Women in Tech: 3 months later
From the new girl’s perspective
A little over 3 months ago I started working at Label A. I was the ‘new girl’. The new girl in a team with 68 men and 8 women. (Yes, women are slightly underrepresented here. And not just here, but in tech companies in general, so I learned.) This wasn’t really new to me, I am used to working in male dominated environments. In fact, it is all I know. What I DIDN’T know, is how different it could be from what I knew.
And then I came to Label A. A company that actively focused on making their workplace more ‘female friendly’, a company that was making efforts to encourage diversity. They had done awareness exercises, Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (CEO of The Next Web) came to the office to talk about diversity AND they were in the middle of organizing a ‘Women in Tech Summer Camp’ (which is where I jumped in).
I have never felt more welcome at a new job before. I have never felt more equal at any other job. Which is weird, because I had never felt inequal. This strange paradox was keeping me occupied as I was trying to make sense of it. Why does it feel so different here?
As my first week went by, I started noticing some things. Or rather, a lack thereof.
I was one week in and I hadn’t heard any sexist or sexual jokes. Nothing cheeky. Which I found remarkable, considering the demographics of Label A. Now, not to lump all men together, but I expected at least some ‘locker room banter’ here and there in an office full of men mostly under the age of 25 (and some over, not to exclude anyone either😜).
And not only did that not happen, but no one talked about the choice of clothing of the women in the office, about their dating history, about ANYTHING that people wouldn’t talk about with their male coworkers. What they DID talk about was people’s hobbies, work, their interests, their experiences, cool stuff they’d seen online. And I realized that I have never felt more equal. Because for the first time in my life I felt like I was coworker first, and woman second. And this is why I wanted to write this article. I wasn’t asked to do this article. I want Label A to know that their efforts REALLY make a difference.
An office full of women
It was a breath of fresh air. I started working at Label A in the midst of them organizing their final event of the Women in Tech theme: the Women in Tech Summer Camp. This was a two-day event that introduced women of all ages to the world of tech. Through presentations, demos and workshops our attendees were given a crash course on the basics of tech. It was inspiring to say the least.
A big part of our team, male and female, showed up on their off day to teach women interested in tech how to code. We were able to help two women create an entire, awesome looking website for their startup company. One woman made a cool interactive thing using Javascript for the first time. The results were amazing. The fact that we got so many women excited about something that is still perceived to be kind of a ‘guys thing’, is incredible. We also noticed that we unexpectedly got a lot of support from people from all over the world on the Instagram page we basically only created for the women attending. The hashtag #WomenInTech is global, it’s a thing. And we were (and still are) a part of it.
For two entire days we had an office full of women (and our guys teaching the women the ropes), all eager to learn about the stuff we do at the office every day. And the response afterwards was enough motivation for us to keep Women in Tech alive, also after the theme had ended. I wanna share a snippet of a thank you note we received from one of the girls that joined our Summer Camp.
‘[…] Most of all it was super awesome to be with so many girls interested in tech, as a female engineer that’s not your average day at the office. I really admire the enthusiasm (and patience) of the people at Label A, it’s really good to see that “humans” from different backgrounds and professions do one’s bit in making the workfloor more diverse.’
See how she emphasized the word “humans”? That is what Women in Tech is all about. Working together towards one goal, as a team. As a family. It is not just about tech, really. It is about equality in a broader sense, far beyond just tech offices. But this office just happens to have nailed it. And I am proud to be a part of that. Tech is not boring. It is not ‘too hard’ and it is certainly not just for boys. That is the lesson I got out of our Women in Tech Summer Camp. And it is incredible to see that that is what the women attending our Summer Camp got out of it too.
Three months later: where are we now?
The theme has come to an end and we are already focusing on the next theme (which will be introduced next month🎉). And what is the point of doing these themes if the effect only lasts as long as the theme itself? So the million dollar question is… What did we achieve in the long run? What stayed with us from Women in Tech?
In the start I could only compare the work environment of Label A to that of my previous workplaces. I didn’t know what was already embedded in the company’s DNA and what was a result of the awareness trainings and the efforts of Women in Tech. But now that I have worked here for three months I can see the bigger picture.
First of all, I have learned that these are a bunch of decent people, in general. Respectful people. So, that is one thing. But I definitely see the aftermath of Women in Tech. We actively try to give a fair representation of the women in our team on the new Label A website that we are currently building. We make sure that when we add employee quotes, we include just as many quotes of our women as we do of our men. And, the biggest achievement yet: since the end of Women in Tech we have hired four more women at Label A! Which is a growth of 50% in 3 months time!🎉
We correct each other when we say things that could be considered not-so-female-friendly, even if they are jokes. We keep reminding ourselves and each other to also think about it. Of course we are human and the ‘that’s what she said!’ just never gets old😆 BUT every time someone here in the office says ‘that’s what she said!’, someone else yells ‘Women in tech! Women in tech!’ like a small but funny slap on the wrist. Yelling ‘women in tech’ is now just as funny as the ‘that’s what she said’ joke itself. We’ve embraced the term as part of our office culture now. It always makes us laugh and at the same time it keeps us in check, win–win.
Besides that, something really cool happened. Our efforts are being noticed by people we respect very much. We got an email from Buzzfeed in regards to our Women in Tech opening event. They want to organize their own Women in Tech event, and they asked US for tips! Such a compliment😱 This is not all, we were also mentioned by no other than Envato. Envato, basically the world’s biggest marketplace and community for creative assets and creative people, included us in their reading list of the best articles and podcasts about Women in Tech. This was an incredible boost for us to continue our efforts and keep focusing on the issue.
What’s next?
The idea was to create a permanent change in attitude, way beyond the two months. Did we achieve that? I think we did. We have screens all over the office that display the ‘Women in Tech’ logo, which constantly remind us what we stand for. We all have Women in Tech stickers on our laptops, which of course are noticed by outsiders too. We pride ourselves in the fact that we are as diverse as we are, with all the different nationalities and the relatively high percentage of women in the office.
So… what is next?
We just keep on spreading the word, showing people our stickers, mentioning it to clients, friends and strangers, give the women in the office a voice on our website, keep correcting each other, respect each other’s boundaries and in general just… Keep being the good bunch of people that we are. And hopefully… Be an example to other (tech) companies.
Oh and one last thing: we captured the best moments of our Women in Tech theme in this cool video down below. We hope it will get you inspired too!
