1st Century Women in Technology: Elena Campillo

Placing the spotlight the work of women in technology is important to motivate new generations to take an interest in this field in which there is a huge gender gap. That’s why, as well as highlighting the achievements of the pioneering women and the progress made by professionals today, we’re also sharing the important work carried out by women here and now.

This week’s guest for our 21st Century Women in Technology series is Elena Campillo Ageitos, from Vigo. Although she grew up around computers because of her parents’ profession, this telecommunications engineer didn’t opt for a career in technology from the start: before that, she had a passion for Ancient Egypt, wanted to be a veterinarian and even enrolled to study biology. But mathematics and programming crossed her path and, fortuitously, she’s now working on applying Artificial Intelligence techniques to the field of health in the areas of eHealth and Natural Language Processing at Gradiant. But we also highlight Elena Campillo’s artistic vein: she is a singer and dancer in the choir-show Summus Lac; she has been playing the piano and the cello since she was a child and also enjoys drawing and writing. 

 

What did you want to do when you were little? 

My great passion as a child was Ancient Egypt; I wanted to be an Egyptologist. However, every two or three years I changed my mind; I wanted to be a singer, a florist, a vet… When I was still in secondary school, I thought about studying computer engineering, but the idea didn’t take off.

 

Why did you choose technology? 

In my family there is a very strong link with technology. My parents have a computer store and academy and I was always very much in touch with computers thanks to them. They took me to the academy in the afternoons and they taught me Excel, HTML, typing, Photoshop, etc. All the same, it took me a while end up studying telecommunications. I considered studying computer science, but I didn’t think I fit the profile because I had never taken a computer apart to see what was inside, for example; nor did I do programming in my spare time. So I started studying biology, but I realised that the subjects I liked the most were mathematics and statistics. The previous summer I had taken a programming course out of curiosity and had enjoyed it very much. After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to change to telecommunications.

 

Where did you plan to study? Why? 

I’m from Vigo and at the University of Vigo we have a Telecommunications Engineering programme, so it wasn’t a very difficult decision to make. 

 

What are you currently working on? 

Right now, I’m working on a health project using data from an association for patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia to predict the trajectory of their users. I think it’s a very nice project to be involved in, as dementia can be a very debilitating disease, both for the sufferer and for his or her family and loved ones.

 

What do you like most about your work? 

Today, technology is very demonised; just ask people what they think of the algorithms used by social media platforms. But the problem isn’t the technology, it’s the way it’s used. It’s great to be able to work in the area of health, where I believe we can have a positive impact on society and people’s wellbeing.

 

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

I am ashamed to say that I have had to give this question a lot of thought. I’m going to go with Hedy Lamarr, an actress and engineer who managed to work in the different disciplines she was interested in and achieved important accomplishments in them.

 

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

It is a complicated issue. It was very striking for me to go from the first year of Biology, where most of my classmates were women, to Telecommunications, where we were very much in the minority. In my experiences in the workplace I have come across teams with a fair amount of female representation, but I know that this is not the case everywhere. Just look at how hard it was for me to think of a female reference, and yet so many examples of famous men in the field of technology come to mind.

I think that many girls find themselves in the same situation I found myself in when it came to choosing a career: it doesn’t cross our minds as an option and this is partly due to the fact that there is not enough visibility for female leaders in the sector. This gives us the subconscious idea that it’s not a profession for us.

 

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

Typing changed my life. Learn to type.