Meet Tina Tohidi
Tina Tohidi graduated with a Honours Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree, Specializing in Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is currently DevOps/Cloud Engineer at Scotiabank. In her free time, Tima enjoys reading inspirational books, tennis, team sports, travelling, and socializing.
When did your love of STEM begin?
My interest to STEM and Electrical Engineering started since I was only 5 years old! I was always a curious child and I had a huge desire to figure new things out. I remember once I watched my dad fixing our house plug cases while he was opening them, fixing bunch of colorful wires and using screw driver to close the plug again. Few minutes after I did the same exact steps which surprised my dad that I could learn this much fast! When I became older, my favorite subject in school was math. I used to enjoy my time by spending hours and hours to solve the most complex math problems. Even during university years, I always used to ace my math exams. Most of my family members have Engineering background and I believe the culture a child is raised in also plays an important role in whether he or she will become a scientist or engineer. My parents were my role models since I was a child and they influenced me to pursue my career in this field. Currently, I’m enjoying my Professional career in STEM very much and I can’t wait to see where destiny takes me to innovate the future technology!
What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?
Being an Engineer means you are paid to create and innovate every day. Is there another career where you can make such a direct impact on the world? You might be helping to build a high efficiency aero engine; energy efficient homes; life saving medical equipment; self-drive cars, a whole new form of renewable energy. The opportunities to make a positive impact to the world are endless and being in STEM helps to transform new ideas into the best inventions. Being in STEM makes you stay current in the world where technology is forever changing. With the fast pace of the changes you will be challenged daily to think critically and be creative to drive business values and change the world! Of course, when you meet challenges, you achieve tremendous boosts of confidence as well!
What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?
I have been advocating for Women in STEM since I was in university and I’m volunteering to mentor female co-op/new grad students in my current company. During our monthly coaching sessions, these are the main points I advice them to focus more in order to get successful in their career journey.
1- Find your passion: You will be successful in your field if you have a real passion for it.
2- Network to success: Having meaningful relationships will help you both enter the field and continue to progress into higher positions.
3- Be an inspiration: Women in STEM fields are outnumbered by their male counterparts. But just because you're an exception in your workplace doesn't mean you can't contribute at the highest levels. Lead your coworkers with courage!
4- Be planful but available: You want to have a career plan but sometimes an opportunity will arise that you didn’t expect and hadn’t considered. When that opportunity comes, take the risk and accept the opportunity!