Do you work in tech?  Are you in your office right now?  Look around, how many women are there?

Its odd I’ve recruited for Tech companies for over 10 years now and I don’t think I’ve ever actively thought about the incredible disparity between the men and women in tech.  After the US Department of Labour pulled up Google about their pay structure and how women in the same position get comparatively less than their male counterparts, it did get me thinking.  Not really about the pay difference, as in my experience I don’t think there is one, at least here in London (feel free to correct me on this) but I’ve found people have been paid on how good they are and what that company can afford.

But it did prompt me to think how few women there are per 100.  Here are some very top line figures I pulled up from what is becoming my necessary evil, Linked IN.  In the search “Java Developer” only 5 of the first 100 results were female, UX Designer 12 per 100, Product Manager 10 per 100 and CTO’s 6 per 100.  And here are some more officials figures from the National Statistics, there are 723,000 Males to only 124,00 Female (In Information Technology and Telecommunications in the UK).  In the Google Engineering Team 83% Male luckily Apples Tech Team is far more accepting at 80% male! This being said, one of our directors studied software development in his younger years (Cobol, showing his age) and there was only one female student in the entire course so its hardly a shock to see a mainly male workforce.

But why is this, do I think companies are actively choosing men over women, I truly don’t.  And yes this is coming from a male who works in a male heavy industry (Recruitment) talking about a male dominated sector but I cant think of one example, one hint of an example to suggest that companies that I have worked with have discriminated in their selection policy.  So where is the issue?  Because there clearly is one.  For me it’s the image of what Tech is, or what Tech was.  Techs old image was well, not cool.  But that has changed, Tech is cool now, it is sexier than is was.  There are more choices available, funnier, lighter hearted products to work on.  And I do think things are changing.

Teams that have a better gender mix work better, you may get more arguments about what temperature to have your office air con on but you will also get more diverse and well-rounded teams.

It is about image and Techs is changing, but you can flip it on its head, 80% of people in PR are women (Research Tick), maybe its not just our tech world that needs to look at its approach.

Men or Women, if you are looking for a job in tech then get in touch [email protected]