21st century Women Technologist: Eugenia Kuchumova
Eugenia Kuchumova is from St. Petersburg, Russia. Although she is still finishing her degree in Telecommunications Engineering, she is already lending a hand at Gradiant, enriching her education with the experience of working on the front line of an international technology centre. Although technology is her thing, Eugenia has many other hobbies ranging from music -she plays the piano and the guitar-, to drawing and ceramics. She is also passionate about languages, so much so that she combines her last subjects at university and her work at Gradiant with a Japanese course at the Official Language School.
What did you want to do when you were little?
From when I was very young, I have some memories of wanting to be a lawyer or a judge, I guess from watching it on TV. Somewhat later I went through a stage where I wanted to be a chemist so I could create “colourful explosions”.
Why did you choose technology?
My favourite subject was mathematics and since. At high school I knew I wanted to do something related to numbers. I ended up choosing Telecommunications Engineering because I wanted to learn more about how the Internet works and the different types of networks.
What are you currently working on?
I am writing my final degree project on anomaly detection in industrial traffic, within the CONGALS4.0 project.
What do you like most about your job?
How entertaining it is. There is a huge variety of new technologies and situations to deal with every day, and that makes it possible to design creative and innovative solutions. I’m constantly learning new things and I can’t imagine ever getting bored of this kind of work.
Who is your female referent in the world of technology?
I don’t think I have any ‘famous’ role models. Actually, the women who have inspired me the most are my grandmother and my mother, both graduates in Electrical Systems and some of the smartest people I know.
How do you imagine your career in technology? Where would you like to go?
I am quite ambitious in that respect. I want to learn as much as possible and end up having a lot of experience in the field of cybersecurity, so that I can dedicate myself to projects that use cutting-edge technologies to improve and make people’s lives easier.
¿Qué les dirías a aquell@s que están pensando en escoger la rama tecnológica de cara a sus estudios?
Go for it! If it’s what interests you and you want to do it, the difficulty of the course doesn’t matter. Technology allows us to solve more and more of the problems that exist in society, and I think that being able to be part of that is an important motivation. It’s definitely a worthwhile endeavour.
