Due to a shortage of experts in the cybersecurity field, Ms Mapel Yap Wei Ling is reaching out to female students to fill the gap. Her initiatives, like those of her cybersecurity students, are forward-thinking. Ms Yap is the Assistant Program Chair at Republic Polytechnic and a finalist for the 2023 Presidential Award for Teachers.
The girl secretly sits in front of the computer and furiously taps on the keyboard. Seconds later she hacked into the system. It's really cool, the teenager thinks, watching the scene in the dark of the movie theater. There, student Claudia Chee decides she wants to become a cyber detective.
But after Claudia enrolls at Republic Polytechnic (RP) School of Infocomm, her dreams fade away as she encounters several obstacles. Ms Mapel Yap on a walk.
Domains less attractive to women
Ms Yap is the Assistant Program Chair for RP's Infocomm Security Management Diploma Program and teaches Cybersecurity and IT Networking.
When she first joined RP in 2013, she was tasked with developing a new IT degree program. The first thing she said to her team was that more female students needed to participate in the process.
As the Fourth Industrial Revolution progresses and Singapore moves towards becoming a ‘smart nation’, the demand for qualified cybersecurity professionals has exploded.
So why are women hesitant to access available opportunities, and why is the IT sector so unattractive? Perhaps we need greater female representation in this sector?
Role modeling in many aspects
Gender bias in IT is not a myth, says Ms Yap. She rose to prominence while working as a network and systems administrator for a government agency.
She was in many ways a minority, the first polytechnic graduate hired into the office and the youngest on the team, so she had to work extra hard to get support from her fellow colleagues.
Her female boss made a big difference. She told Yap to “act more cool-headed” and ignore the negativity. Ms Yap soon proved her worth in the field of intrusion detection and incident response. “She was my role model,” Ms. Yap said.
Instructors want to be a voice of inspiration for female students and not feel frustrated if the class doesn't go right away. “I want to be a role model for them. I want to remind you that when I started, it was all men. I can do it and you can too!”
“Nothing is easy, but once you learn the basics, you can do it well. “The most important thing is that they discover that they can do it themselves.”
For her student Claudia, an aspiring cyber detective, Ms Yap comes close to becoming her real-life hero. At RP, Claudia was struggling with a module issue until Ms Yap noticed it. Knowing that Claudia was inspired by what she saw in the film, she demonstrated similar IT skills that could be gained in the course.
Claudia was inspired after watching her instructor crack passwords and communicate in code. Later, with a change in her mindset, she graduated from keyboarding and is currently working as a cybersecurity analyst.
“The first step is to encourage them to try,” says Yap. “Nothing is easy, but once you learn the basics, you can do it well. “The most important thing is that they discover that they can do it themselves.”
The mother of two is a familiar figure and popular mentor to all students. She often talks about how bright their future could be as cybersecurity skills are in demand not only in Singapore but globally.
networking about networking
A year after establishing the diploma program, Ms Yap formed the Girls in Cyber interest group to introduce students to more female role models in the IT field. She arranges lectures by female experts in the industry and invites girls on a learning journey. They are often surprised and encouraged by the number of women working in security operations centers. They are always inspired.
When five polytechnic colleges came together to establish the Interpoly Girls in Tech group, Ms Yap was naturally a member of the working committee. The group is run by female students from several institutions and various IT sub-sectors. This will build not only technical skills, but also project management and communication skills while collaborating with her colleagues and businesses. Ms Yap says their pride is evident after every successful event.
Back at RP, Ms Yap also signed joint research agreements with industry partners. Their input validates that the curriculum is up-to-date, relevant and useful.
She also helped develop memorandums of understanding with industry partners that were critical to staff development. Ms Yap and her colleagues work closely with industry to identify the latest trends and incorporate them into their training. She initially established five partnerships. There are currently about 32 across Infocomm schools.
Internships are available through partnerships and industry affiliations.
Industry partners also provide students with what Yap calls “effective internships.” For these internships, she insists on forward-thinking projects with no known solutions. One of these projects at the 2022 GovWare conference generated a lot of interest because it featured polytechnic students exploring operational technology cybersecurity for the first time.
Ms Yap knows she has successfully developed her students' skills when they share how much they have learned. Many of her girls help with outreach to secondary schools and act as ambassadors to encourage them to get more involved in the IT sector.
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