“In the United States in 2009, women earned 52% of all math and science degrees but only 18% of technology-related degrees. What’s up with that?”

Our Data Visualization instructor shared this video from she++ that addresses the issue of why there aren’t more women going into the field of computer science.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/63877454[/vimeo]

There is a growing demand for computer scientists  but women are underrepresented in tech-related careers.

“By 2020 U.S. businesses will need  1.4 million computer scientists.  At today’s graduation rate only 30% of those jobs will be filled by American-trained computer scientists.”

The women (and men) interviewed in this video advise aspiring female programmers and software engineers to have the courage to try new things, to not be intimidated, and to “fake it until you make it.”

In order to narrow the large gender gap in these fields, girls need to be given exposure to programming and computer science as early as possible.  While there is still a lot of work to be done, it is encouraging to see organizations such as she++ and Girls Who Code working to grow and develop the next generation of women in technology.