Audrey Mengue is a software engineer at Turntabl Ghana Limited. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Information technology from Accra Institute of Technology.
Aside from her work activities, she is also a women in STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) advocate and a speaker, thus an active member of organizations like byteAfrica, Microsoft User Group Ghana, PyLadies Ghana and Developers in Vogue which help individuals to transition or enter the STEM field. During her spare time, she likes exploring nature or visiting new countries.
Leading Ladies Africa: Hi Audrey! Can you tell us about yourself?
Audrey Mengue: Hi I am Audrey Mengue, a software engineer at Turntabl Ghana. I have a degree in Information Technology and when I am not at work, I volunteer with organizations to teach people about tech.
Leading Ladies Africa: How did you become interested in tech? Can you tell us a bit about how your journey to tech started?
Audrey Mengue: My journey in tech officially started at DiVA festival 2018 organized by Developers in Vogue. During that day I realized that women from all backgrounds could actually add tech to their career bag and I felt really empowered. After that I attended one of their bootcamps “Speak Python 2.0” and that was it. I went on to volunteer more with tech communities and all that led me to where I am now.
Leading Ladies Africa: What is a typical day at your job like?
Audrey Mengue: I will be at work from 9am to 6pm with an hour for lunch. So work starts with the daily scrum meeting where I discuss my task with my team and my manager – it usually lasts 45 mins – after that, I code using React and Springboot. Then, I have lunch and after lunch, back to coding again. Coding is actually the best part of my day. My day is pretty code heavy rather than meeting heavy. After work I just take 30 mins off to 2hours off – depending on my personal plans – to relax then I will work on my personal projects.
Leading Ladies Africa: What does it feel like to be a woman in tech?
Audrey Mengue: Well it’s very challenging. Between the mood swings due to my period and the deadlines to deliver a feature, it can be pretty difficult but it gets better as long as I love what I do. I am continuously learning to challenge and improve myself. One thing I have noticed is that women get a lot of support to break into tech but once they are there, they are just normal engineers who will have to prove that they are up for the challenge and can deliver. So I highly encourage women to take their studies very seriously. Tech is about skills and nothing else so you better master your craft if you want to strive.
Leading Ladies Africa: Do you have any advice for women entering the tech industry?
Audrey Mengue: The advice I will give is: “You will be identified as a female engineer before you enter the field but once you are in, you are an engineer just like everybody else so master your craft and do not be afraid to take risks.”
