Tuba Mammadov

Tuba Mammadov (5’3’’) is a Senior iOS Engineer at VINA, a startup that brings women all over the world together as friends in a similar format as a dating app. Some have described it as the Tinder for finding (girl) friends.

Born in Turkey, Tuba has always had a love for mathematics, and has always had the consistent support of her family to strive to be the best version of herself. While at University, she took her first course in computer engineering and fell in love, knowing instantly that programming was what she wanted to do as a career. She has been working as a software developer for 7 years, and taught herself mobile app development through online videos. Over the course of these 7 years, though, it hasn’t always been easy. There is a significant lack of female representation in the tech industry, and Tuba sometimes found it difficult to find female mentors or role models. As a woman in tech, Tuba felt that men had an inherent disbelief in the capabilities of female developers and as a result, she felt that she needed to work extra hard just to prove herself. That all changed when she began working for VINA, a company run completely by women, for women.

Tuba first learned about VINA when she moved with her husband from Turkey to the US and wanted to make new friends. Shortly after, she was contacted by the company’s CEO regarding a position and says she finds it very exciting to develop an app that she herself uses. Of course, working for a startup comes with many unique challenges. Everyone has much more responsibility and need to make more sacrifices because there are simply less people and more work than at an established company. Tuba clearly hasn’t shied away from that challenge; she’s helped VINA to make millions of connections in 158 countries! As for the future, she hopes to help this number grow to the billions and to inspire new generations of women to get involved in the tech industry!