[Women in Science] Eunjeong Jeong, PhD student in Communication Systems, EURECOM
- Why did you choose to pursue the career of engineering?
EJ. I chose engineering as my career merely because it looked cool, without knowing about it well. Ten years ago, I was a high school student curious about developing mobile applications. At that time, smartphones began to gain popularity, but unlike nowadays, it was not common for students around my age to have one. I was one of the teenagers who didn’t have her own smartphone, so obviously, my interest in IT fields was very vague, and I didn’t even carefully search for what I could do in the future with this career. Fortunately (or unfortunately, in a long-term perspective), at that time, I was good at Korean, English, and mathematics, which gave me chances to choose whichever major I wanted, regardless of my strength, values, and aptitude.
2. What obstacles did you have to overcome to achieve your dream?
EJ. For me, the impulsive decision and its side effects were the first obstacle. Since I didn’t contemplate joining the electricity and electronic engineering department, I realized that the university does not teach what I obscurely imagined in high school. This made me lose interest in general studies. The other obstacle is the level of the studies itself. I encountered too many subjects that were too difficult to follow up.
Also, there were some of the “machos” in the department, which can exist everywhere in the world. They occasionally embarrassed me, but honestly, they were the least concerning obstacle while trying to do my best in this career.
3. What is the message you would like to give to young girls for following a career in science and engineering?
EJ. I don’t have any messages to give to young girls. No matter what I say, they will only be touched by finding the successful women who blaze the trails in science and engineering. It is more important for women who have already started this career to do their best and be prominent. To give more practical advice to the girls, I would instead tell them to clean their rooms before their mothers become mad.
