So my name is Stephanie Covia. And I want to tell you um do you have about 200 stories of women in it? And we call it like um we are no aliens because we are not.Um First, I want to tell you something about me, I started as a developer a long time ago and I work in it for over 10 years now. And the question I never really liked or at all um was when someone asked me, how do you feel being a woman in it? Because honestly, I didn't feel different. It was like the colleague next to me, I was a developer. I loved my job. I loved what I was doing, but gender was never an issue. And the second thing I have to admit um what it changed now that I never understood the need and the meaning of female networks. And I'm passionate about security making a difference and now also supporting women in t So how did the journey started with these 200 stories? Actually, it started in this year in February, we had our sex for Death Conference and the first time it was the third time at the conference and we had a woman session and for registration, we asked questions like, what would you like to hear?

What would you like to um see and what should we talk about? And one question where I really got goose bumps and, and also a little bit sad was a woman texted like I just want to hear from other women in tech. So I don't feel as long. And another question which popped up very, very often was how to find and bring more women in 20. And I found that furious because I mean, it was a con that session was for women. There were a lot of women taking there, but I didn't know how to get more women in there. So I started and collecting stories and going through this answers and, and experience, I always got goosebumps. So the first question I asked was, what was your first contact? How did you get in touch with your T or computers? And there were a lot of different stories. But what came out was that 38% had the first contact at home because they got a computer at home or the dad showed them or um the brother. So it was uh it was clear to me that home is a very, very important part of it or was a very important part of it. And school, it was the second uh the second part. But the experience in school was most of the time bad. So I wouldn't say it was, it was a good influence, but it was the first contact having with a computer.

So when you take a look at the bottom, the plus side or the positive experience they had was playing around with the computer, playing some games, trying to figure out how the games work, maybe a little bit programming, just watching the parents, um, what to do with the computer or playing around like tipping some things or moving the mouse.

So at home, there was always some some positive connection with it and what you see at the at the right side, the more negative was is 24 25% at school. So most of the most of the women who answered didn't really like the experience they had at school because it was most of the time some Microsoft office tasks or just boring. Sorry. And then I tried to figure out how much the the gender was played a role in there. So I tried it with the 38%. Um from home, there was most of the time male contacts or male, male people who um introduced the girls with it. So what I also realized there has to be a spark because when I was reading uh what the women love about it, all of them were passionate about it. So there was this spark when I was reading the stories they were. But it wasn't always love from the first sight. So especially the experience from from school. Um They were love at first sight. There are some two examples. So one woman texted um that that it was just a joke and that they got separated. The boys and the girls and the boys were allowed to do some html and the girls had to type with 10 fingers so they can be some secretaries afterwards. And you see the age there, it's not that long ago.

So the woman who answered was between 25 and 35. And the second one which was very negative is, it was just awful. And that at the end that she completely fell in love with the it. So you always have to give a second chance. And then I asked, um, what advice would you give your 15 year old or 15 year old girl to just try it out or take a look? And what nearly all of the time came, it was just do it and try it out and don't, don't be afraid like the last, what is it? So sorry, the statement that boys play with computers, but you don't have to play with computers to be a good scientist and just do it and the answers I love to read and was like, what f what is, what fascinates you most about your job. And they're always, I just picked them out of there. But the highlighted ones came over and over again. So it was these opportunities this long life learning. I always something new. Um the innovation part helping someone else solving problems. And also like having and creating a positive impact.

And these endless possibilities you have in the it, you can move from 11 topic to another. If you're interested in it, you can learn, you can learn over the internet. You find so many free courses, just do it. And I loved this. So I asked myself, how do I, how do I ignite that spark? Because all of the women, all of these 200 women had that spark. And then I realized how lucky I was that I somehow wanted to study math. And then um over a friend uh started studying software engineering and I loved it immediately. So I think there we all of us have to like um do our part and try to, to ignite that spark with for girls and also for women and then coming back to the topic network. Um as I said before, I never understood the meaning of, of networks and female networks. I always thought that you only talk of the problems there and starting the journey and collecting that, that stories and interacting with a lot of networks. I completely changed my, my opinion about that.

