“Women who code” seek more inclusion
Denver’s tech industry is struggling to set itself apart from the “bro culture” of Silicon Valley and at tech centers where women generally receive less support and opportunities for mentorship and leadership than men get.
“I hear from different women from all different companies. So I’m seeing just enough threads of the same things that lead me to know that we’re going down the same path,” said Elaine Marino, the founder of Equili and the Lady-Coders Conference.
Through her work with Equili, an organization focused on building a more diverse and inclusive tech community, Marino has emerged as a leader in the fight for gender equity in Denver’s tech industry.
It’s not too late for Denver, she said, and there’s still time to change and become a model for other cities to follow.
“Denver has a real opportunity to be different than Silicon Valley,” Marino said. “I’m not seeing those differences right now, but there is an opportunity because we’re at a smaller size and we can make real changes.”
While other sectors, such as the outdoor industry, have led the charge in improving gender equity, the technology industry has struggled to advance women into leadership positions.
According to a 2016 report from the National Center for Women & Information Technology, 56 percent of technical women leave the profession at the “midlevel” point. That rate is twice that of men.
Women ages 25-34 cite unsupportive work environments and a lack of inspiring role models among the reasons for greater dissatisfaction with their tech career prospects, the report said.
Marino said this lack of support and role models is indicative of a culture that isn’t welcoming to women.
“Women developers are on the front lines of gender equity,” Marino said. “When I became a developer, it was stunning to me.”
With a maturing tech industry in Denver and an increasing number of coding schools, groups that cater to female developers have experienced tremendous growth in recent years.
Cara Jo Miller, the founding chapter leader of Girl Develop It Boulder/Den-
ver, said her group has grown from 20 students in its first class in 2013 to more than 2,500 members today.
“There are a lot of women who want to advance in their careers, and they see learning a skill set like simple web development as a way to do that,” Miller said.
Nowai Matthew, the director of Women Who Code Boulder/Denver, said her group has added more than 750 members just in the past year and has about 3,000 members today.
“I have the most amazing group of women who volunteer their time every month just to make sure that they are passing on their knowledge,” Matthew said.
While there has been a recent groundswell of support for women in their fight for equality, the tech industry’s culture problem is indirectly contributing to the growth of these organizations, Marino said.
“Women are looking for mentorship, a place to learn and role models, and that is why these organizations have grown because women have to go outside of their companies in order to get that,” she said.
Miller and Matthew said they are happy at their current companies, but they’ve experienced the negative side of tech culture in the past.
Miller said she was the first female developer at every company she has worked for, and there have been times in her career when she was treated “more like a ‘booth babe’ instead of a person with a brain that contributes a lot of code to the company.”
“My voice has gotten stronger,” she said. “I just want to be seen for what I contribute and what I produce.”
Matthew said she has struggled at times not only as a female developer, but especially as one who is African-American.
“It’s not as if the industry said, ‘Get out we don’t want you.’ But when you don’t see people like you doing it, it’s hard to convince yourself that you should be there,” Matthew said. “It can make you question if you’re doing the right thing.” Derek Hall (derekhall@asu.edu) is a student in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.