Precious Kaijuka studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Loughborough University. She joined the bank in 2013 as a technology analyst in the Middleware Engineering team.
-
What’s it like being in the minority in your profession as a woman?
“Having studied traditionally ‘male’ subjects all the way through school and university, it’s something I’ve always been used to and not something I spend too much time thinking about.
“I was the only girl in my A-Level computing class in Kenya and one of just six female students out of 150 on my course at university.
“There are four women in my team out of a total of 15, so the female mix is actually a lot higher than I’ve been used to.
“The work environment here at Goldman Sachs is very inclusive – there isn’t a uniform culture people have to conform to, so there’s no way it can be described as male dominated.”
-
What advice would you offer young women thinking about a potential technology career?
“Despite what you might have heard, there’s no reason at all why women can’t have a successful career in a technology or engineering role.
“Technology is one of the largest areas of the investment bank and therefore offers one the widest selections of graduate roles.
“You don’t necessarily need to have come from a Computer Science or Engineering discipline to work here and there are opportunities for people with all manner of backgrounds and skill-sets.
“Ultimately your gender will have no impact whatsoever on your ability to perform your role, so it’s really just a question of believing in your ability and letting your work do the talking.”
-
Can you tell us a bit about the work you do?
“The role of the Middleware Engineering team is to develop new software products and solutions that will support the main revenue generating areas of the bank, helping then to trade and perform more efficiently.
“A big part of my role involves delivering test frameworks for new products in development and to implement risk management practices to ensure that this software functions as well as it possibly can for the people who use it each day.
“What I really like about my job is that it allows me to have a real impact and to take ownership over certain projects. The best part is seeing a product that I’ve worked on being put to use across different areas the bank.”