What is your name, age, location?
Anne-Hermine Allain. I'm 22 and I'm located in London (which is really amazing!).
I was born and raised in France. I started studying both mathematics and computer science at University of South-Brittany five years ago. I joined Grenoble Institute of Technology, at the heart of the French Alps, in 2012 to start a degree in engineering at Ensimag school. I'm currently finishing my Master of Science in Advanced Computing at Imperial College London.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
I think Computer Science is the exact type of studies where you can achieve amazing things, be free, be creative and reach self-fulfillment. Today, technology is everywhere and what I see is thousands of new challenges everyday. A degree like mine equips engineers to help create tomorrow's digital world. And this is truly exciting!
Please walk me through your day, what's life like as a student studying computer science?
I just finished my master thesis which is about studying human cerebral plasticity to usefully inform Computer Science. That was extremely interesting and I really enjoyed trying to enrich technology from more biologically-based studies.
Parallel to my studies, promoting science to girls and women has become one of my main goal since I have joined university five years ago. I consider the tendency of women leaving science and engineering very worrisome, not only because it causes a true lack of diversity within work teams but, above all, because women will be excluded from some of the major transformations of our society.
Can you see yourself in ten years doing the same thing you do now?
In ten years, we will use technologies that don't exist yet, and that we can't even imagine about yet! And I really love this idea! Also, I hope that in ten years everyone will be able to get creative with digital technology and computer coding, just like what we see happening with 3D printers right now. One thing is for sure, as a computer scientist I won't be bored in ten years!
What is the best advice you ever received?
I think all the advice I have received about boosting my self-confidence was really useful. In particular, I find the following quote by Arthur Ashe really inspiring: "One important key to success is self-confidence. A key to self-confidence is preparation.".
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in the last year?
No need to wait for opportunities, we can create them!
And what are your plans for the future?
I'm thinking about starting a PhD between Computer Science and more human-oriented fields such as neurosciences and psychology. There are huge challenges related to our understanding of the human brain at the moment, and I really want to be part of it!
If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?
Honestly, I don't regret any moment I've been through. My only regret is that there is only 24 hours in a day! I should think about changing that!
Any advice for your local/global Geekettes?
Keep learning everyday, get involved in the community, share with others and inspire the world!
