MSFT Today 2019-03-04 : Why Technology Needs Female Voices

Update: 2019-03-05

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Discussing women in technology is nothing new for this podcast. In the previous episodes (such as MSFT Today 2019-01-15 : Microsoft 365 Education) I've mentioned getting women, and girls in technology several times, including in guests interviews. This has always been an important issue for me, because I come from a huge family, that is nearly split down the middle of boys and girls, and I've always longed for my nieces to geek out with my like my nephews always have.

Also, having been in enterprise IT for nearly two decades now, I've watched how the number of women have slowly crept up, but I've always felt that we could do better. I know women not only deserve their rightful place in technology, but they are crucial to its long-term and health growth. It is no secret, that women and men tend to approach problems differently, and thinking out side of the box doesn't exactly men's strong suit. This is the very reason I've personally hired women for my teams in the past, and I've found my best allies within my teams to be women - they are the yin to my yang, and vice-versa.

The better half of my most dynamic duo of my career was a brilliant SQL engineer who was also an immigrant. Well, we were an unlikely duo teamed up by happenstance as I was designing the new clustering standard for Windows Servers, and as you know, SQL clustering and Windows Clustering go hand in hand. So she worked with me for months, as we fine tuned out build and test processes, and engaged with others - and throughout that time we became great friends, and I learned first-hand that you never judge a book by its cover.

I've never been the type of person to do that anyway, but I would be lying if I said that didn't have any reservations when we were teamed up on a very important, and very expensive project. I was the outgoing, jovial, sarcastic, hates-nothing-more-in-life-than-to-be-wrong know-it-all, and here I was being teamed up for a multi-month project with someone that no one on the team really knew anything about. While she had her PHD, and was a mother of three, and was equally on par with the most brilliant database engineers I've worked with throughout my career, she was also timid, and shy - for obvious reasons. She was a fish out of water.

As I said, the time I spent working with her on the six month project are some of the greatest times of my career. I learned so much from her, and continued learning from her as we remained close allies throughout our time working together. When I left the company for another opportunity, I made sure to let them know with complete certainty, that they had a special asset on their hands.

The most brilliant peer I've ever had (someone at my same job level), was a woman. Plainly put, she is a technology wunderkind… and when we went through PFE school together, I was in complete awe at the full breadth of her knowledge. I've always prided myself on knowing as much as I can about as many subjects as I can, but she took that mindset to a whole new level. My jaw was agape during the 4+ years I worked with her as a Platforms PFE, and I have no doubt that she is still wowing people to this day, and last I checked she was still at Microsoft. Heya, Elizabeth!

I could go on all day about the women I've worked with in technology, and why is that? Why is it, that even though there have been only a handful of them, they've all made a lasting impression? I've thought about that many, many times - and as I dissect it all, it all comes down to empathy. I never once had to deal with the air of bravado, or ego with them that you tend to get from the truly brilliant men in technology. And regardless of how many times I had to reach out to them, or ask for their help, or lean on them for assistance, they never gave it a second thought, and never once used the fact that they had to against me.

Truthfully, my seeking more women in technology is a slightly greedy one. I want to learn from them, and for that to happen, I need to be around them. I have and likely always will have a giant lack of empathy in my thought process… and I can blame my ADHD, refusal to compromise on anything but the right answer, and/or my logical thinking all I want - but in the long run, my stubbornness, is my biggest weakness… and empathy is the key to me unlocking my full potential… and empathy is where believe most men in technology greatly lack the proper knowledge and understanding to operate at their full potential.

Closing the Gender Gap in the Tech Industry

In this 60 Minutes segment by Sharyn Alfonsi on closing the gender gap in technology, Bonnie Ross, the founder and head of 343 Studios, and Hadi Partovi, the founder of Code.org discuss the current state of women in technology, and how we can even the playing field.

Closing the Gender Gap in the Tech Industry

00:05-00:39

There are 500,000 open technology jobs in the United States right now

Women occupy just 25% of computing jobs

01:02-02:33

In early elementary, girls and boys are interested in technology in equal numbers

The number of men in technology is increasing dramatically

The number of women in technology is actually declining

There are 4,000 jobs open at Microsoft alone

The female candidates just aren't there, and the ones that are there, are highly sought after (5-7 job offers each)

02:34-02:44 , 02:59-03:28 , 04:01-5:01

Because the field is so male dominated, women are less comfortable pursuing roles within technology

Both problems hurt each other, as I stated - we need women in technology, men can't do it alone

10 million girls coding on code.org

Starting late, leads to failure because of the "middle school cliff" - usually when girls drop out of STEM fields

It is clear, that as girls mature (generally faster than boys), their focus shifts dramatically in middle school - and many of these shifts are no doubt societal pressures

05:39-06:28 , 07:17-07:46

The entire United States, only graduated 75 computer science educators in 2018

There are more than 24,000 STEM teachers graduating yearly, but almost all go into math or science

Code.org has trained 75,000 proactive teachers in just five years

You don't need to be a computer science expert to be a computer science teacher

There are many, many resources for helping to become a technology teacher, including from code.org, and Microsoft's Innovative Educator, and MakeCode programs

08:29-09:07 , 09:26-10:11

The gamification of early coding lessons hooks the younger students in

This is especially true of girls

This is crucial for keeping girls interested in technology

Microsoft Research has found that 91% of girls consider themselves to be creative - but they don't see computer science as creative

Robotics and IoT are key areas of focus for keeping girls interested in technology, because of the tangible creativity

11:51-12:13

If just 1% of girls currently in code.org learning decided to go into technology fields, it would equal the gender gap

I think this is a really optimistic number by someone who is obviously very passionate about code.org's mission. I personally feel, that we have a lot more work to do as a society, that goes well beyond just introducing girls to technology early on. Our society must also shift what is expected of girls as a whole, and until we get rid of the still very widely held stigmas about girls in technology, we will continue to struggle.

All is not lost, but I think it just goes beyond a single program… and we don’t have to look far for guidance. In many Asian cultures, women pursue technology related careers just as much as men because of the financial advantages - and I think we can find the right balance as well in the western world.

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