psychologist specialising in children, as I believe childhood is where major emotional development occurs and I would like to be a support when it is the most influential.”
About the FEMETech Hackathon
“This event was the first hackathon I had ever participated in and I am grateful that I had this opportunity, as it broadened my perspectives on diversity and opened up a lot of opportunities.”
“I was amazed that a student-led organisation was able to organise and host an event that was in partnership with Deloitte and Nichol Starks, founder of the FEMETech Revolution. RSE has inspired and motivated me to develop my professional skills and challenge myself to become a better individual that can be of value to society and the workplace in my field of psychology.”
What did Monica learn?
“Participating in the FEMETech Hackathon has definitely helped develop my technical and interpersonal skills. This hackathon required my team to develop an innovative technology to promote diversity in the workplace within 24 hours. I was able to improve my time management skills as well as my teamwork skills, as our group brainstormed ideas, allocated tasks, and finalised our presentation under such time pressure. However, I am even more grateful for being given an opportunity to practise my public speaking skills. Not only did I present in front of an impressive panel of judges on the day, as the winner, my team was able to pitch our idea to an audience with astounding careers in business and STEM at the FEMETech Revolution Conference. This experience instilled a greater sense of confidence in myself.”
“Being surrounded by such esteemed individuals at the conference was inspiring and after talking to some of those who attended, I was reminded of the importance of having an open mind and seizing opportunities. Hence, since then, I have said “yes” to various openings that contribute to my professional career by helping me develop the skills that are required to reach my aspirations. In particular, I have recently taken on the role as a Junior Therapist for a private client and have undergone training for Applied Behaviour Analysis. As a student majoring in psychology, it was also extremely eye-opening to see some of the theory that I learnt in my first year course be put into practice.”
What you can take away from Monica’s journey
She has surmised that taking a proactive stance towards opportunities and the act of saying “yes” to openings that you come across will lead to personal growth. Taking the chance to interact with like-minded individuals and industry professionals will give you more confidence and clarity in your personal and professional future. In support of workplace diversity, we aim to expose students to more opportunities in the same vein as the FEMEtech Hackathon.
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