Women in IT has announced two winners of its annual bursary for women entering their final year of IT or ICT studies.
Nomathemba Duma is entering the final year of her BSc in IT at North West University (Vaal campus), and Elinah Mamatlepa is entering the final year of her BSc in Computer Science and Informatics at the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
Where career paths are concerned, Duma is most interested in systems management, while Mamatlepa is fascinated with IT security and has discovered a passion for Web design.
A needed investment
Both winners admit that IT has been a steep learning curve for them, and note that IT continues to be perceived by many school and university students to be "a man's" field.
Duma observes that her male classmates seemed to enter their IT studies with a more extensive starting knowledge of IT, possibly because interest in this subject is more strongly encouraged in young men than it is in young women.
Plans for change
After she has gained some experience with a prominent tech firm, Mamatlepa plans to start her own IT company and work in partnership with the government "to make sure that IT is a compulsory subject in schools," she says. IT skills are incredibly important, she notes.
Duma is eager to use her story of success in her IT studies to demonstrate that women can find success in IT, and encourage other young women to do the same.
Mamatlepa has been elected a residence academic adviser for 2016 at one of UJ's residences, and aims to use this role to help and mentor first-year Computer Science and Informatics students, particularly young women.
"Women in IT met candidates from different walks of life, they all had one common trait - the passion for IT and developing their communities with the skills that they have learned and will still learn," says Nonceba Rasmeni, project manager for Women in IT.
New leaders
Rasmeni also noted a trend in leadership aspirations among this year's bursary applicants. "Women in IT's standard interview question asks candidates where they would like to work, [and] out of eight candidates [selected for interview], seven advised that they would like to own their own business," she reports.
"This is an interesting mindset shift as it shows that students are beginning to realise that education must translate to skills," says Rasmeni. The applicants "showed an understanding that they would like to develop business acumen, but ultimately they want to use their skills to run their own businesses".
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