In 2021, women are still notably under-represented within the Tech industry in comparison to men. Within the UK alone, the national tech workforce shows that women make up a mere 19% - this figure drops to 3% for black women and 5% for women of Asian descent. With the gender balance still being so disproportionate within the sector, IT companies, Tech leaders and entrepreneurs as well as the world at large are seeking to bridge the divide and find ways to equalize opportunities for women to become more integral to the constantly evolving, creative world of Tech and IT.
It's clear that overdue change is needed to make Tech more inclusive, balanced and integrated for women to feel more welcome into an industry which greatly benefits from female brain power and resourcefulness. More women filling further roles in Tech and IT would help to close the gender pay gap, changing the landscape and perceptions of the sector for good.
So why do women continue to be outnumbered in such a growing industry?
- Research has shown that 8 out of 10 British female millennials intentionally seek out employers with a proven track record of inclusion, equality and diversity. With women still making up a small number in Tech and IT, women job seekers are less likely to apply to companies where employees are predominantly male which automatically puts tech companies at a disadvantage.
- Less women are studying STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) in school, this can be caused by the pressures of gender stereotyping and bias – all of which can plant seeds of self-doubt in young, school-aged girls and dampen their interest in studying technology. Unfortunately, this perpetuates gender bias further from a lack of women in the talent pool for employers to recruit from.
What the tech industry can offer women
- A career in tech offers tons of versatility, from working in web and app development, cyber security, creating games to expanding Greentech sector that offers roles in genetics, robotics and artificial intelligence. In fact, tech opportunities are growing so rapidly that the World Economic Forum have stated that 33% of jobs that will be available in 2023 aren’t even in existence yet.
- Careers in IT and Tech provide great salary opportunities in comparison to a lot of other fields. Where there are skill shortages in Tech, the pay is decent. The average UK wage falls at £28,000 whereas the typical salary for a Data Analyst is listed as £30,000 on Glassdoor. Senior positions such as Big Data Engineers can earn an average of £57,849 annually.
- You don’t need a degree to train and get a career in Tech or IT. A big advantage of working in Tech is the low cost in education, companies often keep their staff updated with further qualification opportunities and allow you to keep advancing further in your career. This in turn saves you a lot of money in the long run!
- You’ll be at the cutting edge of innovation! Whether it be developing new smart home products, the next popular social media app or becoming proficient in HTML to support the front and back-end development for an emerging website, you will be a part of important technological growth and change in the world.
It’s important to note that women bring invaluable skills, ingenuity and results to the Tech industry when it comes to sales and innovation. It has been proved that hiring women leads to more efficient problem-solving, as women (and greater diversity hires in general) bring different methods of strategy thinking and can provide an alternative perspective on problems that customers and customers may be facing. Women also tend to be far more collaborative, and great at networking and building long-term business relationships – a quality highly sought after in Tech based sales.
Here at The Training Room, we are offering a brand new range of Bootcamp Microsoft courses to women looking to start a career in Tech and IT that’s both accessible, detailed and ultimately really valuable for building up core skills needed to succeed within such a dynamic industry.
These courses cover using essentials such as: Azure Cloud and Fundamentals, DevOps and Data Engineering. These limited edition, 8-12 weeklong courses are designed to give you the guidance, tools and knowledge to pursue your own path to landing the right tech role for you. With a guaranteed job interview after the duration of your chosen course, you’ll gain amazing access to Digital and be on your way to your dream career.
All courses launching Monday 12th of July. Sign up now!