Of IT, Girls! The technology is also for women – Mad Money

Microsoft has trained 40 women in the area of ​​information technology. The goal is simple: to strengthen an area dominated by men. Hit it, not so much.

Adrianna Mitchell participated in the Hour of Code this year in Washington, where he received Obama incentive
EPA / Andrew Harrer

Zoe Quinn is a woman and makes video games. This year, created the Quest Depression, based on his experience with depression. The gaming community reacted: it is not a real game, it’s too personal. Soon afterwards, an ex-boyfriend has published several texts claiming that Quinn had betrayed him with five men. Was the pretext for gamers decide that surely Quinn had gone to bed with these men, journalists in the area, and only did so with a purpose: to advertise your game. What followed took proportions that no one expected. They gave him the name of #Gamergate and claimed that defended the ethics in video game journalism. In practice, advocates for public become the abode of Quinn and threatened her death, leading them to abandon their home.

It was an extreme case and is one of the most paradigmatic of doors that close in the technology industry when woman is . But it is not the only one. Shortly thereafter, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella , said something like “women should not ask for salary increases, but trust that the system will reward them.” The rarely reward system: business reports such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft reveal that a man can earn up to $ 6,000 more per year than a woman with the same time experience in the profession. At Google, a man software engineer earns more than $ 25,000 a woman in the same position, which has at least two years of experience. On the other hand, a Cisco software engineer earns only $ 1,900 more than a man in the same position and with least two years of experience.

One reason women earn less is that simply do not ask for a higher salary . No longer the pay gap to become the ask gap . A Hired.com job portal of the study shows that during an interview for a job in the technology sector, a woman asks, on average, between 80 000 and $ 100 000 . Have A man asks between 100 000 and 150 000 . The increase in confidence was precisely one of the skills that Elena Bucea acquired by participating in the Do IT, Girls! , training and capacity building program for young women in the area of ​​information technology, promoted by Microsoft Portugal.