Spoiler alert: Opportunities to take initiative, a feeling of pride in their projects, and enjoyment for the work they do.

Ladies in IT are becoming more and more prevalent.

At Levi9, over a third of our employees are women. And within our Serbian leadership teams for Belgrade, Novi Sad and Zrenjanin, six out of ten of our leaders are women. Given that even our CEO is a lady, it’s clear that ours is a business environment where women are not only prevalent, but also successful.

With International Women’s Day this week, we had to ask ourselves the question, “What is really important to women in IT?”

If we look at the results of our Employee Satisfaction Survey, we see that what women in IT most want is to be able to take initiative for improvements, be proud of what they do, and enjoy their work.

Following that, women also want to clearly know what results are expected of them. They feel that their efficiency at work as well as opportunities for personal growth and development are equally important.

When we look at what they focus on within their job, Levi9 women prioritize the client first, then their effectiveness in work and leadership, and finally satisfaction and dedication to work. If we compare that with their male counterparts, we see a great similarity; Levi9 men also focus first on the client, then leadership and effectiveness, and finally work satisfaction.

In terms of teamwork, IT women most appreciate when their team contributes to the success of the project, and it is important for them that work is done efficiently, with a focus on the right things. Customer focus, or rather Customer Intimacy, is most important when working with clients, as well as good cooperation with the client and being able to respond to their needs.

Women achieve multitalent through hobbies

The concept of “Girls in STEM” is still just as important in 2021. We see that organizing various activities and efforts both on a company and personal level, truly makes a difference in inspiring girls to engage with the natural sciences. One of the activities we recently engaged with was the GirlsHack hackathon for female students in Serbia, where our own Sladjana Tufegdzic, Java Software Developer at Levi9, mentored the winning team. This hackathon is part of the AFA community program, an organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of women through innovation and technology and their active involvement in creating a future digital civilization.

Sladjana worked with the student team of Angelina, Milena, Marija, Sladjana, and Jelena; she supported them as they designed solutions using Design Thinking methodology techniques. We asked her for her thoughts on the participation of girls and women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in Serbia, also given her international experience in life and work.

“I see the dominance of web technologies as the biggest obstacle. Not everyone is interested in programming and there are so many occupations in the IT world that are not purely technical. I think it’s important to organize presentations about what professions exist; that some of them are very creative and that there are many other areas such as Internet security, gaming, the virtual world, IoT… ”

Marina Stupar, who spends her days at Levi9 as a Test Developer, is also very successful in dance sports – recently becoming a certified coach. Commitment on both sides inevitably yields results, and Marina also explains her love of dance:

“I started dancing at the age of 7, out of a great commitment to movement and music. I trained folklore, then rhythmic gymnastics, and for the last 10 years I have been practicing dance sports (Latin American and standard dances). When you consider a hobby as an indispensable part of your day, then it is very easy to fit it with other obligations, such as college or work. I consider my recently obtained coaching diploma as a way to pass on the knowledge and experience that I received from my coaches. ”

Natasa Vukovic is known in Levi9 as the best make-up artist among developers, and probably the best developer among make-up artists. This interesting hobby, in addition to drawing, Natasa, who works by day as a Java Software Developer, is one of her favorite activities. As she says, both programming and make-up require creativity and sometimes dealing with almost unimaginable client requirements.

“My original love for drawing has developed over time into a love of makeup, which I have been actively professionally doing for a little over 2 years. For me, it’s an extremely creative job and my favorite mental break from programming. In addition to beautifying clients for events that are important to them, I also have time for some of my crazy ideas from areas that currently interest me a lot, such as high fashion makeup and beauty photography. ”

Milica Knezevic, a colleague from the Zrenjanin office who works as a Test Developer, is a travel enthousiast. Milica is the author of the blog “Izaberi da živiš (Choose to live)” and an inspiration to many. She lives life to the fullest and enjoys pushing the boundaries while realizing her dreams.

“Each new trip is an opportunity for me to learn more about the world around me, explore new places, meet different people and ways of life, as well as always find myself in a new situation – and all of that together makes each trip a special adventure. Working from home has also given me more flexibility when traveling, because I only need a laptop and internet connection; that way I can work from anywhere. The most interesting trip for me is always the next one, “says Milica with a smile,” but if I really had to choose, it would be either Niagara Falls or Prague. “