21st Century Women Technologists: Vanesa Fernández

We introduce you our colleague Vanesa. Painting lover, this woman from A Fonsagrada (Galicia) settled in Vigo is a Telecommunication Engineer. She currently works as a researcher and developer in Human Generated Data Analytics line, in the INetS department at Gradiant. Vanesa enjoys nature whenever she can and she likes to put on her mountain boots and go hiking in her free time. In addition, our colleague is aware of the environment and among her concerns is to develop her activity in a sustainable way, respecting the environment.

What did you want to do when you were younger?

When I was a little girl, I didn’t remember wanting to do anything in particular, but as a teenager I wanted to be an activist at Greenpeace.

Why did you choose technology for your future?

I believed that technology was an important part of the future and I wanted to be able to understand what was to come.

Where did you plan to do your career? Why?

I came to Vigo to study Telecommunication Engineering because the school had a good reputation, although it was not the closest to home.

What are you currently working on?

In Natural Language Processing tech. I am working on the creation of systems that automatically analyze texts generated by people to extract knowledge from them. These texts can be messages from social networks, forums or web pages in general, for example.

What do you like most about your job?

I like to understand how telecommunication and IT works. When TV news tells us about it, I am able to know or intuit what is behind it.

Who is your feminine reference in tech world?

I like history and knowing how we got where we are. There are women in history who have been able to dedicate themselves to technology and have also stood out, like Ada Lovelace.

What would you say to the technologist of the future?

I would say them to make sustainable technologies, respecting the environment and people who live in it.