With women being 51% of the US Population it’s disheartening to hear the staggering numbers of not enough women in tech. What’s worse is the number of women in various STEM occupations have been declining over the last 30 years. From the mid-1980s, 37% of computer science majors were women and in 2012 the number was 18%. The good news is we are starting to see more success metrics about the importance of women founded startups, in STEM roles, and more programs working towards educating women for jobs in tech.
As the diversity in tech conversation continues to be a focus two organizations Atlassian and Galvanize are partnering to provide scholarships to Underrepresented Women In Tech, specifically three ethnic groups which ranks the lowest in the tech workforce and startup founders; Women of African-American descent, Latina, or Native-American descent. It’s called the Atlassian Opportunity Scholarship. Atlassian, a software development and collaboration tools company and Galvanize which focuses on making education and growth accessible to anyone is providing $20,000 in scholarships for Underrepresented Women to become a full-stack engineer at the Austin- or San Francisco-based Galvanize Full Stack program.
The Galvanize Full Stack program is a 24-week program that teaches you how to make an impact as a contributing member of a development team. The program culminates in hiring day, where students meet potential employers, present projects, and show off everything they’ve learned.
Galvanize reports students who graduate from the full-stack program average a salary of $75k and land jobs at some of the most innovative tech companies such as IBM, New Relic, Pivotal Labs, ThouhtWorks and Keen IO.
Even better news is with this partnership between Atlassian and Galvanize students who are awarded the scholarship will also receive an Atlassian mentor during the program and have the opportunity to be considered for a full-time employment position with Atlassian after graduation.
With the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting by 2020, there will be 1.4 million computer science jobs available from an innovation, economic impact and an opportunity viewpoint we need more women in these roles. Please share this scholarship opportunity for women looking to learn to code or get a job in tech. To to apply for the scholarship, please request request more information at http://galvanize.com/atlassian. Galvanize will announce the four award recipients later this year.
Reference Links
The Latest Stats on Women in Tech – The MUSE
The Stats On Women In Tech Are Actually Getting Worse – Huffingtonpost
The state of women in technology: 15 data points you should know – TechRepublic
Women and Information Technology – By The Numbers Infographic – NCWit
Hire More Women In Tech – Hiremorewomenintech.com
Disclosures:
Melinda Epler and Wayne Sutton advise Galvanize on Diversity and Inclusion
Aubrey Blanche, Global Diversity Programs Lead at Atlassian spoke at the Tech Inclusion Conference 2015
Galvanize is a partner of Tech Inclusion
Post photo Women In Tech – 115 via WOCinTech Chat on flickr.
Originally published at TechInclusion.co on January 15, 2016.
