Stop whatever you are doing and start coding
The average developer lives in the United States, is between 25–29 years old, and identifies as male.
This is one of the findings of the StackOverflow Global Report 2016, a survey held under 56.003 respondents from 173 countries. The same report teaches us that 97,5% of the developers is currently employed. And why wouldn’t they be? Almost every industry needs developers to make their business a success. Not just software companies but also in retail, the gaming industry, the government, in healthcare, advertisement, automotive and many, many more.
The result: scarcity. Which is what recruiters thrive on. They ask thousands of dollars to ‘relocate’ developers from one company to another. Which is why software companies spend a fortune on making sure their workspace and culture is cool, modern and every other positive adjective one can think of. They KNOW that developers can pick and choose.
And for YOU, as a future techie, this is great. You can expect great secondary benefits, a really cool work environment and plenty of job opportunities that pay more than an average wage. It’s a winning bet. It’s not even a question of why, but rather of why not?
Women, pay attention🙋
92.45% of developers are men, 5.76% are women.
Sadly, this is still the reality. As a tech company, we struggle with creating a diverse team because of this. We even devoted two months to a #WomenInTech theme last year to try and attract more women. But no matter how female friendly we are, the pool to choose from is simply too small.
Women, we know the stigmas. We know what the stereotypical developer looks like. He’s a ‘nerd’. He is a 25–30 year old white male, he lives with his mom, has an IQ of 180 and plays World of Warcraft eight hours a day.
But this stereotype is so 2005. It’s 2017 and the word ‘nerd’ is a compliment. A nerd in our eyes is someone who has a broad orientation and who likes tech. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not smarter than most people, they are not all introverts and they come in all shapes, colors, sizes and yes… Genders too!
Education falls short, so we speak up
We have noticed that high schools often fall short in properly introducing kids to tech and/or programming, if at all. In our opinion, they fail to give students a fair chance to make an elaborate decision on their higher education. Unlike in Sweden, where they recently started teaching kids how to code from their first year of primary school👍
Anyway, if school doesn’t tell you, we will.
Where to start?
If you have yet to pick your higher education, why not consider something IT related? You may have never considered it to be an option for you, but it is! Anyone can do it with the right motivation.
If you already have a job or an education –or maybe even a degree– it is still not too late! Many people get into it by just starting to do it in their free time. In fact, 69% of the developers are at least partly self-taught and less than half holds a formal degree in computer science.
Two great tools to do this are Code Academy and Free Code Camp. Starting from the bottom, climbing to the top💪
Once you have required the necessary skills… Don’t hesitate to give us at Label A a call. We always keep our door open for raw talent.
Already a skilled developer and looking for a new challenge? We are currently looking for a Lead Front-end Developer for our Rotterdam office and an Android Developer for our Amsterdam office😉 Oh, and in addition to that, did you know that we are #8 in the 30 most popular tech companies to work for in the Netherlands? Just sayin’.
Moral of the story: start coding ladies and gentlemen, and don’t forget to have fun with it!
