21st Century Women in Technology: Mariel Márquez Barreiro 

Here at Gradiant we’re celebrate Women’s Month by recognising the work of all those professional women who have paved the way with their contributions and our own women in technology who have a whole future ahead of them to close the gender gap in the technology sector. Making the technology field more equal depends on everyone working in the sector. Raising the profile of new professionals is key to getting more girls to pursue degrees in science and technology. 

That’s why this week we’re talking to Mariel Márquez Barreiro. Football, basketball and canoeing were some of the sports she played as a child before turning to engineering. Still a member of a football team today, she also takes advantage of her free time to play padel with her friends. Deciding on her professional future was easy for her, since she had a clear vocation for technology from a young age. She is currently in her final year of a Master’s Degree in Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Vigo, working in the area of Intelligent Systems, applying and developing technologies in the Cloud Native line. 

 

What did you want to do when you were little?

To tell the truth, I was lucky enough to know what I wanted to do from a very early age: to dedicate myself to the world of science and technology. When I was a child, I was interested in becoming a teacher, but from my first couple of years at secondary school, my goal was to become a Telecommunications engineer.

 

Why did you choose technology?

In part, I chose it because of the great knack I had for numbers and science since I was a child. My favourite subject was always Mathematics, and later Computer Science and Physics, which is why it was so easy to decide. Beyond that, I was always a very curious child when it came to technology: I loved learning how to use computers, mobile phones and other gadgets. In general, I was very interested in understanding how things really worked.   

 

Where did you plan to study? Why?

Because I was so sure I wanted to do Telecommunications, the search became much shorter. I was coming from studying 1st year of the Baccalaureate in the United States so I had that experience of being away from home, away from my family for a whole year. That’s why I never considered leaving Spain; my intention was always to stay close to home. Besides, I knew that the University of Vigo’s degree was one of the best in Spain, so the decision was quite straightforward. 

 

What are you currently working on?

Right now, I am finishing my last year of my Master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering and I am taking advantage of my work at Gradiant to work on Master’s Dissertation. I am working on the Cloud Native Line, focusing on a couple of different projects. On the one hand, I am developing a platform for monitoring the services deployed in Gradiant’s 5G Lab, using Cloud technologies such as container orchestration with Kubernetes. On the other hand, I investigate and test the use of edge devices, such as SoC+FPGAs boards to run artificial intelligence algorithms, also in a containerised way, again using Kubernetes as an orchestrator. 

 

What do you like most about your work? 

What I like most about my work is the having so many different projects and tasks. This means you don’t feel stuck in monotony and you can have constant challenges, completing objectives within short deadlines, so that the work is always rewarding. Without a doubt, what I like most about my job is the possibility of working continuously in a team, which, thanks to the atmosphere at Gradiant, makes the days much more bearable and enjoyable.  

 

Who is your female role model or reference in the world of technology?

I have never had a “famous” or “recognised” role model in the world of technology. The female role models in my life have always been my mother and my grandmother; intelligent, good, hard-working and ambitious women who have always fought for their goals. But, apart from them, my main professional inspiration has been my godmother. She studied Cybernetics Engineering, and her hard work and commitment saw her enjoy to a tremendously successful career in her field. She was the one who really made me want to become a telecommunications engineer and was a great example that it’s possible to be a successful woman in this professional field. I always said, “I want to grow up to be like her“. 

 

What is your reading of the situation regarding women in the technological field?

The differences between my grandmother’s generation and mine are huge and this is an incredible example of how far our society has come in just two generations. This social transformation, in my opinion, would never have been possible without the ambition, courage and achievements of thousands upon thousands of women who, despite having everything stacked against them, dedicated themselves and succeeded in STEM careers. But we can’t fool ourselves either: the progress is astonishing, but there is still a long way to go to achieve complete normalisation and equality in what’s traditionally a male-dominated field. Thanks to the very favourable environment in which I grew up, I wasn’t really aware of how much there is still to fight for until I got to university.

 

What would you say to the tech workers of the future?

Basically, neither Engineering or Science has an associated sex or profile, so it’s vital to make this idea visible. We have to be aware of the current reality: there are already thousands of successes achieved by women in these fields every day, and making them leading figures in the world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Above all, I would say that it is now more than obvious that technology is a sector that is gaining more and more strength and influence in our society every day. It’s vital that we are all represented in it, and the only way to achieve this is to have a full diversity of workers and people involved in the field.