From student to trailblazer

"Become a trailblazer" was the advertisement for NMBU when I started studying five years ago. Throughout the courses, we heard stories about former students who had achieved great things, gone straight into exciting and relevant jobs, and used their expertise from NMBU to make the world a slightly better place. This spring I handed in my master's and got an exciting and relevant position after only a few months. I was ecstatic. Finally, I was a trailblazer.

My job entails a nice title in a very relevant company in relation to my education. It was perfect. But it didn't take long for me to realize that it wasn't what I imagined. At the first meeting they asked; "Can you write the minutes?". There was zero problem, so I wrote the report. The next meeting they asked the same thing and I said "yes!" and did it again. And again. After a while I started to stumble. My job description stated that I was to lead these meetings, not write the minutes. I tried to speak up but was told it was part of my training. In addition, the boss asks me to do tasks outside the project for which I am employed. Typical assistant jobs such as booking meeting rooms and forwarding e-mails. It's going well, but I thought I'd spend my time managing the project I'm hired for. When I first receive relevant tasks, they are double and triple checked by the boss. The feedback is so extensive that I don't recognize my own work when I send it out.

In addition, I began to notice that they did not care about my input. Even though my input was based on things I've learned through my studies, it doesn't seem like they fully trust that I know what I'm talking about. A colleague told me: "You have to remember that you really don't know anything about [the field I wrote my master's about]." In the end I had to ask straight out “why am I really here? Do you really need my skills?".

One of the colleagues who heard this outburst invited me for a chat. She is an older woman with long work experience in my field. I told her how I had been at work. How I was put in assistant duties when my position clearly said I should lead the work, and how I felt they looked down on me. She recognized herself and said: “you are a young woman, it will not be easy for you. But you have to keep at it. Don't let yourself be stepped on. Take the place that your position says you should have. Show the others that you are worth having there. Show them you know what you're talking about. Because if you don't behave like a leader, you will always be an assistant.”

Sometimes it seems that the master's thesis has nothing to say, and that it is more important what gender I am and how old I am. I have thought that as soon as I get my master's degree I will be able to use my expertise to make the world a better place. But instead I am met with prejudice and hardship. I have to work extra hard to be heard and believed at all. It is very frustrating and sometimes I feel like giving up. But you don't become a trailblazer if you don't face opposition, do you?

Translator: S. Faseeha F. Gillani