Remember when tech was a boring place for boring men? Yeah, those days are over. Tech has become a vibrant and fun ecosystem that moves faster than ever. What hasn’t changed much is that it’s still a predominantly male world. But we think that should change. Now.
Compared to the 1980s, women nowadays have an even lower share in computer science jobs. In the US, less than 20% of the jobs in tech are filled by women, even though they make up more than half of the overall workforce. They also make up half of tech users, so it’s only right they are also equally represented on the development side.
That’s why on Thursday, April 11th, as a part of national ‘Girls Day’ (an initiative of VHTO), we open our doors for girls aged 10 to 15 to taste what it’s like to work at companies like Betty Blocks. During this day, we give these heroes of the future a behind the scenes tour of what our female techies do and why they love to work here. Because, let’s face it, women have always played an important role in tech.
There are some amazing women in tech today in important positions, like Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook since 2008), Marissa Mayer (CEO of YAO since 2012), or Susan Wojcicki (CEO of Youtube since 2014). And even when you look at history, tech wouldn’t be the same without these female pioneers:
Baroness Ada Lovelace
Without the Baroness, Apple and Google might never have happened. Back in the 1800s, while most people spent their time farming, Ada invented programming. In her study of Charles Babbage’s mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine, she took the approach of ‘poetical science’ and asked questions about how people and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool. Pretty awesome, right?
Hidden figures
Fast forward to the mid-1900s and we meet Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Katherine Johnson. These three African American geniuses had a very important mathematic role in the powerful NASA technology system. They played a vital part in advancing the technology that put astronauts into orbit in outer space (there's even a movie about it). They also had a meaningful impact on society post-WWII. Just imagine what it was like to be an African American woman in that era and you might grasp what these women had to overcome to accomplish what they did.
The list of key women in tech is long, but let’s focus on the time that truly matters: the present.
Betty Blocks is all about changing the status quo of tech and presenting a different perspective. We are a progressive company focused on diversity, but even for us, it’s still hard to make women enthusiastic about tech (only 23% of our workforce is female).
We encourage women to join tech because the old boring and dusty image of tech simply isn’t realistic anymore. Better yet, we need women to join tech, because diversity brings different points of view, balance and exciting human dynamics. We want to democratize application development for everyone and the best way to do that is to have a team that represents everyone.
Tech is booming, adventurous, fun, and there are opportunities available around every corner. Especially in application development, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. Join us now, and who knows, you might become the female CEO of Betty Blocks one day 😊.