Girls (and boys) can do more than code

As a woman in technology and the co-founder of a conference that inspires, connects and educates women in technology, I am thrilled to see all the discussion about teaching our young people about tech. The talk about instituting or enhancing computer science education is hugely important.  We need to be investing time, effort and money into ensuring that future generations of the workforce are prepared for the 81+% of jobs that will be tech-enabled.

But are we focusing on the wrong thing?

Working with TechGirlz and the Women in Tech Summit over the last five years, one thing has  become abundantly clear - not every girl (or boy or woman or man) wants to be a software engineer.  Not every girl or boy wants to learn to code. Being a programmer is not a career that fits every personality type or aspiration.

As long as all the focus is on coding and as long as all we teach are coding skills, we are not preparing our children, who are our future workforce, for the diversity of careers that will be available to them, many of which we can’t even imagine because they do not exist yet, but that we know will be in technology or will be technology-enabled. As long as all we talk about and all we teach is coding, we will continue to hold our kids back.

Tech has to be a larger conversation. It has to appeal to girls (and boys) who don't see themselves as coders, but as artists, designers, writers, gamers, inventors, CEOs and more.  It has to be a conversation about ALL of the different technology and technology enabled careers that currently exist, and will exist in the future. We have to do more than talk and teach code.

The conversation, the education and the training have to be relevant. It has to appeal to all ages. And the conversation has to start earlier.  We have toddlers who can operate iphones and ipads. This is where the conversation about careers in tech has to start. This where the imparting of knowledge of the different types of careers in tech has to begin. We have to start the conversation about what opportunities are available in technology and technology-enabled careers when children are developing their interests. We have to make sure their eyes are open to the the options earlier than high school and earlier than when they start choosing their college majors.  If we are not educating them in middle-school or before about the diversity in technology careers we are not giving them the full opportunity to explore options that match up with their interests.  How many of us played at being teachers, lawyers, doctors, firefighters, painters, artists, veterinarians, soldiers or a huge list of other “careers” that we pretended to have when we were children. When our children and future generations play at being grown-ups, we have to ensure that they know those “grown-up jobs” can include technology.

It is by simple things like...

showing the child who likes to draw that they can pursue that interest in a career in a multitude of different ways, including as a designer or graphic artist working in technology;

or showing the child who likes to write the opportunities in web copywriting or digital marketing;

or showing the child who finds math and logic interesting the opportunities available as a developer or in analytics;

or showing the child fascinated by science the opportunities available in biotech;

or the child who loves to tinker the opportunities available in hardware or IoT;

or the child who wants to a teacher all of the possibilities that incorporate technology into their classroom

It is when we show them these things that we open the doors to all and truly begin to prepare our children for the future they will face.

What career in technology do you have that you would want future generations to know about and consider?