Kosovar from Gjilan, Teuta Hyseni becomes Microsoft security engineer

Albanian Teuta Hyseni, born and raised in Gjilan, is now a success story in San Francisco, broadcasts albinfo.ch.

From the beginning of his schooling, she always preferred to solve mathematical problems before writing a paper or reading theories. This had led her to choose engineering for her career, not justice that was her second option, or medicine that was her family's preference.

Even now, she prefers to deal with others through numbers instead of words, saying that she remembers them more easily.

Although she had started preparing for university engineering studies outside Kosovo since second year of high school, her choice did not come easily.

The Teuta faced many doubts from people who suggested that she choose another field that would be more suitable for a girl, according to them.

In society, these STAM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] subjects are always thought to be for men. But that doesn't make sense, since girls are better at primary and high school than boys. I've always had a question about what happens when we go to college... Do we lose that high school knowledge?

The answer to his own question was in 2008 when he began his studies at Lutheran University in Texas. During her studies, Teuta shows that she was better prepared in Mathematics and physics than many other students, and for that reason she was elected governor of students during her final years of studies.

Yet, not everything was easy for him. When he arrived in Texas, Teuta says that he faced difficulties with language, academic writing methods, and busy class, and university duties.

Teuta Hyseni with her mother during Teuta's graduation at the Lutheran University in Texas, December 2011.

But the strong desire to achieve motivated him, in addition to the faculty engagement, to practice in the technology company, Racspace, in the charity association, Make A Wisch, and in the investment company, Bulldog.

I actually left the whole family and now live in America, far away from them. And if I can't, with all those sacrifices, then I would feel like a waste of time and it wouldn't be worth it if I didn't do anything more than I could have done in Kosovo”, Teuta says.

Often in her career, Teuta says she had to prove her worth to others. Prejudice that a girl cannot be a skilled engineer was also followed in the United States. She recalls how cyber security consultants for the Texas firm Denim Group had been underestimated by software engineers whose work she was analyzing.

All the information I had to get from that company's engineers and their confusion that maybe I'm not a person of knowledge, that I felt because of the way we communicate. They weren't aware of what I found and when I presented the report, the chief of security at that company almost started to cry because they had a lot of cyber security problems”, she recalls.

In November 2017, Teuta began working as cyber security engineer at the technology company Microsoft, where she now serves as a mentor for young engineers in that department.

Theta says she feels the moral obligation to make the Office package products she works on, safe for users, since, as it says, “we cannot expect ordinary people to be conscious of and have access to constitutionalx1>.

That's why I'm still in cyber security field”, she says for rel.

Teuta Hyseni and other students presenting traditional Kosovo foods at an event at the Lutheran University in Texas.

Teuta wants to contribute to the cyber security community even in Kosovo. She is doing this through participation in various conferences, like last week in Pristina: Digital Summit for the Western Balkans. At this summit, Teuta gave an inspiring speech on the “Trust and Security” theme.

And for Teuta herself, inspiration is the dream of opening up her technology company. The only concern in this regard is that it will be difficult to abandon the comfort he has in Microsoft.

One thing I'm going to say about young people is that if you think you're an entrepreneur, then start early, because when you get to a point where you're really comfortable, it's hard to leave it and start something new. The more time passes, the harder it will be”, she says.

But despite the problems she may face when she begins her next journey toward her dream, Teuta says she is willing to face any challenge.

I believe that this too is going to reach”, she says, as optimism is seen in smiling eyes.