Marija Bojcic and International Women in Engineering Day

At Funding Options, we have a talented Engineering team across the UK, Serbia and Ukraine, developing innovative solutions to ensure our customers can get the funding and tools they need to grow and succeed. 

To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, we spoke with Marija Bojcic, our QA Engineer in Serbia. Marija shares her motivations for working in engineering, experiences that have shaped her career, and advice for women wanting to enter the industry.

What inspired you to start a career in engineering?

I've always enjoyed thinking about problems and solutions analytically since a young age. Throughout my education, from primary school to university, I've always leaned towards the Sciences, and I enjoyed Mathematics a lot.

How long have you been at Funding Options for?

Just over a year. I celebrated my first FO Anniversary in March 2022! 

What was your first job?

Quality Assurance (QA) analyst. It was a part-time job which I started during university. I planned to earn some extra money, build my CV and then search for a job as a software developer. But, after just a few months of working as a QA analyst, I realised how much I enjoyed working as one – and it stuck!

I'm happy with being a QA Engineer; you need a developer's mind to know the product developer's process and understand the end user's reason and how they use the product. It requires analytical thinking from start to end.

Can you give us an insight into what you do at Funding Options?

As a QA Engineer, I do both manual and automation testing. Automation testing involves writing scripts that can test the product itself. 

I also make sure our products are working correctly and efficiently. My job also requires me to ensure that the quality of our product remains at a high level.

What do you love the most about your job now?

I love many things about my career choice and being at Funding Options! I love to expand my knowledge and explore new ways of working. There's always a new tool to explore, a new language to learn, and new approaches to understand. At Funding Options, we're all supportive. When someone wants to learn something or contribute to a project, they are always encouraged and supported throughout.

What’s your favourite feature of the Funding Options platform?

Funding Cloud™! I joined the company while testing and launching the Funding Cloud™ technology and platform. It was an eye-opening experience to see how humans and machines can work together and separately. I've never worked in the financial industry before and have always associated finance with people, and I didn't think finance could be handled without human interaction. Funding Cloud™ does precisely that – and it's very good at it, too!

Why is female talent so crucial to the engineering industry?

I spoke with my friends in the same industry, and we all agreed that women approach projects much differently than their male counterparts. 

By combining the differences men and women have to offer, we'll be able to pioneer innovation within finance and technology whilst better representing the wider society and create fairer products for our customers to explore and make use of.

What would you like to see happen in your industry to make it more inclusive for females?

I'd like to see more events organised for women, for example, competitions such as hackathons. It would be an excellent opportunity for the engineering industry to find more talent and give women a platform to explore their expertise further whilst awarding them the recognition they deserve.

What advice would you give to women who are trying to get into the industry?

Go for it.

We need more women in the industry to reflect the world accurately. The percentage of men in the engineering industry is much higher than that of women – don't let these statistics discourage you. If you're good at engineering and have the qualities of an engineer, pursue it, and you won't regret it.

One last question, aside from your engineering talents, what else do you enjoy doing?

My spare time involves avoiding screens and being more creative with my hands! I enjoy arts and crafts and weaving baskets. 

At Funding Options, one of our areas of focus for diversity and inclusion includes increasing female talent. Did you know that women make up only 14.5% of all engineers in the UK? Ensuring that women in the UK are adequately represented within the industry would not only ensure our products are in-line with the economy, but it's also the right thing to do.

We're committed to building an inclusive and diverse culture. That's why we've signed up for the Women in Finance Charter. We pledge to develop a more balanced and fair financial services industry.

We're currently hiring and looking for talent in Engineering. We have several open positions for our engineering and technology teams in Serbia and the UK, which you can find here.