First off thanks all of the awesome employers and candidates coming out to our job fair today. We’re stoked to have over 400 people coming to connect with Nintendo, Pokemon, LinkedIn, Hulu, Getty Images, Apptio, Avalara, zulily and so many other great Seattle tech companies!
International Women’s Day isn’t until March 8, but we’re jumping the gun and celebrating the continued emergence of women and girls in tech again in a few weeks. Whether or not you can attend the event, check out out page of resources on Women and Girls in Tech and please share it with anyone who may be looking for ways to better engage and support women and girls in tech.
It’s no secret that companies with more gender diversity perform better than those with less. An article in Forbes explored the connection between a company’s profitability and diverse representation in senior management. It cited McKinsey & Company’s report, “Delivering through Diversity,” that clearly showed diversity translates to as much as a 21 percent increase in profitability for some companies.
Clearly, diversity is just good business. To that end, we’ve dedicated an entire evening to taking a look at women in the tech industry, ways we can ensure gender equality in our community’s organizations and how to significantly advance the conversation. On Tuesday, February 12 from 6-8:30 pm, join us for Women in Tech & Allies as we discover:
Code.org – presented by Alice Steinglass. Code.org is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Code.org provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the largest school districts in the US and organizes the annual Hour of Code campaign. This year’s events will be held throughout Washington at schools such as Lake Wilderness Elementary (Maple Valley) and Chinook Middle School (SeaTac).
IGNITE – presented by Cathi Rodgveller. Inspiring Girls Now in Technology Education (IGNITE) creates opportunities for students in grades K-12 to see themselves as innovators and entrepreneurs by facilitating interaction with successful women in their communities during school hours. The goal is to increase their interest and participation in computer science and engineering classes.
We’ll also hear from Angela Sturgen, founder of Cloutera, about the challenges of running a business while pregnant and how she juggles motherhood and a career in the tech industry. Finally, we’ll take a look at the Puget Sound Chapter of the Association for Women in Computing through the eyes of Lynne Reynolds, current chapter president.
Early bird tickets are sold out, but you can still grab a seat by registering here. No tickets are available at the door. The event is at a new venue: Thinkspace, located at 1700 Westlake Avenue North in Seattle. Free parking is available. We hope to see you there!
