#stemette

On Wednesday 25th me and three other ladies were asked to visit Mthree consulting. I was invited fairly last minute but I’m very glad I was able to go even if I did have to wake up at 5:30am cries a little inside

So at 6:30am, me and another one of the girls hopped onto a train bound for Euston. Thanks to our train malfunctioning 5 minutes away from Euston we ended up arriving about 15 minutes late.

(From train to tube to DLR flying past canary wharf tube station)

It was a very small event with only 4 of us Stemettes, 4 Mthree alumni- graduates who were working in the finance industry in more tech-y and business related roles - along with Maja from Mthree consulting who ran the event and also Anne-Marie in attendance.

(All of us at the Mthree consulting offices [I’m the one in the white shirt with the awkward hands]- photo credits go to Stemettes Instagram)

On arrival at the office we were greeted by some orange juice, bisquites as well as a goodie bag with a water bottle and notebook with a super smooth cover which I used to take notes during the day.

(the freebies we got in the morning!)

We started the day off with a presentation from Maja about Mthree consulting and what they do. It was nice to hear about the company as I had done a little research beforehand about what the company was and thought had an idea of what they did, but it turns out I was on the completely wrong track and what they offer graduates sounds pretty awesome. Then we heard from the Mthree alumni ladies who explained a little about their educational backgrounds and where they were working now and also had a small insight into Maja’s thesis about breaking barriers and reaching goals in the workplace, looking at a company where the gender divide was around 50/50 and hearing people’s anonymous views on how the business managed it and what they do differently to other companies to achieve that 50/50 split was very interesting to hear. She also gave us some Linkedin tips, which I really appreciated as I have recently been trying very hard to work on improving my Linkedin and will be utilising some of the tips she gave us to try and make mine the best it can be.

Then we popped off to a cute little pub and had some lunch, personally opting for hand cut chips with the most awkwardly tall burger I’ve ever tried to eat, while also taking in some beautiful views of canary wharf shrouded in fog.

(Some views of Canary Wharf ft lots of fog, Harbour Exchange [where the Mthree offices were located] and lunch in the pub!)

Once we got back from lunch we heard more from the Mthree ladies about their backgrounds and also the path they took to end up with this role they have today. Hearing people’s real experiences was one major thing I wanted to gain from the day. Like I said during my presentation at the event, we can read articles online and have talks from people telling us about jobs in the real world, but it’s so much more interesting to hear it from the people themselves, especially as ladies in the STEM and business aspects of companies, when they include their own stories about weird interviews and unusual client situations they’ve been in themselves, it makes it so much more engaging to hear.

Before the day, we had to prepare some small presentation tasks before the day which we ended up presenting at the end of our visit. The other girls all had some really interesting presentations- one about a company that didn’t have a strong percentage of women in it’s ranks and to also hear about a company that had such a huge technology and design initiative- it really highlighted the effort that some companies put into inspiring a whole generation of female STEM workforces.

(Speed networking at the event- photo credits go to Student to Stemettes Twitter)

So last night I attended the Student to Stemettes Matching event at Deutsche Bank in Birmingham. The event was full of speed networking, chocolate, free food and of course a free pen and tote bag. The evening started off with a selection of free sandwiches, drinks, pizza and some really tasty wedges.

Yasmin & Haleema then introduced the Student to Stemettes program to us before playing some ice breaker games- I was personally very  proud of the Wind Trapper jacket concept our group came up with in the space of 5 minutes. It was only £1 a go to use our jacket that would trap the weather from a previous season and then you could release it later on in the year to create a temporary heat bubble around you. Total bargain if you ask me.

Then the real speed networking began. There were the sherpas (The lovely ladies who currently work in STEM careers) and the sherpees (Girls interested about going into STEM fields- like moi). We all sat opposite the Sherpas and had a good 2 minutes and 15 seconds for each Sherpa to ask questions about one another, to see if they were a good match for us and once the time was up, they moved onto the next person. There were ladies from Deutsche Bank and Rolls Royce who could potentially become our mentors over the next 4 months and it was nice to get to know everyone, including all the other sherpees at the event.

I truly look forward to hearing from people who are already working in the STEM industry and seeing what their experiences are and were like as well as looking at what other career prospects are out there for me. I’m a computer science university student on a course with way more guys than gals, so attending this event tonight, sitting in a room full of women who either work or study in the STEM industry, has put a weird sort of inspiration and confidence in me that there are many of women who have jobs in this industry.

When I first signed up to the program, that I happened to stumble across while looking for work experience, I didn’t have that many expectations because most of the other events I signed up for were fun, but they only ever lasted a day or were just very male dominated, but attending this event and hearing about what’s going to be happening over the upcoming months, like meetings with my Sherpa, work shadowing and maybe even a trip to the Grace Hopper Celebration (which sounds incredible from what I’ve been reading in the previous Stemettes attendees’ blogs and videos), has made me really excited for what’s to come as well as my future in the technology field as a woman.

This is my first post in my attempt to document my entire Student to Stemette journey on this Tumblr so follow me to catch all my future updates such as meetings and other events ✌️️