Today, only 17% of the tech workforce in the UK are female. Considering the sector creates over 100,000 new roles each year, to have such a small percentage of them as women highlights the gap in the market. By the year 2020, the EU and UK will lack up to 900,000 employees that are skilled in ICT.
With this deficit, there has never been a more critical time to train in ICT. To increase the diversity within the sector and the number of employees, women need to take this opportunity to develop their tech skills and start a career in the industry.
To this day there are numerous women who have chosen to pursue a career in ICT and with highly-successful outcomes:
Ursula Burns started her career as a summer intern for Xero – she’s now the CEO and chairman. Burns is the first woman to succeed another woman as head of the fortune 500 company, and was rated the 22nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
Marissa Mayer, a pivotal force within ICT as Google’s first woman engineer, former CEO of Yahoo and co-founder of Lumi Labs. After studying Symbolic Systems and Computer Science at Stanford University, she developed her career as a spokeswoman for Google and used her voice to influence others.
Lucy Peng is one of the founders of e-commerce business group Alibaba in 1999. She began managing the HR department before she became CEO of Alipay – now, the most successful payment gateway in China. In 2014, she became a billionaire.
Increasing female engagement in this sector not only reduces the deficit of skilled employees but also encourages women to break societal boundaries and exceed expectations.
At Northumbria University London we encourage diversity, which is why our programmes are designed to suit you. Whether you:
Our full-time and part-time options (with weekend study) are here to suit your lifestyle. Based in the heart London, we provide you with a great student base to support your academic and professional development in ICT. We offer a range of courses, at different levels, to help you get to where you want to be.
To find out more about our programmes, visit our website or enquire directly. Our team are on hand to help with any questions you may have.
