Data from AnitaB.org says that women hold 28.8% of tech roles — better than prior years, but still far from parity. And according to The Catalyst, women hold 26.5 percent of executive, senior-level and management positions in S&P 500 companies — companies that have become increasingly reliant on technical expertise to run and grow their businesses.. With tech sector jobs booming and the skills gap an increasing concern for corporations, there’s lots of opportunity to increase representation — if individuals, corporations, and education institutions can figure out how to educate and retain talent.
Since 2012, Flatiron School has been reskilling and upskilling diverse populations for technology roles. On September 27, Flatiron School and Learn In, hosted a panel to discuss Closing The Skills Gap For Women At Work.
Flatiron School partnered on this panel with Learn In, the talent-building platform designed for companies to solve the barriers to creating tomorrow's workforce.
Moderator
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Deeps Ramanathan, Chief Marketing Officer, Learn In.
Panelist(s)
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Rebekah Rombom – Chief Business Development Officer, Flatiron School
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Yael Kaufmann – Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Learn In
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Rose Sheldon – Head of Enterprise Learning & Development, Allstate
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Naya Bere – Software Engineer, DreamWorks and Creator of The Black Female Engineer and Flatiron School Graduate
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Saima Akhtar – Associate Director, Vagelos Computational Science Center at Barnard College and Flatiron School Graduate
One conclusion: Women in the tech industry create value through diversity of thought. Another point the panelists touch on: Diversity breeds higher quality products, and better company performance — a conclusion supported by a large body of research.
Looking to build more diversity inside your organization’s tech teams, or deliver tech skills to diverse groups of workers? Read about our programs at Amazon, hear about the benefits of skills-based hiring, or get in touch at enterprise@flatironschool.com. We’d love to learn about your goals and share how we’ve helped other companies reach theirs.
