The world celebrates women in IT on the fourth Thursday in April—the United Nations’ #GirlsinICT Day. Hadya Adnan celebrates it every day. As a Business Systems Analyst at Caldic North America, she addresses business requirements with technology solutions.
Hadya is based in Mississauga, Canada, but her story begins in Iraq. She was still a child when her family fled to neighboring Syria, where she first developed an interest in IT. “I knew I wanted a career in this field,” Hadya recalls. “I saw my older sister do it, and I knew I would be supported if I went for it as well.”
She enrolled in a computer engineering program, but her life turned upside down again. Hadya had to leave Syria and resettle in Lebanon for some time before moving to Canada under a United Nations Refugee Agency mandate.
Despite this upheaval, Hadya never gave up on her career ambitions. In Canada, she completed her computer engineering course and went on to specialize in software engineering. It was not long before she received a job offer and began her journey as an IT professional. However, that experience was more complicated than Hadya had anticipated.
As the only woman on the team, she felt she had to constantly prove herself to the others. “I was confident in my knowledge and skills, but there were times when I was made to feel incompetent or even uncomfortable,” she says. “I was given simpler tasks even though I repeatedly asked for new projects and more challenging tasks.”
Working in a male-dominated field was challenging, but Hadya was undeterred. Her next career step brought her to Caldic where she feels empowered to enhance our workflows and IT systems. Focusing on supply chain processes, she gained expertise in ERP and cloud computing projects. She identifies gaps, makes recommendations for efficiency improvements, and trains users on module upgrades.
“I was confident in my knowledge and skills, but there were times when I was made to feel incompetent or even uncomfortable. I was given simpler tasks even though I repeatedly asked for new projects and more challenging tasks.”
“More than technical know-how, my role demands collaboration, strategic thinking and problem solving,” she explains. "You don't learn these skills in your IT program, but through your own experience. I believe that, as a woman, I enrich the organization with these qualities.”
For Hadya, women offer a unique skillset to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. She hopes to inspire more girls and women to consider opportunities in IT: “Throughout everything, IT gave me a goal, a purpose to keep going, and I hope more women recognize the value we bring to fields traditionally associated with men."