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A data engineer is a huge rarity
Viktorija Užusienė, an employee of the data solutions company Exacaster, is a data engineer.
While still a relatively new and unknown profession to many, data engineers are considered the most necessary profession of the 21st century. This is a profession in which employers await all professionals with open arms and which promises very good career opportunities and excellent salaries already in the starting positions.
When asked what data engineers do on the job every day, Victoria simply responds: “My job is to ensure that customer data, which is in large quantities, is retrieved quickly, accurately and safely and are stored in an orderly manner in the data warehouses. And even after that, it is possible to do analysis from that data and everything else that is invented, ”he says.
In fact, data engineers do difficult but very important work, because the further we go, the more we live in a data world where everything revolves around data, even if we don’t realize it. The importance of data has increased especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and is projected to increase in the post-pandemic world.
However, there is a serious shortage of these professionals in the market and newcomers to university continue to prioritize the social sciences.
An even bigger rarity in the Lithuanian market is a data engineer. They appear to be just drives, although, as Victoria, a data engineer puts it, it is certainly not a “male” job.
There could and should be many more girls and women data engineers, but the main obstacle, according to Victoria, remains stereotypes.
“Women are much less likely to choose IT studies because we still have an established view that these are complex and ‘male’ specialties, although this is not true at all. Often times, the influence of stereotypes manifests itself in the family, where from an early age it is formed which jobs are suitable for a girl and which are not. Therefore, I was very lucky that there was no such attitude in my family, there were no jobs for men or women. We grew up with three sisters in the family, our childhood was very open and we never heard something so you can’t do anything, it doesn’t suit you just because you’re a girl, ”said Victoria.
She adds that this attitude was shaped by her grandmothers from an early age for her and her sisters.
“I had two strong grandmothers who did everything they needed without dividing the jobs because my grandparents left very early. The role of the woman was the role of the family. These were the basics, that helped me as a child, that helped me understand that there is no need to be content with some limited opportunities, ”Victoria said.
Advises to get rid of preconceived fears: they are usually unfounded
When asked how she chose a profession, Victoria says that, like many, she did not immediately understand what she wanted to study and do in life. He considered many different options, such as seriously thinking about studying English until he finally decided to study finance and insurance math at Vilnius University.
Therefore, the sciences chosen were not purely IT studies, although the basics of programming and databases were provided during the studies. However, this did not stop Victoria from finding herself in data engineering, an information technology profession that is being embraced by employers today.
“Understanding what I wanted to do was very helpful to me, as I decided not to do individual student assignments while studying, and instead of doing it, I went on to do internships in a different field that interests me. Then I saw a job in the bench, later on the starter throttle, but I saw that it was not for me. I looked further and in my third year I discovered that the Barclays Technology Center in Vilnius is looking for interns for my technology academy. In fact, I didn’t really understand then what tasks awaited me there, but I went, participated, and passed the selection. Then I saw that I was interested, I deepened and soon received a job offer ”, recalls V. Užusienė the beginning of his career in the field of information technology.
Starting out as a support specialist, Victoria gained a strong foundation in data engineering and then went on to work with big data.
That was the beginning, and a few years after the successful start, Victoria received an offer to try herself as a data engineer at Exacaster. “I knew I still had a lot to learn, but the manager trusted me that I could, and I think I tried it pretty quickly,” Victoria shared about her career, adding that two things are especially important to becoming a data engineer: programming basic concepts and understanding of databases and their management.
“Well, and most importantly, working with data should be fun. The amount of data is huge and growing, old processing methods are no longer adequate, new technologies need to be applied.” Everything is very interesting to me: discovering how to move data from one place to another, how to do it quickly and streamlined, “said Victoria, an Exacaster data engineer who works with companies in the South American telecommunications industry.
Victoria urges girls and women who think of YOU but do not dare to enter to get rid of preconceived fears, which are often unfounded. “The field of technology is not unique, it is the same job as everyone else. In addition, there are so many things in the world of information technology that anyone can find what they want. All you have to do is drink and taste, ”he said.
By the way, Victoria would be delighted to share her personal experiences and advice with girls and women interested in YOU. You can write about Victoria through the social network “Linkedin”.
Until now, there is no IT specialty where there are more women than men
According to Indrė Kaikarė, director of jobRely, a direct recruitment company, women make up about 20 percent. of data engineers, specialists in the Lithuanian labor market, currently in great demand both in Lithuania and in the world.
There are still significantly fewer women in other IT disciplines, although gender diversity is gradually increasing.
“When it comes to the IT job market, the majority of women are currently among the testers – over 40 percent of all employees. Second in popularity is the position of data analyst, where women make up just over 30 percent. Workers. However, when we look for experienced front-end or back-end engineers, we find far fewer women, just up to 10%. And unfortunately, there is no IT specialty so far where there are more women than men ”, I. Kaikarė reviewed the distribution of IT employees by gender.
However, according to I. Kaikarė, the trends are really positive: the number of women in the information technology field is increasing. According to the interlocutor, the growing flow of IT academies, whose graduates are voluntarily employed by companies, and who are pleased that the motivation of these employees is often even higher than that of those who have chosen the field of informatics in college, he’s a significant contributor. to this.
“The pandemic is driving more and more companies to go digital and this is exacerbating the shortage of IT professionals. IT companies are increasingly competing for employees; It can be said that currently it is not the employers who choose the employees, but vice versa: the employees choose the employers and dictate the conditions both in terms of salary and working conditions. It also creates additional incentives for women to choose IT, ”says jobRely’s manager.
A new trend: the retraining of IT professionals during maternity leave
Sima Kučinskaitė, Director of the Vilnius Coding School Career Center, observes that the number of women who want to study IT professions or retrain in IT from other specialties is actually increasing. At present, men and women make up 55% of the students at this school, respectively. and 45 percent. Most women choose to specialize in testing, data analysis, and website design.
Another trend is that women often decide to retrain as IT specialists while on maternity leave. “In this case, we always try to encourage women not to be afraid of change, in addition, even after a couple of years of training and separation from the labor market, we also help them find a job in a new field,” she said. S Kučinskaitė.
By the way, it shows that women who work in various fields are not afraid to change careers: there are people who want to learn to work in IT, even in fields such as medicine or aviation, and apply for management positions in companies. or researchers.
“Women often sacrifice their careers consisting of maternity leave, but at the same time we note that such a division is already visible in today’s environment. We have already counseled men returning from paternity leave in our center. Careers. Such a balanced division in the family allows both parents to pursue a career and achieve their goals, “added S. Kučinskaitė, representative of Vilnius Coding School.
