#GirlsinICT
With all our employees, TM Forum recognizes International Girls in ICT Day with the aim of inspiring girls and women to consider studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); and consider a career in technology at this critical time.
I am writing my blog inspired by this day to demonstrate that women and young girls can love technology as much as boys and men do.
I am here to share my own story as someone who loves playing a role in digitizing the world. I would like to help young girls to consider this path and to study STEM subjects and encourage my peers to share their experiences also, to help a new generation of girls to see how they can build a career in tech.
The pandemic impact
We are on the cusp of a digital revolution. Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation by at least seven years which means that the digitization of life and business is coming faster than was previously predicted. Over the past decade we saw how connectivity and technology changed how people share accommodation and transport. A similar effect is anticipated across all industries including industrial, healthcare and logistics, powered by the amalgamation of a series of new technologies – IoT, AI, 5G, edge compute and greater computing power.
During the Covid-19 pandemic technology changed how health services were delivered, moving to over 90% remote care. Remote care is becoming part of a full lifecycle of patient care now and into the future. As people live longer and a greater percentage of the population require care this will become even more important in the future. Technology is also impacting how aid is delivered to vulnerable people in disaster and conflict zones.
Essentially, every part of life and business is anticipated to be touched by technology in the coming decade. It is important that this revolution is influenced by both women and men. It’s an exciting prospect for young girls to consider.
As a mother of two teenage girls and one boy, I have for years advocated and supported women in tech. My daughters would ask “but what does it mean to be a woman in tech?” as they would hear the phrase at school, but find it difficult to visualize, so I hope to help paint a realistic but optimistic picture for you, with the view to inspiring more girls and women in technology.
While girls across the world tend to outperform boys in reading and writing skills, they continue to be underrepresented in STEM subjects.
Through International Girls in ICT Day, we all need to work together to build awareness about the gender digital divide, support technology education and skills training, and encourage more girls and young women to actively pursue careers in STEM.
A global career
In a massively growing industry, there are so many exciting careers in tech. Given the nature of the connected world, the future for young girls is that they are likely to be able to live where they wish and work virtually, allowing them a higher degree of mobility and flexibility than most other industries.
They can work on challenging and interesting projects where there is a high degree of change as well as being able to operate in a “messy environment” where they explore and develop new innovations with a diverse team of people from different backgrounds, delivering new value which will impact the way people live and work. I particularly enjoy being able to travel and getting to know and work with people in different parts of the world and from different walks of life
Working across industries
This broad impact on life and business is a high motivator for me also. I have worked on early health information systems, consumer electronics, telecommunications, 2G, 3G, 4G & 5G, and now the application of these technologies, along with IoT and AI, into industry verticals such as healthcare and industrial automation. One project I worked on looked at how a distributed health system would bring new healthcare options to over a billion people. Another project is looking at autonomous cars on highways, and another looks at the automation of masses of data in a large industrial factory, creating a flexible factory.
I find the work incredibly stimulating, impactful and people can make a reasonable living.
Jumping the hurdles
As with all things, there can be challenges. There are reasons why the percentage of women in technology today is approximately 15%, whereas when I joined in the 90’s it was over 30%. To help avoid these challenges, look closely at any prospect employer, checking out their executive board, company website, press releases and videos. From here, you’ll get an idea if there’s an equal path for technical women. Company culture is set at the top and filters down – check their diversity and inclusion statements and how they align to the brand and positioning of the organization, this will tell you if your skills are going to be valued. Try to find a fit of values where your skills fit with what is considered important – this will help open the path ahead for you. There are challenges in every industry and way of life and these points of guidance are intended purely to help assess the best opportunity for your skills and career, and to help guide better decisions and avoid potential potholes.
Technology will impact every way of life, meaning there will be a skills shortage, and all relevant skills will be embraced. There is also the opportunity to create your own business and set your own company culture. With near-global connectivity, even if you have starter technical skills, you can set up a business and trade online, generating new incomes. The most important thing for getting going is access to connectivity; do all you can to make sure you have good quality access to connectivity. Set up your own account and use your connectivity to build your skills. This will open a whole new world of opportunity for you with a huge amount of free learning available online. Soak it up, learn, build, and work on things that you are passionate about.
If you have a broad ambition to impact positively on life and industry, a passion for technology and a deep resilience, you can have a great career in tech. Develop your skills, make friends, have fun avoiding the potholes as best you can, and most importantly working to make this digital revolution inclusive and representative of all of society.
Joann O'Brien is Vice President, 5G Digital Ecosystems at TM Forum. She works in a global role working virtually from Cork, Ireland.
