While looking through my stream of “women in tech” keyword sets on Twitter I came across this great video about how and why we need more women in tech. They take a stance that I never really have heard. It is more about why we need more women in tech because we have jobs that they could and should have. We have more and more jobs coming around that need computer scientists and if women would study computer science we could get more women into those jobs in the tech space.
Here are some of the things that I learned from this documentary.
- We need to expose more women to what it means to be a women learning computer science because the world has it wrong. We have a stereotype of what a developer looks like and we need to change that if we want more women to get into tech and into startups.
- There is a lot of pressure on the women who are in tech. It seems like these women must be geniuses or something to be working in tech. You don’t have to be a genius to work in tech. Yes, you need to be smart, driven, etc but we need to change the stigma that working in tech is only for geeks.
- Those women who do get involved in computer science classes in college or high school are scared. They look around the room and see lots of men. That is intimidating in general. You want to see equality and that is not equal. That would intimidate me as well.
- The image that a computer scientist is this person who is anti social, sedentary, all the lights turned off is not really what it is like to be a woman who works in computer science. We need to change this image so we see women in tech or women in computer science a different way. We need to change it be one of where these women are solving problems and fixing things in the world.
- We should change the image perception of a women in tech to one of where women are solving hard problems and changing parts of our world for the better.
- Women in tech and computer science are not just geeks. They have hobbies and likes outside of just coding or learning code. They like manicures, like shopping, etc. This image is not true to real life.
US universities need to produce more software engineers.
- We need to encourage everyone in college (not just women) to learn computer science because tech companies have a growing demand for more computer scientists. If you want to meet that demand then studying Computer science would be a smart move to ensure you are hireable.
- This is a moment where we need to tap into women as a source of computer scientists.
- If women were graduating with computer science degrees more than they are now we would have more jobs that we could fill with women and that would mean more women working in technology.
Why not work in tech and understand tech?
- Women should consider tech because the whole world revolves around tech.
- Do you like to learn something on a daily basis?
- If you have a logical mindset and analytical mind then you might like working in tech.
- Computer science skills (a little bit of programming knowledge) can unlock lots of doors and opportunities for you.
Computer science is all about finding problems worth solving and solving them using computing.
- We should stop setting expectations that to get into computer science as a woman you need to know this stuff first.
- Lots of women have not coded a line of code when they first start learning how to code.
How can we fix this problem and get more women into technology jobs.
- Enstill a culture from a young age that trying new things is great. If you fail or struggle that is okay. Keep trying and keep learning.
- Fake it till you make it.
- Believe in yourself that you can do it.
- You don’t have to be a genius to do this.
- Don’t let fear get in the way of what you can do.
- Start small, achieve something and keep going.
- Set a goal and see it through.
- Build something yourself.
Let’s start in high school getting women to code.
- We need women computer scientists who understand women’s issues and challenge so they can fix women’s problems in the world with their coding.
- Do you like math and science?
- Are you good at math and science? You might be good at this.
Creativity.
- If you want to affect the world in a positive way you should try it.
- If you like coming up with ideas and ways to fix things then computer science might help you to do that.
- If you like challenges and coming up with answers to hard problems then computer science might be a good fit for you.