Even in a tight economy, technology jobs are growing faster than Americans can be trained to fill them. The U.S. Labor Department predicts that in less than 5 years, more than 1.4 million will work in tech. One organization is helping young girls gear up for a spot in the male dominated industry.
Xiao Xiao, a MIT media Lab student is showing off the sounds of New Orleans style rhythm and blues—but there’s no one on the keys…not piano keys anyway. The ‘magic’ happens by way of computer coding.
Xiao Xiao created the code for her piano to play on its own and she’s showing off her work to some visiting high schoolers taking part in the girls who code summer camp….the program was created to close the gender gap in technology.
Xiao created the code for her piano to play on its own and she’s showing off her work to some visiting high schoolers taking part in the girls who code summer camp….the program was created to close the gender gap in technology.
Prisca Joseph of the Girls Who Code summer program explains that “coding is a way of programming there are different languages like Javascript etc., and coding is the actual writing out of the programming.”
In short… Prisca Joseph is learning how to tell computers what to do.
Since 2012, Girls Who Code has grown rapidly. This year there are 1,200 girls in camps across the country. In addition to expanding its footprint in Boston; girls who code added new summer programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Newark and Washington, DC this summer. In Massachusetts about 120 girls are participating at companies like Akamai technologies in Cambridge.
Ketaki Pawar is learning computer programming and presentation skills and says its like a really fun experience.
“But not easy,” she adds. “The girls commit their entire summer and are paired with volunteer mentors who help with their career goals.” Ketaki says its worth it and that her goal is to ultimately be “a really good software engineer and i hope to work at Google or Microsoft.”
It’s called girls who code for a reason—men outnumber women more than 5 to 1 in the industry right now— something Ketaki struggles with. “i feel like its really frustrating because i feel girls can do just as much as guys.”
Girls who code chief operating officer Soloman Steplight says it starts in school.
“Over time, particularly when you get to middle school and high school you start to notice that there’s more and more boys in the math and science classes,” says Steplight.
“So far Soloman and his team have been successful. 90% of the girls who participated in the camps last year went on to major or minor in computer science.
Monica Orta, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at MIT says programs like girls who code make her job easier.
“The sooner you can get people into the pipeline the better so if I’ve never heard of coding I have no way to get into the pipeline..
Prisca may have been shy in computer science classes before…but this summer she’s making friends…and great connections.
And the connections can pay off: the average starting salary for someone computer science is around $70,000 and the demand is high— if they stay on course. Being in high demand is a code these girls will live by.
