Female leaders in technology

Improving the world defined by the Internet is in Transparent Edge’s DNA. We do this with our CDN, which we have developed as the European alternative to the American CDNs, and we do it by putting our knowledge of the internet world out there for society.

The internet has transformed (in a very short period of time) the way in which we communicate, how we spend our leisure time, how we work, how we shop…it transformed basically everything. At the base of this transformation, there’s technology that, in the 21st century, has become the foundation of a large part of our economy. 

Technology is and will continue to be essential in the evolution of our society. This is why it’s very important to make sure that no one is left behind in relation to it. 

Our program “Women at the Edge” is based on this idea and, due to the under-representation of women in technological areas, we want to encourage the female talent in this sector, and make women visible characters during the pre-course of studies stage: this is when the gap starts to develop. This week, coinciding with International Women’s Day, we’ve launched the 2nd edition. 

WOMEN AT THE EDGE: WOMEN LEADING IN TECHNOLOGY

“Women at the Edge” trains one female Computer Engineering student a year, in the field of CDNs (content delivery network), key infrastructures for the good performance of the Internet world, and an area in which there are very few trained professionals. 

Why do we do this? Because Transparent Edge is the only Spanish company with a commercial CDN, and we think -as mentioned above- that we have an obligation to use this expert knowledge to improve the world defined by the internet. 

With this program, we will contribute to the specialization and visibility of female engineers. We want them to become leaders in technology and attract other women into technological careers, which for a long time have been male-dominated fields. 

Last year, Sara Fernández Arias, the student that opened the “Woman at the edge” program, told us how, regardless of feeling drawn to Computer Science since she was young, and having talent for it, she had received subtle directions suggesting a less-technical career. During her high school years she started leaning that way. Luckily, she later changed her mind and is now about to finish her degree in Computer Engineering. Women like her can attract other female students into technical careers. 

At Transparent, Sara learned next to one of the few CDN experts in the entire country, our CTO, Diego Suarez. He personally manages the training of the students in the “Women at the Edge” program, which is developed in collaboration with the Oviedo School of Computer Engineering (EII, Escuela de Ingeniería Informática de Oviedo), one of Spain’s most valued training centers in these subjects. Another participant of this program is Professor José Manuel Redondo, a professional that has been committed for a long time to boost the number of female professionals in Computer Engineering. 

CDN Specialists

At Transparent Edge, the students learn how to manage projects with high-performance needs, and how to deploy and handle in an appropriate way all the infrastructure that is required to support huge amounts of traffic, besides all of the current technologies in cache use. 

Our goal is for them to get the necessary knowledge to handle a CDN either with a provider such as Transparent Edge, or in any other organization that uses a CDN. And, with that specialized knowledge, they can be role models for other women in the technology sector.

We’ve just opened the application period for the second edition of the “Women at the Edge” program. The chosen student will spend the summer months with us, learning. She will have  studying facilities and aids, and she will count on Diego Suarez and Prof. Redondo for the conception and development of her end-of-course project, which will be dedicated to an aspect of the CDN technology.