How does the number of women coding in the tech industry and the number of women in management and leadership positions compare to men working in tech. In an article by the Harvard Business School:
In 2014, Google reported that 7 out of every 10 of its then 48,600 employees were men. The number was even higher among its engineers and managers, and only 3 of the company’s 36 top executives and managers were women. Google’s disclosures led other major tech companies to follow suit. Apple (98,000 employees) and Twitter (3,300 employees), for instance, reported similar overall percentages: about 70 percent men and 30 percent women. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the companies also reported that employees were overwhelmingly white.)
With the growth of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) since Kahn’s Academy, there’s a huge resource of technical training courses teaching users coding skills including Udemy, Skillshare, CodeCademy, General Assembly and Bloc.
Separately, there is a notable increase in training resources for women that want to learn how to code. SkillCrush.com stands out as it builds its curriculum, resources and support for women that want to move into the technology field (men also participate in SkillCrush courses). PowerToFly.com is a dedicated resource for women looking for work from coding to project management, with the flexibility of working remotely. FlexJobs.com offers a huge database of job leads for men and women looking for flexible work, onsite, part-time, full-time or 100% remote.
We want to see a diverse increase of women of all ages and backgrounds in the tech industry. Encouraging more young women to follow Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) disciplines is one step. Finding positive role models is another, and learning from women in leadership who share their knowledge is another, from Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, Ruth Parat,CFO of Google, and Ellie founder of I F*king Love Science.