Women Are Writing Themselves Back into Tech History

by

The digital revolution was well underway before COVID-19, changing traditional jobs and industries beyond recognition. The increase in online working has fueled the demand for digital skills still further. Now is a great time for women to think about reskilling and adding a digital layer to their profiles so they can take advantage of new opportunities in growth areas. And Barcelona has some great initiatives to help them do it.

Not that you’d know it today, but women have played an important role in the development of computing since before computers existed, with Ada Lovelace writing the first program back in the 19th century. In the emerging digital era of the mid-20th century, “soft” coding and programming was regularly done by women while men built the more prestigious hardware. Pioneers like Grace Hopper and Mary Allen Wilkes were at the forefront of innovations in programming and personal computers, respectively, and right up to the 1970s the industry was much more diverse than it is today.  

It’s not clear exactly when or why things changed, but a tendency to view increasingly prevalent home computers in the 1980s as “for boys” may have been a factor. It’s a stereotype reinforced by school computer clubs, the media and (often unconscious) hiring bias that persists despite a positive correlation between diversity and profits. 

Today, women complain of lower pay, tougher interviews, being held to higher standards than male counterparts and the need to be constantly assertive to get on, which all takes its toll. A 2008 Harvard study found 52% of highly qualified STEM women quit due to machismo, feelings of isolation, lack of recognition, long hours and punishing schedules (incompatible with being primary care-givers). 

For a long time, the gender gap wasn’t a concern, but now women risk becoming irrelevant as jobs evolve or are replaced by digital ones. In Barcelona—where women account for 22% of digital employees—demand for talent rose nearly 40% from 2018-2019 while supply just 7.6%. And it’s not just missed opportunities: We may all need to be prepared to transition professions, develop new skills and become tech-savvy to stay employable in the coming years, but the Institute for Women’s Policy Research believes women “are more likely than men to work in the occupations with the highest risk of automation.” In any case, we need diverse teams to design our systems to avoid unconscious bias being baked into algorithms and tech skewed to the perspective of a small (white male) segment of the global population. Fortunately, several initiatives are helping write women back into digital history, one line of code at a time. 

Women Who Code was established to help women stay in coding rather than changing career or moving sideways. The Barcelona chapter organizes regular socials and talks from tech women on a range of subjects. Members include women working in some of the biggest companies here and others transitioning from fields as diverse as biomath or graphic design. Local Director Berta Devant believes getting more women into companies helps erode unconscious bias and improves conditions for new developers, saying, “The hardest part is to hire the first woman, not the second.” She also explodes the myth that it’s all mind-melting science and math. With some exceptions, she says, the greatest hurdle is learning to “speak computer,” after that “everything else is just language.” 

Dutch-born Ironhack student Henriette Hettinga agrees an aptitude for languages helps. Older than the average student, she’s transitioning from a career in HR and management and reckons it’s a mistake to see tech as the sole preserve of young digital graduates. Things are changing so fast that you can step in anytime, and women can bring other valuable skills like team-work or planning to the table.  

allWomen runs full- and part-time training programs to get more women into growth areas like AI and data science, connect them to employers, inspire others and build community. While there’s no shortage of great courses out there—including at schools like Le Wagon which has female teachers and mixed groups—some students may feel more confident in an all-female environment. Either way, it helps to learn from and be supported by women who’ve been where you are. allWomen CEO and Co-Founder Laura Fernández affirms students are typically in their 30s or 40s and from backgrounds as diverse as science, architecture, marketing, copywriting and more. Some switch careers completely, but many transition into product, data science, UX design, AI, etc. in their industry after adding new digital techniques to their skills set. She firmly believes diversity of experience is valuable and that “Everyone can learn code, everyone can learn math, everyone can learn statistics.”  

And you don’t have to work in a tech company to do a tech job anymore either. Berta predicts increased numbers of in-house developers as companies move from outsourcing to proprietary tech stacks for their apps, websites and systems. “You want to work in fashion?” she says, “You can do that. You want to work in hospitality? You can also do that.”  

Data scientist is another in-demand, emerging role as companies realize the potential of all the data they collect. More aligned with science than engineering and freer of the “boys only” baggage, data analytics will be familiar to women from fields like biology or chemistry. But it’s not just for scientists: Laura Fernández outlines the value for business people or marketers of learning a programming language like Python to work with data sets, and how translators can turn a threat into an opportunity by getting into natural language programming for AI and machine learning. 

Whatever you do, this leading European innovation, startup and science and tech hub is a great place to do it. Henriette says, “There's an enormous momentum right now in Barcelona. Loads of startups are coming over here but also the bigger companies and people need developers.” Barcelona trails cities like London or Berlin but the weather is better, the living cheaper and a younger market and digital skills shortfall can mean an easier foot in the door. And while large companies may be slow to change, they recognize the need to digitalize, attract top talent and meet diversity quotas. Salaries are lower too, of course, but Berta believes Spain’s social security system enables ways of working and other benefits that favor women. There are also loads of free or discounted resources here and a commitment to closing the gender gap and putting the city on the digital map. Among other initiatives, Barcelona Activa runs programs for female professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as tech training and digital reskilling. 

If you want to go digital, do some research and join one of Barcelona’s myriad tech meetup communities to make connections and see what appeals. Now is a great time to try an online course or projects on sites like Codelabs so you can get an idea of what appeals to you, and before you invest serious amounts of time and money in a bootcamp further down the line. 

Once you start working, look for companies where you can find your feet without burning out just trying to keep up. And while tech lends itself to remote or part-time work, it’s advisable to begin in-company to learn all you can. Either way, to get your start you’ll need to put yourself out there, be assertive, passionate and demonstrate willingness to learn and go the extra distance. “The ideal,” says Berta, “would be there’s a moment where women are accepted as just being average developers, mediocre, and they still get jobs.” Until then, “you’re going to have to lean in.”

Additional Resources

Kate Williams is a freelance writer, editor, translator and Director of The Writer Stuff. She left her native England for Barcelona in 2003 and never looked, or went, back. When she isn’t writing or discovering all the cool stuff going on in the city, she enjoys hiking in the Catalan countryside, kayaking on the Costa Brava, and volunteers at a local animal sanctuary. You can read more by Kate here.