Interoperability

Adriana Carvalho is a Technical Support Engineer for Fixed Networks at Alcatel-Lucent. She has more than 20 years of professional experience and has, for four years, been involved with the UTS Lucy Mentoring Program which is run by the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology’s Women in Engineering and Information Technology (WiE&IT) program. Carvalho and her current mentee, Bachelor of Engineering student Harsimran Kaur, talk about work, life and what it’s really like being a woman in the telecommunications industry. 

Adriana Carvalho

I first heard about the UTS Lucy Program through one of my workmates and I thought what UTS was doing was so important that I applied to be a mentor then. My main objective with Harsimran is to show her the wide range of work available in telecommunications. She has learned about my job and she has also met with other managers and engineers and listened to experiences from different women in the company. Everything that she has been exposed to, all these different points of view will add a lot to her experience.

The focus is very much on mentoring on a personal level, rather than on a technical level. And it has been very personal because I’m on maternity leave this year. I took my baby with me to some of our meetings as I wanted to show her that this is part of life. It could be that Harsimran chooses to have children, or not, but the decisions you make and the way you handle your work and your commitments can make a difference to your career in the long term.

I identify myself quite a lot with Harsimran. I think she is a very capable young woman with a lot of potential and right now is a crucial moment for her. There’s still quite a stereotype in the industry - like you need to be a programmer or you need to like games or know how to fix computers - but the set of skills required are much broader than that. The nature of the industry is changing. Work arrangements have become more flexible for both men and women and in the long term I hope this trend continues and women will have more opportunities to continue their careers whilst balancing life outside work.

With Harsimran, I’ve tried to break those stereotypes. There are all sorts of people out there; men and women, working together with different skills to deliver the services and products required by telecommunication networks. Today, I’m a Technical Support Engineer for Fixed Networks with Alcatel-Lucent. We support access networks products like Fiber To The Home or Node (FTTH/FTTN) after they are installed and up-and-running in the field. Problems can be related to hardware, software, firmware, cabling, configuration, a networking or interoperability problem, anything. Our main customers at the moment are Australian telecommunications companies like NBN Co and Telstra.

A lot of people say, ‘I don’t have time to mentor’, or ‘It’s just one student, what difference does it make?’ But I can see the difference it makes. To step into a multinational company on the first day of work or the first day of an internship is such a scary and intense situation. The Lucy Program is introducing women to that corporate environment. It provides a more personal view of situations and people. It’s 35-hours of work-based mentoring spread over a period of four months. The structure UTS has for this program is great. I hope it continues to be supported because it reaches a large number of women and the changes it makes to people’s lives and careers are fantastic.

Harsimran Kaur

I’m pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering (ICT) and Diploma in Engineering Practice. When I started at university, I was not sure which area to focus on. The technology is rapidly improving and industry is changing but, regardless of sub-major, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) major is broad enough to allow moving between these areas. After exploring the subjects, I found I enjoyed studying related to telecommunications and networks. Telecommunications is a combination of electrical engineering with computer science. It involves developing, designing and maintaining communications systems – for example fiber, satellite, wired, wireless, encoding and encryption data. Network engineering involves supporting, developing, designing and also securing the communication networks.

I actually didn't know anything about the Lucy Program in my starting years of uni. My first internship was as an IT Support Officer in UTS’s Information Technology Division. The internship was helpful in understanding the logic behind what we are taught at university, and although I learned a lot I was still not that very confident in my skills. So I decided to participate in the Lucy Mentoring Program. I wanted to know how I should develop my career and what I should do when I faced challenges in a rapidly changing industry. There is no one in my family from an engineering background to guide me, so when I saw the email about the Lucy Program, I thought, ‘I have to go!’.

I was selected as part of a competitive application process; I had to answer questions like, ‘Why do you want to join Lucy?’, ‘What are your results?’, ‘What motivates you?’. It aims to inspire and motivate women about the opportunities available and to become leaders in engineering and IT. My interest is in telecommunications, so that's why I was matched with Adriana. In the case of internships, they are more of the technical work - you get to train up your skills - but here, in the program, you get a feel for the diverse opportunities and are motivated by your mentor’s experiences.

I feel very motivated and inspired seeing Adriana balancing her personal life and work life. I have built a relationship with her and she has motivated me to try new things. I have met other successful women in the industry – project managers, engineers – and got career advice from them. I even had insight into Alcatel-Lucent’s technical labs, and getting exposed to the industry has reinforced my motivation.

I am from the north of India, but wanted to study in Australia for my higher studies. I was attracted to UTS because of its reputation and practical element in studies. After completing my high school education I moved here with my mum and younger brother. My dad came a long time ago – in 2001. In the beginning, it was difficult to adjust, but after meeting people I was able to easily adapt to the new culture and to communicate with them as people here are very friendly. It’s been great studying at UTS.

The Lucy Mentoring Program and internship have really built up my confidence. I think mentees are more confident if there is a sense of trust - you can easily share your feelings and talk openly about what you need, what problems you are facing and then your mentor helps you, guides you. I feel really happy that Adriana has helped me and thank WiE&IT and Alcatel-Lucent for giving me this opportunity.

To find out more about the Lucy Mentoring Program, visit uts.ac/1Pc2lmy