Our InfoTrust team is excited to announce we recently hosted Women Who Code! For those not familiar with the Meetup group, it is the largest and most active community of engineers dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technical careers. They offer hands on technical events and help build the skills needed to raise your professional profile.
Why this relationship? As a company, we recognize the “tech gender gap” is very real. Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, has done the calculations: “The number of college-aged women majoring in computer science has declined over the past decade to about 18%, while the demand for engineering jobs has skyrocketed. There are currently more than 500,000 open computing jobs in the U.S. and only about 40,000 annual computer science graduates to fill them.” We can’t talk about gender equality and equal pay when we have highly paid, male-dominated fields.
The importance of why we need more women going into STEM resonates with me not only as a leader of a tech company, but as a parent. I have two daughters and I want nothing better for them than to go into medicine or engineering. Or, even more ideally, combine the two and go into bio-med. These are two fields where you can get immediate gratification from your work. You can physically see the results and know your work matters. We are just scratching the surface of where technology can take us both in terms of engineering and software development. What about applications of software to bigger issues, like decoding DNA? I truly believe that AIDS and cancer will be solved not just by doctors, but by both doctors and engineers working together to solve the most complex medical problems of the future.
To be frank, as a first-generation immigrant, the financial well-being of my family is also important to me. Engineering salaries are some of the highest in the industry. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the largest professional organization for engineers, conducts an annual survey. According to the 2017 study, typical salaries for big data engineers range from $125,000 to $155,000, with software engineers receiving $70,000 to $170,000 and user interface engineers receiving $90,000 to $155,000. Even more promising is the ever-growing range of career choices in engineering: Robotics and automation, power electronics, control systems, energy and power, industrial applications, instrumentation and measurement, electromagnetics and radiation, aerospace and electric systems.
I attended University of Cincinnati where I majored in computer engineering. There was not a single girl in my class. Unfortunately, it was the same scenario for my electrical engineering class. Even though, at the time of graduation, these were the highest paying salaries. It was sad not to have any girls in our classes! Geeks need other geeks! I can speak to this because I am one. We are not always socially adept, which means it might make it that much more uncomfortable for the other minority gender to fit in. I think some of my classmates might have found it easier to talk to a computer versus a fellow female classmate.
We are eager to spark more women’s interests in STEM with Women Who Code. We are happy to provide our work space for genius to happen. It’s even better when our space provides a steady flow of drinks, pizza in the winter and ice cream in the summer. Who knows what can transpire when like-minded techies and “geeks” put their brains together? If you are interested in learning more about Women Who Code, you can contact tayla@womenwhocode.com to get started.
As a company, we are committed to gender equality and we pride ourselves on working above and beyond as an organization to achieve 50/50 balance in the tech world. We are not about dreaming; our culture is about getting things done. Stay tuned to hear more about how we plan to get this ball rolling! We are always interested in supporting others in technology, especially women in IT organizations. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact us at meetup@infotrust.com.
