Mono-culture is good for no one and undoubtedly leads to poor business results. So why continue to indulge in a system that’s broken?

Wired reported that “according to the Department of Labor, only 11% of all engineers in the United States of America are women. The situation is a bit better among computer programmers, but not much. Women account for only 26% of all American coders.”

In Europe, however, the story gets even more interesting. According to Eurostat, “of the 18 million scientists and engineers in the EU as of 2017, 59% were men, and 41% were women. Less than one-third of scientists and engineers were women in countries like Luxembourg, Finland, Hungary, and Germany.”

But all hope is not lost, because in the same reporting we found out that in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Denmark, and Portugal the majority of scientists and engineers were women. And this was an increase from the previous year where only 3 countries in the EU had more female scientists and engineers. I should also tell you that a year prior, their reports showed that of all scientists and engineers 60% were men and 41% were women hence the numbers are continuing to increase throughout the EU. So the main question we should all be focusing on in 2019 and beyond is – how do we encourage more women to join the tech industry and other related fields. More specifically, how can you motivate yourself to finally make that career move?

Talent and potential are abundant within each woman, yet it seems quite difficult to bring more of these talents to the forefront of business for companies to discover.

At TechFace, we know there is no blanket solution or magic wand that can resolve the enormous gap in the workplace. But we have gathered a few ideas that might inspire you to take the right action if you have been considering making a career switch. 

Break the stereotype of “boys are better than girls.”

False conditioning that traces back to early childhood has created stereotypes that work against us in today’s society. The internet is not male or female. Life is not male or female. Science is not male or female, and neither is Technology.

This idea that boys are better at learning digital skills is just a story that we keep telling ourselves. It’s time we stop.

Change your professional narrative.

Similar to the false story that you are “less than” because you are a girl (which a lot of us grew up hearing), is the narrative most women have created around their career. Just because the facts show that women are paid less and hold lesser positions doesn’t mean you should accept that as your reality.

The fact that we have leaders like Marrisa Mayer, Julie Sweet and others rising to the top of the tech industry should show us that our opportunities are endless. This is the dawn, and the sun is just rising for you.

Whether you graduated with a degree in computer science or are self-taught is irrelevant. As long as you have the work ethic, ambition and support system needed to transition, you can quickly learn to trade up in skills and job role.

So whatever story you’ve been telling yourself about who you can or cannot be, I suggest you reanalyze. And if you want to take action on changing your professional narrative and the future of your work, I encourage to check out the unique, highly profitable opportunity we are offering women who feel it’s time for a significant career change.

Change your perspective and approach.

We need to show more girls and women that the market isn’t yet saturated (and that is a good thing, not something to fear). You need to shift perspective and show yourself how this is an opportunity instead of why it’s a problem.

Fear-mongering is commonly practiced in our society, but when trying to build ourselves up as women, the last thing you want to do is associate lack and negativity to new opportunities. This is a chance for you to be a pioneer, to stand at the frontier of new beginnings in the history of women and the fact that we don’t have many role models or points of references to go by should not deter us from making bold moves forward. 

Conclusion

We recognize there is still a lot of work to be done before the numbers can improve, and a more gender-balanced workforce becomes the new norm. And it will take some effort from both female talents and companies.

It’s easy to play the blame game, point fingers, complain or wallow in the statistics that currently don’t offer much hope but we believe a better more productive approach is to put on your A-game, find a community that can support you and choose to be the change that you wish to see in the world.

So how are you motivating yourself as a woman to overcome some of the barriers associated with tech?