Yesterday it was Girlsday, an initiative of VHTO, a national expertise agency for the promotion of girls and technology. Naturally, this initiative is supported by Microsoft, as they know better than anyone what role technology plays in our lives. You only have to look around you to confirm that feeling.
Those of you who know me a little know that I have a technical background myself. Before I started my own business, I worked in the IT industry for over 10 years. From programming and implementation to product management and managing a business unit within the last company. And I can already hear you thinking… 'that's not for me'. But nothing could be further from the truth!
Personally, I think it is a great pity that more women are not 'touched' by technology and everything that has to do with it. Not only for the women themselves, but certainly also for the business community.
Technology is so much more than tinkering with a device or a software program. And especially in the ICT sector, for example, girls and women are more than welcome to develop their qualities, because to be honest, it is mainly the soft sides that are often missing in technology. Because, for example, who makes the translation from the programmer to the user? And who ensures that cooperation runs smoothly between all parties? Women are certainly as good at that as men.
Do you ever find yourself working with a product that doesn't really make you happy? For example, a product in the kitchen or for the household? I suspect the producer, or the designer, that he is "a man" and that no woman was involved in the whole process. It is often the case that, especially the products that are used most by women, lack a certain dexterity that a female employee certainly had in mind during the test period. She's the one looking at that from a user's point of view at that point, and that's exactly what's regularly missing. In addition, women often have a critical eye and a form of creativity and 'out of the box' thinking that can be put to good use. Just pay attention .
I can still remember well from my ICT period that the men of hard-core coding clearly had to be directed in a different way than the female programmers, if there were any 😉 . The work that came back was also made with a different approach. This once again shows that teams consisting of men and women have a better balance, which benefits productivity.
Okay, I've made my statement. Women and technology go well together!
I think it's a nice gesture that Microsoft takes the trouble to encourage girls and women on Girlsday. Yesterday, 300 girls and women were welcomed at the Microsoft office near Schiphol to attend hard and soft skill workshops. From creative coding to entrepreneurship and from personal branding to creating a website. A great way to break not only the glass ceiling, but also the technical ceiling.
The future certainly lies in technology. So are you, or do you have a digigirl with an interest in science (you also see an interest in technology when playing with small children), then encourage at least to research the beta direction well when looking at a field of study ! As mentioned before… the possibilities are endless and the work is fantastic and challenging. You can read more about Girlsday and everything about girls and technology in the Digigirlz file.
I will definitely introduce my own little digigirl to all this, if she still needs me 😉 . Tell… are you an Alpha or a Beta type?
