Failures only give you the chance to take bigger steps, to fly higher

I am a programmer by profession. I started my career path in the information technology (IT) field at 12 years of age, when I started attending the TUMO center. At first I learned programming languages and started to creat simple games. Then I found Technolab, where I deepened my knowledge. Later I got involved in a number of companies as a volunteer, and I managed to try out different things, but artificial intelligence attracted me the most. I was especially encouraged by the fact that there are fewer people in Armenia engaged in this, and there are almost no girls. So I took this as a challenge and fully immersed myself into it, wishing to break the stereotypet. Last year, one of my friends won in the Accelerator project, run by UNICEF and UNDP, so that’s how I found out about it. This year I decided to apply myself!

Participate in Accelerator ☒ (done).

Acquire new knowledge and skills ☒ (done).

GTA is a platform that can help employers in the recruitment and selection of the most suitable candidates for jobs with the help of artificial intelligence. I joined the GTA team, because this startup project needs and uses artificial intelligence the most. Here I can not only put my knowledge and experience to test, bringing in a new perspective but also have the opportunity to further build my skills and understanding of the various uses of artificial intelligence to solve everyday issues.

I gained much more than I first expected at the Accelerator project. It aims to bring together girls and young women who are interested in the field of IT but have little experience to provide them with the opportunity to get basic knowledge and skills through training and mentoring and get motivated to learn more and strive for more. The business lessons helped me a lot. Our mentor for business lessons, Areg, made sure that we get an in-depth understanding of various topics, such as how to run a startup, how to write a business plan, how to analyze the data at hand, whom to target for services and partnership and how. Marketing lessons were also interesting, because you had to understand how to brand a startup and what marketing approach to adopt. Although, in the end, I figured out for myself that I was less interested in this part of the work, nevertheless, when you work on a startup, it is equally important to have an idea about the various aspects of running it. At the programming lessons we learned HTML CSS and Java Script. While it was challenging for some of the girls in the group, I wish we had the time to do more of those classes at a higher level.

Trying to learn the ICTs as a girl

I have been interested in computers from my childhood. I was so excited when I first turned on a computer by myself. From the very beginning, I was interested in how it works inside out. When our computer crashed at home, I was very happy, because I could open it and see what was the insides of a processor looked like.

When I joined TUMO Center, I enrolled into robotics, programming, website development, and gaming, but I also tried a lot of other things, such as photography and animation. I remember when I first went to a robotics class, there were 120 boys in the room and only two girls, including me. At first, it was difficult because the boys did not really include me in activities. Perhaps they thought that I would not bring an added value. But the coach, who was a woman, encouraged us, the girl in the class, a lot. And that helped us to succeeded, my robot was ranked among the best in class.

Why should girls enter the IT field?

I’ll give you three reasons why I think that girls should consider the ICT field.

First, if you like that field, you should not look at the opinion of other people who think that it is not for girls. Second, and more important, to me this field is like a real miracle - whatever you cannot do, you ask the computer to do for you. I chose artificial intelligence because it is a wonderful tool to make people's lives easier.

Third, find people who support you. My parents have always supported me․ Maybe because they know that if I put something on my mind, I will definitely do it. To all the girls out there, whose families are against them exploring the field of ICTs, talk to your parents, try to present all the advantages of this field and why you want to be engaged.

Encouraging girls to pursue STEM

Our STEM classes at school are very poorly resourced. While studying chemistry, I have to search for the chemistry experiments of that day online to get an idea of how it’s done. I think that this is where the young people develop their lack of interest towards STEM. If we never see what happens or what can happen when we mix up substances or test other things, we just end up learning things mechanically without understanding their practical value.

As I developed my skills in startup management in the course of the Accelerator project, another small startup idea was born that I was happy to be involved in - Girlօpolis. The goal is to unite, motivate and encourage girls to think about the ICT sphere. We will try to create a community where girls support each other. As part of Girlopolis, we organized a series of hackathons in March, which were only for women and girls aged 18-30.