Women have made a lot of inroads into the tech world, but we are still underrepresented in computer and engineering fields. In recent years, many top brands have given lip service to the idea of diversity and inclusion. Some have even put dollars behind recruitment programs or benefits designed to help females, like 23andMe’s 16 week paid leave for new parents or Salesforce’s 16 million dollar investment to address gender pay discrepancies.
Some of these ideas have made a modest impact, while others fall flat. The reasons are as varied as the women behind them, but the reality is that there are still not enough women graduating in computer fields or remaining in the workforce long-term.
As a result, brands who genuinely want to increase female representation on their tech staff may find themselves in a serious competition for the top talent. As a young woman who recently went through the job-seeking process in the developer world, let me share some of the things I looked for in a company. Perhaps some of these ideas will spark changes that help more tech brands even out the gender gap.
- Actions, not words. Anyone can say they are supportive of women in tech. I wanted to work for a company that backed up those words with real actions. The company I ultimately landed at, Smarty, already had initiatives in place that told me they take women seriously. As an example, shortly after the NCAA changed their rules on athletes monetizing their name, image and likeness, Smarty entered into an agreement with all 300 athletes at the local university, Brigham Young University. That is the kind of championing of women that says something about a brand.
- Women who work there. Most women aren’t interested in being a token or symbol of diversity for a company. They want what all developers want––a chance to be creative, solve challenges and contribute new things to tech. So if there are no other women working at the company, or the ones who are there have negative things to say, it was a hard pass for me. Luckily, companies may be able to quickly tackle this issue by hiring a “class” of female developers all at once, helping to address diversity numbers without making one woman hold up an unfair burden of representation.