Lilit Otaryan, MS in Computer and Information Science ‘22

AGBU Scholarship recipient

Lilit Otaryan is a second-year graduate student majoring in computer and information science at AUA, where she also completed her bachelor’s studies in computer science. “I was always interested in math and computers but my first class at AUA was an eye-opener. I realized how much creativity and innovation is involved in the field of IT, and how one can make the impossible possible with skills in computer science,” she says.

Since the beginning of her academic career at AUA, Lilit has been actively applying for internships. She has worked at companies such as Sophron Engineering and is currently a Python developer at EPAM Systems, saying, “AUA gave me the background knowledge to succeed in my field, which is related to data engineering. Talking to my colleagues, I have noticed that most of them don’t have much background knowledge, so I am very grateful to AUA for giving me that information because it makes the learning process much easier for me now.”

Lilit also notes that she was the first female backend developer at her company. She believes that women should work hard and love their work in the field of IT in order to make a difference and break stereotypes. “I don’t work in this field to prove anything to anyone—I am here to do my job well and gender plays no role in it. I love my field and that is what’s important to me,” she remarks, adding that she does like the fact that more female students are pursuing a career in the field and that more employers are hiring women for higher positions.

Speaking to her future plans, Lilit says she is inspired by the success of the software company, Krisp and wants to build her own company which will benefit Armenia. She plans to obtain her master’s degree from AUA and work on developing her own startup with EPIC.