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STRENGTHEN SELF-CONFIDENCE

From her own experience as a scientist, she knows how important encouragement can feel in some moments. “Often it’s just about reminding people that there is light at the end of the tunnel.” Encouraging young scientists in their self-confidence in difficult moments.

“The doctoral phase is one of the most stressful phases in life,” says Marwa El Hefnawy. At the same time, she is convinced that you learn important soft skills during this phase, which are also important for a career in industry later on: Time management, teamwork, project management, dealing with the pressure of deadlines, expectations and stress. As a mentor, she can give her mentees a lot in this regard.

The TUM Alumna has experienced for herself what a difference a good mentor can make in life. After completing her Master’s degree at the University of Ulm, the professor who supervised her thesis recommended her for the position at Docomo, which was linked to a doctorate at TUM.

During her doctoral studies, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kramer became her mentor: he holds the Chair of Communications Engineering at TUM and is now Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation at TUM. His encouragement also carried her through the difficult phases of her dissertation. “He motivated me to keep at it, even when the results of a series of experiments were not what I had hoped for,” says the TUM Alumna today.

SUPPORT FOR FEMALE ENGINEERS

Later in her career, mentors again played an important role for Marwa El Hefnawy because they motivated her to open up to new subject areas and apply for positions that did not strictly fit her CV. This is another reason why she would always recommend that young female engineers look for mentors after switching to science. “These people believe in you, already have a larger network and can therefore also open other doors,” she says.

Marwa El Hefnawy believes that this form of mutual support can make a big difference, especially for female engineers, because the industry is still dominated by men: “As a woman in this field, you can easily be underestimated, even though you have the right training, experience and skills for the job.”

Even if you can sometimes feel alone as a woman in this environment, you are not: “The Society of Women Engineers alone networks more than 70,000 female engineers around the world.” The TUM mentoring program also provides good support if you are looking for advice from other female engineers.

One of her most important pieces of advice to young female engineers who want to move up in the industry: That you have to learn to communicate the results of your work well. “You can achieve as great results as you want – if you don’t advertise your work and communicate it well, you will quickly go under,” she says.

CELEBRATE YOURSELF

Another important piece of advice is to understand that good work is not automatically rewarded with a promotion after a while. “Only good leaders have that in mind,” she says. Instead, you have to make sure that you don’t lose sight of your own goal. The TUM Alumna recommends breaking down the big goal into realistic intermediate steps – also to be able to take countermeasures at an early stage if you don’t reach an intermediate goal: “Then you can already consider at this point what the problems are and whether a different behavior or a different working environment would lead to the goal.”

However, it is even more important to celebrate yourself when you achieve a goal you have set yourself. After all, there are enough difficult moments in successful careers – both privately and professionally. “I always want to say this to young female scientists: the path is not easy or rosy,” says the TUM Alumna, “so a career is mainly about how you deal with obstacles. And we have to tell other women about these setbacks so that they don’t stop at the same critical points.”

One of the critical points in Marwa El Hefnawy’s life: Not being able to share her everyday life with her family in Egypt because she moved to Germany for her career. It was therefore important for her to establish a second home in Germany – with friends, her voluntary work and her hobbies. When asked what advice she would have given herself at a young age, she says: “Never forget that there are things in life that are at least as important as work.