VICTORIA LOVASOVÁ, SOFTWARE ENGINEER – UNIQUE AMONG DEVELOPERS

Although increasing in number, female programmers are still quite rare in the workplace. We catch up with Viktoria to get her view from the inside.

You are the only female programmer at our HQ in Bratislava, how do you find working in such a male-dominated environment?

We all work together very well. The guys are always nice and willing to help, and we have a lot of fun solving problems together.

What do you do at Innovatrics?

I’ve been at Innovatrics for over a year and, from the beginning, I’ve worked on the main biometric product, AFIS (Automatic Fingerprint Identification System). Our team works on the front-end, which is programmed in the Ruby on Rails language.

Do you find this job interesting?

My work is particularly diverse. We are in regular contact with customers, providing support and assistance, so we get to see how our product is used in real-world scenarios. Being part of the process from development to deployment is something I really enjoy, as well as the opportunity to travel quite regularly.

So you’re a programmer on the road?

Yes – we regularly attend shows and exhibitions. This year, I attended SDW (Secure Document World) in London, which was a fascinating experience. In addition to attending foreign exhibitions, we also support our HR and Marketing teams at student work fair in Slovakia and Czech Republic. It is interesting that, in a short time, I’ve reversed roles and am now in the position of employer, whereas not so long ago, I was the student!

How was your experience with students?

It was quite strange. When I was a student, I regularly attended these events, so it felt strange to be on the other side. Although, I really enjoy talking to students and advising them on their futures.

What brought you to Innovatrics?

I learned about Innovatrics from a classmate who started working there. Initially, I was apprehensive because I didn’t know much about biometrics, but when I did some research on the company and its work, I was really enthusiastic. This is not a field of work that the average person knows a lot about.

In your opinion, how is Innovatrics different to other companies?

One example is that Innovatrics provides great access to education and training for employees. Each year we can choose a conference we wish to participate in. This autumn, our whole team attended EURUKO 2017, held in Budapest. We all really appreciate this support from our employer. Additionally, we have regular internal training sessions such as “Ruby Wednesday” or “Educational Tuesdays”.

How do you perceive the opportunities for career growth? Is there room to develop?

If a person feels that they need to move, management try to accommodate. So there is usually no problem to move between teams. There are many examples of people who wanted to move sideways or upwards, and who did so successfully. The technical teams can also be rotated, giving people opportunities to work with different programming languages. Also, many former programmers are now in the delivery team, which is responsible for deploying our solutions, meaning they travel all around the world. Others become consultants and help design the right solutions to suit clients’ needs.

Why do you think there are so few female programmers?

I think women can see programming as tedious work and are therefore not attracted to it. However, this trend is slowing – during my time at university, there were very few girls in my faculty, but now I see that the number of girls studying informatics is increasing year on year.

What would you say to people thinking of applying for a job at Innovatrics?

Go for it! If you want to find a career you enjoy, working with the latest technologies, with opportunities to develop and grow, then Innovatrics is for you. Having a background in biometrics is not so important, rather a general interest in the world of technology.

About Viktória Lovásová

Viki comes from Horné Saliby and graduated from the Department of Information Systems at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology at STU. In her spare time, she likes sports, her two dogs, travel, and tourism. She likes reading detective stories and programming web applications. She is driven to understand rapid developments in the IT world and is constantly learning new things and improving in her field.