We interviewed Evangelia Andrianopoulou, Service Manager at Onfido on her experience and thoughts on women in tech.
- What does your job role involve?
As a Service Manager I work on Facial Verification. I analyse and test our product, find solutions on how to improve fraud detection, automation and other key KPIs.
On a daily basis, I work closely with software engineers, machine learning engineers and researchers from the wider research and biometrics team.
- What made you choose a career in technology?
I was very interested in technology from a very young age and I love to be a part of a company that builds amazing products to improve everyday life.
- Did you study an IT or technology related subject at A-Level or University?
I studied International and European Economics at Athens University of Economics and Business,
where I did a lot of econometrics and statistics, which built my love for data analysis.
During business courses, tech companies had the most interesting case studies.
So I decided to find a job that combines these two.
- Did you get any work experience in IT or technology before this role?
Yes, I was working for almost three years at The Beat App, which is a Greek ride app, as a Fraud Analyst, focusing more on payments, card transactions and fraud patterns in Latin America, where the application operates.
- Do you think there is a lack of females in the IT and tech sector?
Yes, I feel that females are not sufficiently represented in the tech sector.
- Do you find there is a stereotype that a career in IT or technology is just for men?
I think that there used to be a stereotype, but our generation has overcome it. The only effect of this is that current tech professionals are mostly men, since a few decades ago, while this stereotype still existed it was very uncommon for women to study technology.
- What would entice women to study technology related courses?
The same things that entice men, loving tech and solving complicated problems.
- Are there barriers when it comes to women getting into tech?
This depends on the company culture. There are companies that still follow old beliefs, support discrimination and allow inappropriate behaviours.
In Onfido we have a very inclusive environment and despite the gender everyone is treated equally.
- How could we encourage more women to start a career in tech?
Do not allow and reproduce old stereotypes, especially on how people in tech should look like, and promote better women role models, ideally from tech.
