With a widening skills gap in the technology sector, what can be done to ensure that there are enough qualified people to fill open roles? Code First: Girls and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have an idea.
As we strive to close the tech skills gap and encourage women to pursue careers in STEM, more approaches are emerging that will do just that.
Code First: Girls’ Hack Your Career events are a prime example, aiming to create a bridge between the women who want to work in tech and the businesses that would benefit from their skills.
Allowing attendees a glimpse inside those businesses, and giving them the opportunity to speak to people already working in the tech sector, it is hoped that these events will raise women’s awareness of the opportunities available in technology.
Code First: Girls recently partnered with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) to host a Hack Your Career event at the bank’s Dublin city centre offices.
Bringing female students from local colleges together with leading technology experts of all levels from BAML, the event was an opportunity for networking, information gathering and community building.
The hope is that it will also help to plug the skills gap.
“Tech City UK has estimated that there’s going to be over 1m jobs by 2020 that are going to be unfilled. So there’s a real economic necessity to make sure that we are able to fill those jobs. … And, clearly, it doesn’t make sense to leave out half of the population,” said Charlotte Fereday, programmes manager at Code First: Girls.
From BAML’s point of view, the event is a great opportunity to add to existing programmes designed to support women in technology, and to change the ratio within the sector.
“It’s not good enough just to sit back and hope that there is more female participation. We want to go out and try to make it happen,” said Peter Keegan, country executive at BAML.
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