Career Purpose – Bring meaning to your life

“That sense of impact really shaped me”

TU.impact is the female empowerment program of the TU Career Center. Female students learn from role models in the business world and simultaneously become role models themselves by inspiring schoolgirls for STEM (MINT).

How TU.impact helped Jana accept uncertainty as part of her journey and develop orientation, impact, and trust from it.

Shortly before graduation, many questions resurface: Who am I? What can I do? And where do I actually want to go? Jana Sumin, a Master’s student of Human-Centered Computing at TU Wien, talks openly about performance pressure, doubt, and responsibility—and how the female empowerment program TU.impact helped her understand uncertainty not as a weakness, but as a starting point for personal and societal impact.

Jana, if you were to introduce yourself to someone who doesn't know you yet: What are the most important things about you?

I am studying Human-Centered Computing at TU Wien because I am convinced that technology must adapt to people, not the other way around. Educational work in schools is very important to me, which is why I volunteer at Zero Waste Austria and hold workshops on food waste—a topic particularly close to my heart. In my free time, I find balance in urban gardening and expressing myself creatively.

Many students are currently under pressure. What of this do you know from your own experience?

I know this feeling very well. I am one of the first people in my family to start a university degree. The desire to make my loved ones proud and to "achieve something" creates a special kind of pressure. At the same time, you constantly wonder what comes next. Especially now, at the end of my studies, I often feel "lost" in a time full of possibilities. But I believe that precisely this uncertainty carries the greatest and most powerful changes within it.

"Precisely this uncertainty carries the greatest changes within it."

Was there a moment or an experience at TU.impact that left a lasting impression on you?

It wasn't just one moment, but many. TU.impact is a program full of encounters: the exchange with other female students, conversations with role models who show how important perseverance and inner strength are, and the visits to schools. There, we experience that as TU Wien students, we have a direct influence and can inspire young women for STEM. This sense of impact has shaped me deeply.

"This sense of impact has shaped me deeply."

When you think about your professional future: What do you need from an employer to feel secure and taken seriously?

Above all, I hope for communication at eye level. Regardless of age, gender, background, or role, we should treat each other the way we want to be treated ourselves. I also want trust and the space to try new things and initiate changes. Especially for young women in technical fields, this trust is often not granted as a matter of course.

Why would you recommend TU.impact to other female students?

TU.impact is a versatile program that I would recommend to every female student at TU Wien. You don't just learn a lot about soft skills like communication, stress resilience, and diversity, but also a great deal about yourself. I find it particularly valuable that we are mentees and mentors at the same time and that an open exchange is possible in a real safe space.

What thought would you like to share with students who currently feel they just have to "function"?

You don't have to function for anyone except yourself. You can be proud of everything you have already achieved. Bring meaning to your life and don't forget: you have the opportunity to change your path at any time. Nothing is forever. Stay with it and work towards your goal.

“The more I study, the more insatiable do I feel my genius for it to be.” – Ada Lovelace