How one woman in tech screwed up diversity on her very own team…
“Where are all the women?” is a common question asked at tech conferences. It was also one of the first questions #Batch122 student, Carly Petracco, asked when she joined our bootcamp in January this year. I felt defensive and thought to myself, “I am here”. I am a woman, the bootcamp manager and co-founder of Le Wagon in Lisbon. That should count for like 10 women, right!? Plus, Carly’s batch had the highest percentage of women out of the five Lisbon batches before — forty percent!
But that question really stuck with me over the last few months. Despite being a women myself and knowing the importance of having women represented, our teaching staff was ALL men. Literally, 100% men. We had a few female teachers trickle through in the past. And when I say a few, I mean 3 out of 20 something teachers. That’s it. Despite sitting on (more than one) ‘Women in Tech’ panel, I lost sight of implementing real diversity in our very own team.
To give some background, many of our teachers, besides a few of the senior lead teachers, are recruited from our Lisbon alumni community. The alumni that are interested in teaching and have the skills to back it up, approach us to start as part-time teacher assistants (TA’ing). We typically do not approach them.
I did notice that only men (with the exception of a few ladies) approached us to teach, but I thought it was because they were not as concerned as their female counterparts about getting hired or launching their biz right after the bootcamp.
To test this, I decided to invite one of our female students, who also happened to be one of the strongest in her batch, to join as a TA. She was pregnant, so I assumed getting a job right after the bootcamp was probably not her objective. Her response was baffling — “I am not sure I have the skills to teach”.
I realized then that we had been part of the problem. Women in tech is not just about passively accepting women as they apply, it’s about encouraging them, making them feel comfortable to take that next step. It’s about actively recruiting a diverse workforce.
Do not misunderstand, I believe the most qualified should get the job, but a push for a diverse range of applicants needs to be an objective or else even the most well intended hiring managers lose sight.
I like to think of the tech industry as the weight room at the gym. When I first started going to the gym, the weights were super intimidating — almost always all men and a lot of staring. I preferred to stick by the cardio equipment and stability balls. But one day, I hired a trainer who made me cross that invisible threshold to complete some more rigorous exercises. After that session, my confidence grew, the staring stopped bothering me (as much) and weights became part of my routine. And maybe it is just in my head, but I felt like I started to see more women lifting weights once I crossed over.
I am writing this publicly to challenge myself, our own team, other Le Wagon cities and the industry itself to actively recruit a diverse pool of applicants. While my ‘research’ is anecdotal, women underestimating their abilities is unfortunately not an uncommon story.
Diversity in tech will need to be solved through various policy changes, but an active approach to recruitment is one of the ways we can start leveling the playing field. It’s not too late for this generation of women. The talent is there, but sometimes we just need that extra nudge to go for it and start the heavy lifting.
