Debunking myths

It's a fact that women don't frequently turn to IT professions. And this is especially the case with unskilled and unemployed women, since they actually think that these jobs are not made for them. But, of course, this is not true! This is why we are inviting you to watch this educational cartoon, which debunks a few well-known clichés about coding jobs, one by one. These clichés were not chosen at random, they were mentioned and were experienced by women we have met and who have retrained in an IT profession.
Are you curious which clichés these are? Watch this cartoon to find out!

Debunking myths

Let's summarise what we've just watched! Through this educational cartoon, we were able to debunk some common myths about coding, in a fun and straightforward way.
1. Coders work alone
2. It is a male job
3. It is only for those with a formal education in STEM
4. It is a geek job
5. Coding is very difficult
And most importantly, now you know the main arguments to break down these clichés if anyone mentions them to you!
This was the first lesson of your journey, let's move on to the next one!

Learning from other women who made it!

Looking at examples of peers working in the sector is crucial when you are looking for new work-life possibilities, especially when dealing with gendered industries.

There are many myths and stereotypes about genders and tech, but what do women in tech say about working in tech industries? Check out these amazing women and learn from their experiences as much as we did!

Kira, data engineer, ex-lawer (France)

Maeva, UX Designer, ex-event florist (France)

Vlada, Web Developer, ex-babysitter (Finland)

Louisa, CRM, Email and Web developer, ex-workforce planner

Aleksandra, QA Engineer, ex-translator

Broadening professional horizons

You now have the key knowledge to break the clichés related to IT. You know the paths of inspiring women who have successfully retrained in IT professions, which will certainly serve you well in your support.
Software development offers so many different kind of possibilities to work with meaningful topics unlike all myths claims. Women in tech are ordinary women and anyone can find their place in tech industries!

Now we are offering you a module to give you key tools which you can use during the first and very important stage of your support journey: broadening the professional horizons of the women you will support.

And you will find here the arguments to convince them:

Broadening professional horizons

Here are some practical tools for you! We thought you would find these useful in your training and when you are educating the women you support.

Has it been difficult talk about digital jobs until now for you to talk about digital jobs and more specifically IT development to the people you support, because you don't know them, or because you don't know the different between Digital, Web and IT? Then here is a programme of mini games that will enable you to see things clearly at last!

Here is a fun course in 3 short steps, which will allow you to understand :
- the global vision of what digital is and what it is made of,
- then zoom in on the Web professions
- and finally to focus on the coding professions, those that are recruiting and are accessible to retraining!

You are ready, here we go!

Broadening professional horizons

What is the digital world like? In the blink of an eye, you will finally grasp this concept thanks to this simplified diagram and these definitions.

Broadening professional horizons

Digital, Web and IT are no longer interchangeable terms for you. You have understood that software development jobs are jobs that are present in the Web domain. Now, in this second step, let's zoom in on these Web professions.

Broadening professional horizons

Now you can identify the different sectors of activity in the Web and you know in which sector some of the coding professions belong, that are recruiting and are accessible for retraining. But what exactly are these 5 jobs that can be retrained for? With this last step, these jobs will no longer hold any secrets for you!

Broadening professional horizons

This is it, the light has been shed on the dark area that was the digital world for you. What's more, you have a concrete idea of the day-to-day activities of 5 of these professions, as well as the soft skills required.
Now it is your job to find out, and let the women you are supporting actually discover, whether they possess some of these skills. How can you do this and still make it a fun experience? Here are 3 mini-games that call on different soft skills and aptitudes needed for these professions. Try them out!

Broadening professional horizons

Let's start with the easiest games to check the attention to detail, it will take only a few minutes !

Broadening professional horizons

If the player was able to spot the differences in these shapes, symbols, quickly enough, then she is invited to continue with these skill games! The next game "Twist your brain", through a long riddle, will test her patience, logic, analytical mind among other things

Here is the link to send it to her if she would rather play it at home : https://becomewomancoder.eu/mini/mini-game-brain-V2/story.html

Broadening professional horizons

Whether the player finishes the game without error or not, the important thing is that she enjoyed playing it. Indeed, looking for and finding solutions to problems encountered represents a large part of the developers' work time. Here is another puzzle game based on numbers. The skills used are similar to "twist your brain", the difference is that by playing you end up creating something, a bit like the developers!

Here is the link to send it to her if she would rather play it at home : https://becomewomancoder.eu/mini/Pic-cross/story.html

Broadening professional horizons

If playing these mini-games was a rather fun and enjoyable experience for the player, then that's encouraging for further discovery. On the other hand, if the experience was rather frustrating and unpleasant, that doesn't necessarily mean that coding is not for her. Here's a "Am I suited to coding?" test to keep the investigation going!

Broadening professional horizons

We believe now that, after playing all these games, you will be able to encourage woman not only to play those games by themselves but also to give them some helpful insights about the industry, even if you have just a few minutes to discuss and help them consider IT jobs. We aimed to equip you with general knowledge about the industry, while the more detailed questions can be answered by mentors you may recommend or via networking and more in-depth educational courses.

Learning good practices !

Throughout Linda's training path, you'll be able to play and discover good practices to support and guide women to a successful training path. Each steps of the training path will provide you with some advice for you to support and help women from their first interview to the end of the retraining.

Learning good practices !

The serious game provided you with many best practices that emerged from the different interviews we led with successfully retrained women in coding. It'll help you to guide and to support women in the best way all along the different interviews you can have with them.

Enhance your skills

At the end of this training course, it was important for us to value your skills. This is why we have formalised the acquisition of these skills in a European-wide framework document. This is the European Qualifications Framework (EQF): we'll let you get to know more about it!

Co-act for an equal IT world !

Show your support for the gender-neutral distribution of professions in IT, sign this Letter of Intent!

Once signed, please send it to [email protected] with your logo in JPG (if you want it to appear on our website).