SheQuantum is a quantum E-Learning platform and community with the goal to connect women in the field of Quantum Computing by supporting with quantum learning through webinars, online workshops and online courses. But before we talk about SheQuantum in more detail, I would like to talk about the most important key success factors in the professional tech environment but also in every other career path you will take. For me that is networking and constant learning in a diverse environment.

Sustainable networking is key

Diversity creates stronger organizations and a stronger QC community. Our goal is to support the QC community and the women in the community, to raise awareness, and provide opportunities for women to network, learn, and become strong. There is no future without diversity, because mixed teams are more innovative and successful. Diversity also includes collaboration: working with very different people and engaging with other people’s perspective. This is exactly what the topic of "networking" is based on. I am firmly convinced that sustainable networking is the basis for diversity. Networking accompanied me from the very beginning of my professional career. Unfortunately, the tech scene is not very diverse. However, if we always worry about what is not working, we will never be able to turn to what can work.

New job opportunities through digitalization

Today we celebrate the International Womens Day. We´re already standing on the shoulders of giants – in the past century, (yes, the first internationally celebrated World Womens Day was exactly 100 years ago) our mothers and grandmothers have achieved amazing things, but we are still far from parity in many fields. A change in attitude can definitely be observed in corporations, but also in medium-sized companies and academia: more and more women are taking on digital roles and are shaping the innovative capacity of companies. That is precisely why it is so important to me at this point to give women an opportunity to show what new career and job prospects there are through digitalization and quantum computing.

Don’t be afraid to fail

My advice is Don´t be afraid to try out new things, don’t be afraid to fail. Be prepared to get creative, design, create and innovate. We will support you with the network and all learning materials. Besides developers for the software on this new hardware you also need people who can grasp the new possibilities and uncover synergies with the classical HPC. The future is bright and we hope that you are as excited as we are on this journey together.

Prof. Dr. Helena Liebelt is Ciso and Head of IT at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT). Currently she is developing a new Master program „Quanten Computing and HPC“ which will go live by the end of 2021. Dr. Liebelts research is focusing around Quantum Computing Architecture and Quantum Simulation.