My name is Susanne, I am 26 years old, and I work for the IT startup „PL8“ in Vienna.
I spent my childhood abroad with my family, attended four school systems and learned three different languages. My interest in cultures, history and communication were nurtured by this international upbringing and background.
After high school I went on to study communication science at the University of Vienna and at Bilgi University in Istanbul. I graduated in 2013 with my master thesis about media usage in prisons.
Over the years at University I developed a great passion for all forms of communication. At the same time, I started working in a small Public Relations agency to support myself through University and gain practical experience. While I enjoyed my daily PR work, the rapidly developing online world opened up a completely new field of communication for me. I became an early adopter for most of the biggest social networks and started managing the websites and social media presences of my clients.
After completing my studies I received a job offer in a Viennese IT startup. Although I only had minimal IT experience, I took on the challenge. At „PL8“ I am COO (chief oreo officer), the only woman on the team, and responsible for communications and operations.
The daily routine of working with websites and apps rouse my interest in programming. I started coding myself, and keep learning on the job everyday. I enjoy working with WordPress, HTML and CSS, and have started learning Ruby on Rails. Coding not only opens up a completely new area of work for me, it helps me understand our daily business better, and makes it easier for me communicate with our programmers and our clients.
I never thought that I would end up in the startup and IT world, but it is the best direction my career could have taken. The opportunities for girls in the IT sector are endless, and the motivation in young firms is contagious. Don’t be afraid to take the leap!