Take Action: SWITCH ON! Summit Reflection
Charlottesville Women in Tech (CWIT) held our inaugural SWITCH ON! Summit on November 9. The morning session highlighted the status, needs, and accomplishments of women in tech. Here's what we learned from the three main speakers:
Megan Healy kicked off her talk, Women in Tech, Virginia, with a quiz. Did you know the most awarded bachelor’s degree in Virginia is in psychology and that the number one job that teenage girls want to be when they grow up is an actress (and boys want to be sports stars). Computer-related occupations are some of the fastest growing in Virginia and in our region we are hiring 1 person for every 5 tech-related job postings with an average of 48 days from posting to hire. Meanwhile, there are way more psychology majors than psychology-related job openings.
Megan’s Take Action List
Pamela Norris shared about Encouraging Diversity through Communication of the Value of Science and Engineering. She has found that we should look at diversity as an ability because diverse teams outperform teams of “the best” most of the time by a substantial margin. The challenges of diversity: communication, trust and getting out one’s comfort zone require extra effort, but necessary to solve the big problems facing our world.
Pamela’s Take Action List
“It’s widely acknowledged that most of the jobs to be disrupted by advanced technologies will be those held by women. Over 60% of the new jobs through 2020 will require skills that less than 20% of the current workforce possess. Without preemptive action, women not only will lose jobs to technological advancements, but will be left behind.” — Gwen Murphy
So how did we get here? Gwen Murphy shared in her talk, Support Women in Tech, that culture is the number one reason why women leave the tech sector and that along the way, cultural messages both subtle and explicit cull away girls dreams or potential in technology.
Gwen’s Take Action List
- Megan Healy, Virginia Chief Workforce Development Advisor at Office of Governor
- Pamela Norris, Executive Dean in the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Gwen Murphy, Executive Director, KPMG Global Lead Business Technology Services
Megan Healy kicked off her talk, Women in Tech, Virginia, with a quiz. Did you know the most awarded bachelor’s degree in Virginia is in psychology and that the number one job that teenage girls want to be when they grow up is an actress (and boys want to be sports stars). Computer-related occupations are some of the fastest growing in Virginia and in our region we are hiring 1 person for every 5 tech-related job postings with an average of 48 days from posting to hire. Meanwhile, there are way more psychology majors than psychology-related job openings.
Megan’s Take Action List
- Tech-based businesses and organizations need to offer more work-based learning opportunities to students.
- Curriculum needs more alignment to business needs and workplace skills like ability to learn, emergent leadership, intellectual humility and expertise.
- Pathways into tech careers need an update.
Pamela Norris shared about Encouraging Diversity through Communication of the Value of Science and Engineering. She has found that we should look at diversity as an ability because diverse teams outperform teams of “the best” most of the time by a substantial margin. The challenges of diversity: communication, trust and getting out one’s comfort zone require extra effort, but necessary to solve the big problems facing our world.
Pamela’s Take Action List
- Tell people how your work makes a difference.
- Change your bio.
- Add a tag to your email signature line.
- Use design or create instead of build.
- Talk about the people you work with.
- Review company or outreach materials — are the using effective messages?
“It’s widely acknowledged that most of the jobs to be disrupted by advanced technologies will be those held by women. Over 60% of the new jobs through 2020 will require skills that less than 20% of the current workforce possess. Without preemptive action, women not only will lose jobs to technological advancements, but will be left behind.” — Gwen Murphy
So how did we get here? Gwen Murphy shared in her talk, Support Women in Tech, that culture is the number one reason why women leave the tech sector and that along the way, cultural messages both subtle and explicit cull away girls dreams or potential in technology.
Gwen’s Take Action List
- Focus on pay equity and provide more transparency about pay balance.
- Ensure your manager knows exactly what you want out of your career in terms of promotion.
- Women in leadership roles take an active role in women’s careers.
- Promote and create your own personal brand.
- Organizations put programs in place to help women train for the future of work.
- More men step up and work to understand how to help women’s careers
Local organizations that can help you learn
- Community Investment Collaborative - helps fuel the success of under-resources entrepreneurs through education, mentoring, micro-lending and networking.
- HackCville - develops the skills, networks and entrepreneurial ability of UVA students.
- i.Lab at UVA Incubator Program - supports the development of new entrepreneurs through a combination of programs, funding, workspace, committed mentors, industry experts, free legal services, a community of founders and funders, and connections to a range of resources.
- PVCC Workforce Services - provides programs for industry certifications, professional development and continuing education.
