The Evolution of a Girl Coder - Girl Code at CGI

The Evolution of a Girl Coder
When I started Girl Code research into limited numbers by VHTO was telling us The NLs was in the bottom 3 in EU when counting women in tech. Now we got some new numbers from D&I in Digital Benchmark: We grew from 16% women in developer roles in 2022 to 17% in 2023.
But! In tech roles on a whole we dropped from 21% to 19%.
A big side note to these numbers: they only used them of companies who had numbers on D&I and(!) who were willing to share.
This means the number can be higher or lower. What kind of companies are willing and what kind are unwilling to share?
Because the numbers are incomplete, we should just use it for the trend. Is the number growing, stable or declining?
Let's hope we get some better numbers for 2024!

What these numbers do show is that they are low. Lower than they should be considering the Dutch population exists of 50,3% women. And then, considering developing has nothing to do with any of our biological limbs. Every person of every sex and every gender is able to learn and do it if they want to. It's a well-paying future-proof career and thus a waste to not consider just because of your gender. Not to speak how it also brings commercial value by developing better and more broadly useful products when you work with a team with diverse horizons and views. In short: we need more women; we need more diversity in this field.

Tonight, we will talk about the Evolution of a Girl Coder. It's not an obvious choice to start coding as a woman in the Netherlands. The numbers show we don't have a lot of role models to get inspired by. And when we do start, it's not always realistic to stay in the field because it's not a very welcoming space yet. So how did the women that did start? How do they experience the field? What are their milestones? What career steps did they take from being a junior to now being a speaker, a lead, a role model, or whatever other milestones? How did they create a space for themselves and the room to grow? How did they evolve in the successful developers they are now even though they had to evolve in space not yet as open to them as to the men in the field? In short: How did they evolve being a (girl) coder?

Program
17.45 walk in / dinner (vegetarian)
18.30 Intro Girl Code by Ineke Scheffers
18.35 Intro CGI by Sara Larsson

18.40 Ctrl+Alt+Transform: My Career Change into IT!
- Duaa Al-Boarab, Junior Full Stack Developer at Brunel
Duaa will talk about how she recently got inspired to retrain to be a developer.
19.00 My code adventure
- Chantal Achterberg, Software Engineer at CGI
Chantal has been a software engineer now for 4 years, while she has a past of being an elite athlete.
19.20 Personal pivoting is what gets you there
- Dimitra Retsina, Product and Technology Leadership
Dimitra will talk about her past as a developer, but also about her step after this career to a manager/leader role.

19.40 Q&A with all speakers
20.00 - 21.00 drinks, snacks, mingle

"At CGI, we value and actively work together to foster an environment where every voice is heard and respected and where every member has equal opportunity to share their ideas, lead and grow. Estimates are that less than 30% of technology jobs are held by women. And according to the numbers above that seems a little too generous even. To increase this it is important to inspire and empower women, which is why initiatives such as Girl Code are so important. We are happy to have the opportunity to host Girl Code and hope to create an evening where women are inspired to keep growing in their career."
- Sara Larsson, Software Architect & Engineer at CGI

Team
Ineke Scheffers - organizer and founder Girl Code
Sara Larsson - host CGI
Jeroen de Bekker - host CGI
Quincella Buys - host CGI
Yvana Wagter - host CGI
Maaike Wachters - host CGI

Attendance policy
We take attendance. If you RSVP'd but didn't show up, it will have consequences. Also be sure to cancel on time, 'cause cancelling 1 day before will be too late and count as a no-show. (Illness is of course an exception to this rule).

Public transport
It's 5 min walk from station Rotterdam Alexander. At the station take the exit which ISN’T connected to the metro. Find the entrance by following the George Hintzenweg. Call reception at the visitors door, take the stairs up, it's the 1st building on the left.

Car
The employee garage is open for us between 17.30 and 18.30. Before or after: use the intercom. The parking garage can be reached along George Hintzenweg. Take the stairs in the middle, then you will find the CGI office on the left (road as orientation).

Accessibility
If you need disability parking or use a wheelchair contact us at ineke.scheffers@hotmail.com, so we can make the right arrangements.