Founder of inSite Innovative Education Solutions (Pty) Ltd, Zeldeen Muller, is encouraging teenage girls to opt for the science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects at school.
“Maths is vital and so is your willingness to stand out from a group of your peers,” she said.
Muller, who is also chief executive of AgendaWorx, advised women to seek career paths that will open doors around the globe.
“Take yourself and your dreams seriously. When you have self-confidence, others have confidence in you, too. The IT industry will always need bright, innovative minds, so #ChooseToChallenge yourself not only to become a web developer using on-the-shelf tools, but a hard-core coder. It’s a high risk, high-reward industry, but the real innovation and money is in custom coding for clients,” she said.
Muller encouraged women and young girls to believe in themselves.
“Believe in yourself and do not let learned limitation live in your head. Regardless of your background, self-belief and education blurs the lines between women and men, and so many other areas of bias.”
Noting the internet as a valuable resource for teens and women to learn new skills in their own time, Muller highlighted the importance of continual learning and looking for opportunities to grow – “and not just on Women’s Day, but every day”.
She spoke highly of a career in coding. She said coders used to be “the backroom boys”, but they are now interacting with clients directly.
“This bodes well for women, who use intuition to quickly understand what a client needs. As companies are forced to be leaner, more clients are talking directly to developers,” she added.
Muller reiterated her call for women to focus on Stem subjects.
“I’m thrilled to see the number of women in tech today, and how more and more young women are choosing a Stem education. It is for women to #ChooseToChallenge the status quo in business,” she concluded.