Community Spotlight: Natalija Prosic
Natalija Prosic
Trading a steady career for a university classroom is no small feat. For our latest Community Spotlight, we spoke to Natalija Prosic, who left her years in shipping logistics behind to study software engineering at the University of Gothenburg.
Currently interning at Volvo, Nat shares how she navigated the challenges of pivoting careers and returning to student life, why genuine curiosity matters so much, and how finding the right people to surround yourself with help her steer a new journey. She also opens up about the realities of keeping up with a rapidly shifting tech space, and the importance of becoming comfortable with not knowing everything as you find your footing in an unfamiliar space.
The interview below has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your role in tech.
I'm Nat, a first-year software engineering student at the University of Gothenburg. I came to the tech world from a completely different background, spending years in shipping logistics before deciding to make the leap and change careers. Right now, I am doing an internship at Volvo Technology, which feels a little surreal but also exciting in that I can see that I made the right decision. I'm somewhere in the middle of being a student and a career-changer, somebody who is just curious about how things work and how I can build them by combining my different skills.
What has helped you stay and grow in tech?
I have tried to expand my knowledge and experience by challenging myself in different situations. Early on, these situations have made it very clear that showing up, being curious and talking to people on topics that I am genuinely interested in, instead of doing something just because you “should”, matters and comes across in a meaningful way. While I can always keep learning the technical skills, it is the community that makes this path feel sustainable.
What challenges have you faced, and how have you navigated them?
Transitioning into tech as a career changer and going back to academia means that you are often the person in the room with the least “formal” background and at times, you can feel very aware of it. Each industry is constantly evolving and not knowing everything is a big part of growing in your career, but I’d say the tech world is the fastest growing and evolving. I've had to grow comfortable with not knowing everything yet. I try to stay honest about where I am and focus on how I can best learn and apply what I actually need at any given moment. Rejections and failures have been a big part of the process too, but some of the best feedback I've gotten came from those moments.
What is your connection to WITGBG, and what drew you to this community?
I found the WITGBG community at a point where I was trying to navigate a lot of new things at once - a new city, a new field, a new student life, which was definitely the biggest adjustment. Going from being out in the field to sitting in lectures and being a student again was a bigger shift than I expected. I wanted to surround myself with a mix of people, those who were figuring it out like myself and those who seem to have figured it out. More specifically, I wanted to be around women who were building careers in tech who could inspire me so that somewhere down the line, maybe I can inspire somebody else. I am hoping to get more involved [with WITGBG] but from what I have seen so far, it definitely feels more like a community and less like a networking-only group. It is exactly what I was looking for.
Natalija (second from left) with other volunteers at WITGBG’s International Women’s Day event in March 2026
How would you describe your journey or your approach to tech?
I didn't come from tech but I came to it. That keeps me honest and constantly reflecting on how far I've come and how much further I want and can go.
What drew you to tech, and what has kept you here?
I was working in logistics where time and efficiency are everything and more often than not, I kept finding myself more interested in the systems and tools behind the work than the work itself. I was always wondering: How can we optimise this? How can we simplify the system to better suit our needs rather than changing our processes to suit the systems? Eventually, I stopped ignoring that and started learning, got really into it, and here I am - both feet in, following my intuition. What keeps me here is that there is always something more to understand and the problems are real. I like that.
What advice would you give to others building a long-term career in tech?
This might not be tech-specific advice but I think it matters: Don't wait until you feel ready. The reality is that you are never truly “ready”. Go do the thing, apply for the role, talk to the person. If you are truly willing, you will figure out the gaps as you go but you need to put yourself in the room first.
“…showing up, being curious and talking to people on topics that I am genuinely interested in, instead of doing something just because you “should”, matters.”