You don’t need to hear the statistics. You see it yourself. Your high-school son, a solid math and science student, plays games with his friends via headset on the computer for hours, days, months at a time. Concerned about his future, you devise a way to exploit his love of gaming towards a positive and productive end. You ask him to take a summer course at a tech camp to learn gaming programming. He agrees without hesitation. He makes friends at the tech camp (the class is all boys), stays in contact with them via those headset games, and plans to meet up next summer at the same camp. Success.
Your high-school daughter, a better math and science student, seems to have an iPhone attached to her hand. What are all those dings about? When asked if she would consider taking a summer class in math, science or programming—“just to see if you’d like a more technical field”—her offense to the suggestion is so acute that you are concerned she will use the omnipresent iPhone to call the authorities and report you for some little-known violation against early STEM training.
NPower’s mission is to mobilize the tech community to provide individuals, nonprofits, and schools opportunities to build tech skills to help achieve personal and institutional goals. Every day our Technology Service Corps program trains at-risk young adults and vets in tech and professional skills, placing them in internships and ultimately full-time jobs. And every day we work together with corporations, nonprofits, and schools through The Community Corps, our skilled volunteering program, to engage tech professionals to introduce youth to the tech industry and to inspire them to choose tech as a career.
Indeed, many observations about the lack of women in tech relate to how few pursue computer science in college and graduate with a CS degree. In our case, the young women we touch come from limited means, often work part-time jobs, and may do not even have community college as an option. But the irony is that it is the same two problems holding back both sets of women from pursuing tech careers—namely:
- Lack of women tech role models, and
- Misconceptions about the reality of the day-to-day activities of IT jobs.
Women Role Models Are Key
Not surprisingly, the shortage of women tech role models is particularly acute for low-income women. Rarely have women from their families, schools, or communities worked in the tech industry. The impact of this reality struck a chord recently at a forum for Women in Tech at NYC’s Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, where high school girls talked at length about how difficult it is attending a tech-oriented school and how they are constantly questioning their choice and capabilities, especially in a male dominated institution like theirs.
The good news is that women tech professionals are ready and willing to help—and it really makes a difference. Women tech professionals who are open, share their love of the field, their personal challenges and successes, inspire young women to persevere. Our team witnessed a perfect example of this phenomenon at a recent TCC career site visit where thirty high school girls met with teams of female tech professionals in fields such as Software Sales, Programming, Web and Graphic Design, and Social Media. The women, several of whom came from similar backgrounds to the students, shared stories about challenges such as attending college part-time, relying heavily on financial aid, and developing interviewing and networking skills despite being the first in their family to work in a corporate setting. Afterwards, the girls noted that hearing the women say they were just like them, gave them the courage to believe in themselves. As one 11th grader summarized, “Sometimes I feel like I’m not going to make it, but most of them had the same issues as me and they still made their way. I think this might be a choice in my future.”
Misconceptions about Tech Jobs and Careers: Is Tech Too Dull for Women?
Many young women assume that technical jobs involve little contact with people, imagining a computer technician trapped in a server room for 12 hours a day. To the frustration of employers who are coping with tech skills shortages, too many young women still believe tech jobs are inherently isolated and anti-social. In short, they think of tech as dull.
In fact, most tech jobs involve constant personal interaction, providing essential troubleshooting support and technical solutions to keep businesses running smoothly and customers satisfied. When we ask companies for the top skills in successful candidates, they highlight strong communication, teamwork and customer service skills above technical competencies.
Women Role Models Dispel the Myths
One of NPower’s solutions is to feature female executives as guest speakers at NPower’s TSC and TCC programs. These tech-savvy, highly social, women in high heels stand in sharp contrast to the stereotypical male IT geek—and the young women love it.
This couldn’t have been more apparent than during a recent tour of Cisco Canada headquarters in downtown Toronto, when our TSC students had the chance to meet with new CEO Bernadette Wightman. The class engaged in a lively discussion of IT career topics with a panel of Cisco employees, at least 50% of whom were women and visible minorities. Like in New York, it was truly heartening to hear the young women say how much they related to and were inspired by the panelists, their individual stories and advice on pursuing a career in IT.
Thanks to our corporate volunteers, we’ve also introduced “roll up your sleeves” tech professionals to explain in detail what IT jobs entail and how best to train for these roles. We did this recently with a team from NetApp that covered sales, customer service, marketing and software engineering. Listening and then participating in cross-functional breakouts helped all the students—not just the girls—see the reality vs. the myth of IT jobs.
So how do we attract more young women to tech careers? If you have a daughter, or are involved with young women struggling with what path to pursue in life, an easy first step is to find a woman tech professional willing to get involved—and make the introduction. Organizations like NPower, NCWIT or others can help—and you will be surprised at the high rate of success. Young women need to view tech as an attractive and satisfying career path—for them, not just for the boys—and one final, important bit of good news is—the tech industry needs them even more.
Stephanie Cuskley is the Chief Executive Officer of NPower, a nonprofit whose mission is to mobilize the technology community and provide individuals, nonprofits and schools opportunities to build tech skills and achieve their potential. Stephanie serves on the board of Aegion Inc. as well as the YWCA National board and the National Girls Collaborative Project Champions board.
