By Lucy Grimwade
I couldn’t help but to wonder, is there a gap in the market?
Or are the markets not willing to share the wealth to women who want to work in tech?🤔
A basic google search of ‘women in tech’ will bring you back headlines, almost yelling out of the page at you: 📣 “Ten years on, why are there so few women in tech?” and 📣 “Women in tech statistics: the hard truths of an uphill battle.”
It’s all rather depressing. 😕
Then I wondered, is there a secret we don’t know about? Is a career in tech really that unappealing to women? And what is really holding us back?
Is it because women, like you or your colleagues actually just don’t know what to expect from a career in technology?
Perhaps you’ve never been told?
Or you’ve not known where to look?
💁♀️As you can see, I have a lot of questions. And, I bet you do to.
So, I pulled together 4 reasons why women should work in tech? (Well Service Management)
Money talks
Did you know that some of the top salary earners work in tech?
According to CWjobs.co.uk the average IT salary is £62,500 per year. Now compare that to the average UK Salary which according to Statista was £31,285 in 2021… That’s double the average.
And if freelancing/contracting is something that floats your boat - even with the IR35 regulations - the earning potential of circa £500 per day.
Thus, you can be in the top 10%, 5% and 1% of earners when choosing a career in IT, Digital and Tech. 💰
➡ There are of course factors to consider such as location, skillset, level of experience and even how good or bad the company you work for is.
⭐ Best place to start when looking at/for salaries is LinkedIn Salary Search and Glassdoor.co.uk. Glassdoor is a website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. Glassdoor also allows users to anonymously submit and view salaries as well as search and apply for jobs on its platform!
“But I don’t code”
I hear ya!
Being a Woman in Tech doesn’t mean that we all sit in front of a screen all day, being super cool and techie. It also doesn't mean that we can all code or even develop a new O/S. Or create an app. Or be there, decrypting secret messages. (But that does sound pretty cool huh?)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
There is often this misconception that people, who work in tech can code, wire up a PC and fix your dishwasher (seriously?!😣). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Where actually being in tech can be all of the above. But you can also do a role where it is focused on: People, Business, Strategy, Improvement, Profit, Projects, Communications and even Coaching.
The roles and opportunities are endless and exciting. ✨
⭐ Start exploring roles by finding a mentor, speaking to your IT department or even joining Women in Tech conferences or networking groups.
Balancing act
Working from home became the social norm since the pandemic. And what enabled us to do that? Technology, specifically Wi-Fi.
Most, if not all tech jobs enable you to work from home, have some form of hybrid working and even allow you to work remotely from a different continent. (Best to check your company policy on that first).
The hours don’t tend to be the mundane 9–5pm. There is a level of flexibility, that isn’t common in other industries which makes is appealing for women especially those with additional care duties or side hustles to run 🏆
⭐Often the flexibility policy is shared upfront with employees. But don’t feel shy in asking to see it or discuss it with your hiring manager.
Career for life
A career in tech, will give you skills for life. From resilience to management and even technical skills. The tech industry is always hiring thus there will never be a shortage of work.
To summarise, “Probably the biggest perk of tech: potential for great pay. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, tech jobs ranging from computer research scientists to systems analysts to software developers saw the low average at around $77,000 and the highest median pay at nearly $127,000. The median annual salary for all computer and information technology jobs was $91,250 in May 2020. Some of these jobs require a master’s degree, but some only an associate’s. Working in tech also means you’ll be pursuing pretty interesting work. Many tech jobs require you to get creative on a daily basis, solve complex problems, and learn new skills as new technologies emerge.
And on that note, working in tech means you’ll be in innovative fields, which are more likely to harness the latest in AI and automation to improve processes. So, you can stay ahead of the game in this industry.” INHERSIGHT
And that friends, is why you (especially women) should be working in tech.
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