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A 2020 report from McKinsey found that companies with stronger gender diversity numbers were 25% more likely to outperform their less diverse competition. Yet, while companies have placed a greater emphasis on addressing the gender gap of late, women remain largely underrepresented in IT positions.

Here, a number of factors are at play, not the least of which are IT workplace cultures that have a long way to go. A 2017 poll in the Pew Research Center report found that 50% of women said they had experienced gender discrimination at work, while only 19% of men said the same. The numbers were even higher for women with a postgraduate degree (62%), working in computer jobs (74%) or in male-dominated workplaces (78%). When asked whether their gender made it harder to succeed at work, 20% of women said yes and 36% said sexual harassment is a problem in their workplace.

While diversity still lags in the IT industry, McKinsey has found that organizations leading the way with DEI strategies are making significant gains over those that “have yet to embrace diversity.” Given the value diversity has for business outcomes, it’s more important than ever to have a serious strategy for creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace, which has become a vital factor for recruiting, hiring, and retaining workers, especially women.

For IT organizations looking to make a difference on gender diversity, or for women seeking to develop rich IT careers, several nonprofits have been created to empower and uplift those who identify as women in IT, improving gender diversity in the industry, and closing the pay gap between men and women. Here are three of note.

Ada Developers Academy bridges the app-dev gender gap

Ada Developers Academy was started in 2013 as a nonprofit no-cost coding school to support women and gender-expansive adults who want to embark on careers in software development. The organization is focused on improving diversity in software development positions, of which only 25% are currently held by women, with only 3% of those women being Black and 2% Hispanic or LatinX.

The program starts with six months of training and educational courses and followed by a paid internship to gain hands-on experience. During the six-month training portion, students commit full-time to learning full-stack software development, including skills such as Python, SQL, JavaScript, and React.

The program also helps students prepare for what they may face in a male-dominated industry, and they are paired with mentors in the industry who are typically alumni of the program. Ada Developers Academy also offers training and support to corporate partners to help them build inclusive environments, retain diverse workforces, and foster a welcoming corporate culture.

Academy graduate Mariya Burrows says that she was surprised by the level of support offered during the program. She had access to a personal tutor, an industry mentor, and an Ada Developers Academy mentor.

“I was never stuck on anything for too long because I had multiple avenues of support. This amount of support really surprised me. I completed graduate school prior and didn’t have this level of resources and support. I am, and have always been, blown away by what Ada can offer students as a nonprofit organization,” says Burrows, who now works as a software engineer at RealSelf.

WIT Mentor-Protégé program empowers women in tech

To help advance the careers of women in IT, the Women In Tech (WIT) Mentor-Protégé program offers members access to women mentors in IT leadership roles. The program offers transitional help for women pivoting to tech careers from another industry or who are getting back into tech after taking time off. WIT aims to help women gain confidence when getting into or back into the tech workforce, which, given the the male-dominated of the field, can be a daunting transition, especially when women find themselves among the only women on an IT team.

Protégés who enter the program meet with mentors over the course of five months, rotating between four mentors. They also attend networking events, lectures, and smaller group sessions to work on career goals outside of the meetings with their mentors. Mentors and protégés are matched by program liaisons based on interests, goals, and experience and there’s no prescribed structures for the mentor-mentee relationship.

While mentorship is often thought of taking place within an organization, there’s a lot to gain having mentors who work outside your company. WIT offers this opportunity to connect with peers in IT who can offer unique insights, especially for women who may not have women mentors in their own company. The WIT Mentor-Protégé program ultimately offers more than mentorship — it’s about creating a community for women in technology to come together to inspire, support, and encourage one another.

“Having spent time overcoming biases and disproving stereotypes in my past, being with like-minded strong and resilient women made me feel as if I had found a home whose members understood my struggles as well as each other’s and supported one another to foster a temporary respite from the professional conflicts within the working environment,” says Ping McKenna, an electrical engineer at TRW.

WiSTEM: Inspiring young women to pursue STEM careers

Women in STEM (WiSTEM) is an international organization dedicated to empowering young women to pursue STEM careers. It offers two programs: one that connects high school–aged girls with professional or college-aged women who are working in STEM, and another that connects high school–aged girls from WiSTEM’s globally dispersed chapters to give them a sense of community with peers their same age.

WiSTEM is growing fast, having added 40 new chapters in 2020, including 381 new members in the US and four new countries. As the program grows, so does the alumni network, which serves as a resource for mentorship for young girls and women in STEM. A main focus of the organization is to promote an interest in STEM for young girls and teens, showing them early on that there’s a path forward and a place for them in the tech industry. WiStem works to break stereotypes and ingrained social attitudes that keep girls and young women from pursing STEM careers.

WiSTEM Director of development Laura Sabrosa started out as a WiSTEM ambassador as a high school student in Brazil, where there were not “many resources to encourage girls to pursue STEM.” After forming her WiSTEM chapter, Sabrosa began by giving lessons on STEM to underprivileged girls in her community, handing out educational materials, and leading by example to show girls that STEM can be fun.

Ambassadors of WiSTEM help create more interest for young girls and women who might not otherwise be exposed to STEM topics. As the community of alumni grow, the program continues to offer support and community to those who find themselves isolated in their STEM and IT careers.

Diversity and Inclusion, IT Training , Mentoring, Nonprofits, Women in IT

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Despite a recent push to address diversity issues in IT, the industry as a whole has a long way to go. From hiring practices to advancement opportunities, most IT organizations are falling short, despite their best intentions, when it comes to fostering diverse workplaces where individuals of all backgrounds can thrive.