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Attracting Women to Tech Careers: NPower’s Perspective
March 6, 2015
You don’t need to hear the statistics. You see it yourself. Your high-school son, a solid math and science student, plays games with his friends via headset on the computer for hours, days, months at a time. Concerned about his future, you devise a way to exploit his love of gaming towards a positive and productive end. You ask him to take a summer course at a tech camp to learn gaming programming. He agrees without hesitation. He makes friends at the tech camp (the class is all boys), stays in contact with them via those headset games, and plans to meet up next summer at the same camp. Success.
Your high-school daughter, a better math and science student, seems to have an iPhone attached to her hand. What are all those dings about? When asked if she would consider taking a summer class in math, science or programming—“just to see if you’d like a more technical field”—her offense to the suggestion is so acute that you are concerned she will use the omnipresent iPhone to call the authorities and report you for some little-known violation against early STEM training.
NPower’s mission is to mobilize the tech community to provide individuals, nonprofits, and schools opportunities to build tech skills to help achieve personal and institutional goals. Every day our Technology Service Corps program trains at-risk young adults and vets in tech and professional skills, placing them in internships and ultimately full-time jobs. And every day we work together with corporations, nonprofits, and schools through The Community Corps, our skilled volunteering program, to engage tech professionals to introduce youth to the tech industry and to inspire them to choose tech as a career.
Indeed, many observations about the lack of women in tech relate to how few pursue computer science in college and graduate with a CS degree. In our case, the young women we touch come from limited means, often work part-time jobs, and may do not even have community college as an option. But the irony is that it is the same two problems holding back both sets of women from pursuing tech careers—namely:
- Lack of women tech role models, and
- Misconceptions about the reality of the day-to-day activities of IT jobs.
Women Role Models Are Key
Not surprisingly, the shortage of women tech role models is particularly acute for low-income women. Rarely have women from their families, schools, or communities worked in the tech industry. The impact of this reality struck a chord recently at a forum for Women in Tech at NYC’s Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, where high school girls talked at length about how difficult it is attending a tech-oriented school and how they are constantly questioning their choice and capabilities, especially in a male dominated institution like theirs.
The good news is that women tech professionals are ready and willing to help—and it really makes a difference. Women tech professionals who are open, share their love of the field, their personal challenges and successes, inspire young women to persevere. Our team witnessed a perfect example of this phenomenon at a recent TCC career site visit where thirty high school girls met with teams of female tech professionals in fields such as Software Sales, Programming, Web and Graphic Design, and Social Media. The women, several of whom came from similar backgrounds to the students, shared stories about challenges such as attending college part-time, relying heavily on financial aid, and developing interviewing and networking skills despite being the first in their family to work in a corporate setting. Afterwards, the girls noted that hearing the women say they were just like them, gave them the courage to believe in themselves. As one 11th grader summarized, “Sometimes I feel like I’m not going to make it, but most of them had the same issues as me and they still made their way. I think this might be a choice in my future.”
Misconceptions about Tech Jobs and Careers: Is Tech Too Dull for Women?
Many young women assume that technical jobs involve little contact with people, imagining a computer technician trapped in a server room for 12 hours a day. To the frustration of employers who are coping with tech skills shortages, too many young women still believe tech jobs are inherently isolated and anti-social. In short, they think of tech as dull.
In fact, most tech jobs involve constant personal interaction, providing essential troubleshooting support and technical solutions to keep businesses running smoothly and customers satisfied. When we ask companies for the top skills in successful candidates, they highlight strong communication, teamwork and customer service skills above technical competencies.
Women Role Models Dispel the Myths
One of NPower’s solutions is to feature female executives as guest speakers at NPower’s TSC and TCC programs. These tech-savvy, highly social, women in high heels stand in sharp contrast to the stereotypical male IT geek—and the young women love it.
This couldn’t have been more apparent than during a recent tour of Cisco Canada headquarters in downtown Toronto, when our TSC students had the chance to meet with new CEO Bernadette Wightman. The class engaged in a lively discussion of IT career topics with a panel of Cisco employees, at least 50% of whom were women and visible minorities. Like in New York, it was truly heartening to hear the young women say how much they related to and were inspired by the panelists, their individual stories and advice on pursuing a career in IT.
Thanks to our corporate volunteers, we’ve also introduced “roll up your sleeves” tech professionals to explain in detail what IT jobs entail and how best to train for these roles. We did this recently with a team from NetApp that covered sales, customer service, marketing and software engineering. Listening and then participating in cross-functional breakouts helped all the students—not just the girls—see the reality vs. the myth of IT jobs.
So how do we attract more young women to tech careers? If you have a daughter, or are involved with young women struggling with what path to pursue in life, an easy first step is to find a woman tech professional willing to get involved—and make the introduction. Organizations like NPower, NCWIT or others can help—and you will be surprised at the high rate of success. Young women need to view tech as an attractive and satisfying career path—for them, not just for the boys—and one final, important bit of good news is—the tech industry needs them even more.
Stephanie Cuskley is the Chief Executive Officer of NPower, a nonprofit whose mission is to mobilize the technology community and provide individuals, nonprofits and schools opportunities to build tech skills and achieve their potential. Stephanie serves on the board of Aegion Inc. as well as the YWCA National board and the National Girls Collaborative Project Champions board.
