DUT IT student gets Google nod
Nombuso Msweli wants to be a disruptive influence in the tech space.
DURBAN University of Technology final year Information Technology student, Nombuso Msweli, wants to be a disruptive influence in the tech space.
Msweli, (21), was recently selected as an Ambassador for Google’s Women Techmakers (WTM) global programme. The programme identifies community leaders around the world who are passionate about achieving gender parity in the male-dominated sphere of IT.
“As an ambassador, I will be representing Google Developer Groups (GDG) Cloud Durban, my university, hosting empowerment events, attending skills and mentorship summits and taking all of that knowledge and putting it back into my community,” said Msweli.
Explaining how she was exposed to this opportunity, Msweli said that she is a Project Manager at Varsity Genie, an educational organisation aiming to make education fashionable among the youth.
Their team hosted a lot of tech based events on campus, which resulted in her being selected to participate in the 2020 Peace Summit for emerging leaders in Thailand earlier this year.
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“GDG Cloud Durban wanted a woman organiser to represent them as a WTM, which required me to go through the selection process.
The selection is based on your involvement in projects that promote gender equality in the tech spaces,” said Msweli.
Hailing from Mtubatuba, north of KwaZulu-Natal, Msweli said before coming to DUT’s Steve Biko campus she didn’t even know how to open a laptop.
“Where I am from, I don’t know a single person that does IT, let alone a woman,” she said. “I didn’t know what IT was about but when I got into it opened my mind to a different world.”
In the short term future, Msweli said she plans on pursuing her post-grad studies with a focus on programming. “In five years I see myself working in the tech field and also having my own projects at home for people who want to learn more about IT. I want to empower more people and women to consider a career in IT. I don’t know how I will do it, but I will,” she said.
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