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The tech industry is filled with opportunities for women seeking new careers, but in a male-dominated field, it can be difficult to find them.
Women make up 28.8% of the tech workforce, according to a 2020 study by AnitaB.org, a global organization that advocates for women in tech. That’s up from 25.9% in 2018, signaling a steady increase in representation. Today, as more women are exiting their current jobs and joining the Great Resignation, the tech industry is an appealing place to make a fresh start — if you know how to break in.
“The landscape is still competitive,” says Amy Kim, CEO of Jugo, an immersive virtual events and technology company, and a tech veteran of almost a decade. “The hands aren’t in women’s favor to this day, that’s just reality. And it’s something that we’re going to continue to recognize.”
Kim has worked in several different realms of the tech world, from gigs at big-name operations like Google and Microsoft, to serving as founder at smaller firms. Her experience has made something very clear: just because the industry is male dominated doesn’t mean it isn’t suited for women.
“Tech is one of the hardest industries [to break into] because in Silicon Valley, there is such a strong, preconceived notion of engineers being men, or intelligence coming out of male engineers,” she says. “But that’s just a numbers game — you’ve only got five to 10% of women engineers in that stack.”
Only 2% of VC funds in the U.S. go to women entrepreneurs, Kim points out. And it’s not because they’re not successful — in fact, companies in the Fortune 1,000 that have women as board members are 23% more profitable and see a 28% increase in higher end performance.
“Lift as you rise,” she says. “For the next generation, I want females and female leaders to help drive a path and make it easier to create that equality and eliminate some of the preconceived notions of women in tech and women leaders in general.”
Kim shared a few tips and tricks with EBN, both for women looking to break into the space for the first time and for those who’ve already established their place but are looking to move up.
Click here to read the full article on EBN.