As a response to this ongoing lack of diversity in IT, several organizations dedicated to fostering diversity and advancing IT careers have been founded. These organizations focus on helping everyone from young adults to seasoned pros break into the tech industry, grow their careers, and find the guidance they need to be successful — all the way up to the C-suite.

Some diversity-focused organizations offer opportunities for corporate sponsors to partner in an effort to diversify their IT talent pipelines, while others offer standout technologists and IT leaders the chance to develop community, gain career insights, and learn career advancement strategies from peers and mentors who have had similar experiences in the IT industry.

Following are four standout organizations having an impact in bringing greater diversity to IT.

NPower uplifts underserved communities

For communities underrepresented in IT, access to opportunity can be a big barrier. Nonprofit NPower is working to change that by fostering opportunity for those outside traditional IT pipelines through its tuition-free Tech Fundamentals program, which has helped young adults from underserved communities, as well as military members, military spouses, and veterans, forge new careers in IT for over 20 years.

NPower recognizes that every student’s situation, background, and support system will look different, providing support for students who may need help finding rent relief, childcare, and mental health services. Students are taught the IT skills necessary for roles such as desktop analyst, business analyst, and junior project manager. Students are also given access to certification classes, resume workshops, interview practice, and support through the job search process.

“When you join NPower, you’re getting a family that will support you and your goals for the rest of your life. That’s very powerful,” says US military veteran Will Galey, who now works as an IT analyst EO&T apprentice at Citi after completing NPower’s program.

The organization, which was launched through a partnership with Microsoft, has a robust community of alumni, to whom it offers advanced programs in an effort to help ensure there’s diversity not only at the entry-level, but up the ladder to the C-suite.

NPower seeks volunteers and mentors from the IT community and provides ways for corporations to partner with NPower, including apprenticeship and internship programs, as well as full-time placements to help diversify companies’ IT pipelines.

DevColor empowers Black IT careers

BIPOC IT workers can often feel isolated working in an industry well-known for its lack of diversity. Nonprofit DevColor aims to change that, by providing opportunities for Black technologists to connect, gain career advice, and create community among those who share their workplace experiences.

The organization’s A* program brings together more than 50 cohorts of six to 10 mid- to senior-level leaders in the tech industry. These cohorts meet monthly over the course of a year, giving participants the chance to gain perspective, advice, and career help from others in the program. Through the group’s support, members can learn to navigate difficult conversations at work, obtain the necessary skills for high-level negotiations, and gain the confidence to “exhibit higher levels of self-advocacy,” says Rhonda Allen, CEO of DevColor.

Brian Mariner, a member of DevColor, says that although he had built up a “reasonable set of professional network opportunities,” he “didn’t have a lot of confidants in the industry either from school or professionally.” But after joining DevColor’s A* program, he has been able to develop a solid community of peers in the industry, enabling him for the first time in his career  to be “surrounded by software industry peers” and not feel like the “other” in the room.

Year Up diversifies the IT talent pipeline

Year Up is a nonprofit that aims to bridge the opportunity divide by serving economically disadvantaged adults ages 18 to 24. Students at Year Up attend a yearlong program where they learn IT skills for technical roles, followed by an internship with one of the organization’s many corporate sponsors.

During the first six months of the Year Up program, students receive training for soft skills and technical skills, and they learn what it will be like to work in a corporate tech environment. Once they complete the training, they spend the next six months working as an intern for their corporate sponsor, checking back in regularly with the Year Up program throughout.

The program is rigorous, and students are often juggling full-time jobs and other schooling while they complete it. But students are offered extensive support to help accommodate their schedules outside of Year Up and the internship.

“Much of my success in pursuing a career in IT is attributable to Year Up for creating a coaching environment which helped me to uncover my potential and aspirations,” says Mikayla Dyer, who now works as an Agile Scrum master at Morgan Stanley since completing the program.

For corporate sponsors, partnering with Year Up is a great way to give back and help foster diversity in the industry. It’s also an investment in a new talent pipeline and future employees, as Year Up interns come to the company fully trained and continue to receive support and career training throughout the internship process. By the end of the full year, most interns are offered a full-time job with their internship company, while some opt for other opportunities at a different company. LinkedIn is one such organization that has developed a deep partnership with Year Up.

ITSMF develops Black IT leaders

Much of the IT industry’s efforts to diversify the workforce focus on entry-level recruitment. ITSMF, however, is focused on helping Black IT pros climb the ladder in the industry by offering community, mentorship, training, and support in hopes of impacting the marked lack of Black representation at the executive and leadership levels.

ITSMF was launched in 1996 as a direct response to the dismal representation of Black IT professionals in the industry. In 1993, only 3% of IT management roles were held by Black technologists. Today, Black professionals hold just 7% of positions in the tech industry, and only 2% of tech executive roles, according to data from the Diversity in High Tech report published by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

For many members, ITSMF events were the first time they saw a room of IT leaders who look like them. Robert Scott, vice president and dean of the ITSMF global institute for professional development, was a vice president the first time he attended an ITSMF event. He remembers being “absolutely floored, to the point of silence,” as he looked around the room and saw “all of these people that looked like me, that were at my level, and that I never knew existed.”

ITSMF offers mentorship programs through three academies: Executive Academy, Management Academy, and Emerge Academy. The Executive and Management academies offer 10-month programs, while the year-long Emerge Academy program is aimed at midlevel and executive-level women of color in leadership positions.

Diversity and Inclusion