Women, We need you in Tech!

Annah Tumworobere
3 min readFeb 5, 2022

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Probably you have heard all these arguments before: You will get a nice job, It pays well, We need to close the gender parity gap, etc.

To a greater extent, most of these arguments are true, However, they make a career in tech sound like its obligation to women rather than something women should do out of passion. Before I took a bold step to fully join tech, I first made sure this was something I wanted for myself.No one forced me to do it, I did it out of passion

A career in tech always sounds exciting for men although it can be exciting for women as well. And this is the message we need to preach.

As we all know, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is at the corner. Currently, most careers now have an element of tech to them and almost all occupations are undergoing a fundamental transformation in the skill set required to do them. This should be a great opportunity for women to think about how technology can help them tap into a whole range of career paths.

So, here are some of the reasons why women should consider a career in tech and how they can go about it.

Creativity.

The ideas and vision you can bring to technology allow for huge amounts of creativity. Like anything else, once you get the hang of the basics, there is so much potential to explore and create something new. We use laptops now to write and create art — why not do the same with code?

collaborative

There is a myth around tech that creates up an image of sitting alone in a basement behind a computer with headsets. — not anymore.

Tech needs people at its center. Innovation cannot happen without relationship building, teamwork, and collaboration. All these skills will always be valued, regardless of whatever you end up doing.

This photo was downloaded from google images

versatility

You don’t have to dedicate yourself to one thing. You can start with something that looks interesting and progresses into another — if anything tech gives you more flexibility than most careers to do that. A few years ago, I thought I could never learn any other programming language apart from C-Sharp, it’s the language the company I worked for at that time was using and I thought it would be much easier for me to get help from the tech guys around. But when I joined a coding Boot-camp recently, I progressed into other languages like JavaScript and I can assure you that the story is different.

Like many careers, women wait to apply for things until they feel they have enough experience. This often holds them back from proactively applying in order to gain that experience. You don’t have to have life-changing ideas before you start or know exactly where you want to end up — you will learn by doing and you will never know what you are capable of until you try.

According to the World Economic Forum,33% of jobs in 2023 don’t exist yet. This kind of information can make you wonder where to start and how you can even begin to prepare for an uncertain future. But it’s a kind reminder to get out of your comfort zone as a woman, be flexible, and be open to new opportunities when they finally arise.

Regardless of where life takes you as far as career is concerned, never forget that technology will always be an exciting and valuable sector to study and work in. Let it be your blank canvas to take you where you want to go. Because the more women take up careers in tech, the better our tech will be.

As Douglas M. Branson put it in his book The Future of Tech Is FemaleAn accessible and timely guide to increasing female presence and leadership in tech companies. And indeed we need more women in tech careers. so, my dear women, it’s time to arise and shine in those tech careers as we mean it! did you enjoy reading this article? Kindly feel free to share your thoughts and comments!.

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