Women in Tech
In Tradeshift we have a proud tradition of celebrating the International Women’s Day and last year we celebrated and highlighted our many female colleagues in Bucharest engineering here on our engineering blog.
This year we unfortunately won’t be able to celebrate the day with cake because all our employees work from home due to the Corona virus pandemic.
Tradeshift is a very diverse work place both in terms of gender and nationalities. We thrive on the different perspectives it brings to the workplace and to our work in general.
In Denmark we have a lot of colleagues in engineering who left their home country to pursue new adventures in a foreign country.
Last year, Sahar Shokouhi, decided to join Tradeshift at our Aarhus office in Denmark and we spoke to her about her way into engineering.
Tell us about your background
My name is Sahar, I am 33 years old and have a master degree in Software engineering. I was born in a small family and small town in Iran. With my dad, grandfather, uncles all pursuing engineering careers, STEM has always been around our house. I have an older sister who is also an engineer.
What do you work with at Tradeshift?
I'm a senior software engineer in Tradeshift. There are lots of diverse projects and technologies to work with everyday.
There’s so much time spend on figuring out what to do before you actually do any of the work. It’s an incredibly creative field where you make translations from business goals and concerns to software designs.
How did you come to work in engineering?
I was born to be an engineer. Even as a kid I always Enjoyed creating things and Legos were my favourite toys. and I think software design is a way to express your creativity in a scientific way. Combination of creativity and technology. Besides, I love problem solving , to take a problem and break it down piece-by-piece until you’re able to determine a root cause. In this way, you’re like a computer detective.
Did you experience any challenges working as a woman in engineering?
There are definitely some challenges for a woman pursuing a career in a male-dominated field. It can be intimidating to be in the minority. This can be difficult at times, but also has allowed me to work even harder and succeed.
What do you like about working at Tradeshift
I think in Tradeshift, equal opportunities are available for all and aren't restricted and limited by gender. You can feel it in all cases.