So what the people or what the woman told me that or I found 86 different networks worldwide and that there is so much, many more and with a lot of different focuses also like you have that works for coding, learning how to code involve your your coding experience and data, science, entrepreneurship, woman in t about career.

How do you um break the glass ceiling, how you can, can get forward in your career? All that stamp part for girls. OK. Um Do tiny projects and hackathons, network networking in general, like just connecting with other women and like the, the statement at the beginning that the woman just wanted to find other women um who are I like her. So having networks to just connect with that with someone else security and also um about technology. So if someone of you want to have that huge list with a lot of links and names, um feel free just to, to contact me and I'm gonna send you the list afterwards. So the top 10 networks were female founders, women in uh woman tested in UT girls, female coders and um also women in IC T I have to admit it was a little bit biased because um some of the networks also send it out miss. So I'm aware that it's a little bit biased, but I think that you that find or that I got a list of 86 different networks shows how broad that the landscape of networks is and how many opportunities to have to connect with people.

So I guess there has to be one network you find which fits to your needs or what you're looking for and they are very, very powerful. I've never thought about that before. So, something else I wanted to, um, display with the survey is to show how diverse these jobs in the it are. What are your opportunities? What, what can, what can the jobs look like when, uh, the top level sounds like? So I found 107 different job titles and I know some of them they are like you have junior and senior, I have all of them in there just to show women and girls how much you can do and also 70% of the positions yet were in leading positions. And I think it's also important to show that you can be a CEO, you can be a founder, you can be a CTO and there are a lot of opportunities in there just to give an over overview who participated in that survey. It, I was impressed that I also got um answers from, from women who are over 56 years old and most of the participants were between 25 and 35 years old. OK. So I still collecting the stories. Um My goal is to show women and show girls how cool the it is, how much you can do um that when you start working in the it, for example, as a software developer, you don't have to do that, your whole life, you can change, you can move somewhere else, you can move to a project manager, you can move, move to maybe data science or A I.

So there are so many opportunities and that's also what the, the women told me that you have, you can do whatever you want if you're in there because um courses are free. There are so many courses where you can learn something new and, and, and then also like apply for different jobs. So that's, that's what I want to show with that survey. And also with that, with that stories that it's the future. So if you want to share a story, I would love to have more than these 200 just use the QR Code or you can also connect with me on linkedin and tell me your story there. So I now have to take a look what your questions are because I couldn't see that before. Oh, hey Sue. Um So yes, I'm going to the survey or the examples um are quite new. So I'm still collecting stories and I always frequently share the insights on, on linkedin if you need something. And I think what I want to say with that and what I wanted to collect with that is that we are all women in it and we all love it so much there.

So we just have to talk about it and then tell girls or also other women what you can do and why do you love your job so much? And I think that's the best um like advertisement. Um you can do and just be a role model or a mentor. It can be both at the same time. So if you have any questions, just pop them in the chat. Can we get the slides? Yes, you can get the slides afterwards. And you can also get a list of the networks if you like, just write me a text on linkedin and I'm happy to share them with you. Um Yes. Um The question about what about women in touch in general? So my focus was on women in it, but it was not only just the ones who are very, very technical, it was also like a hard job descriptions or titles um from human resources communication. Pr so I had it was quite, quite broad and the focus of that. So was really like just the it, but I want to do another one. And what was also interesting to hear or to, to see is that it does make a difference where you are from. I didn't ask about the country but in the stories I could read out that. Um I think we are especially in Germany, Austria and, and also Switzerland, we are a little bit behind. So we have definitely less, less women in it than some, for example, some Eastern countries.

Uh Have you asked for bad experience? No, not this time, I wanted to have some some positives. So the goal was to tell the stories and bring more women in and girls into it. So the focus was on the definitely on the positive side and not on the bad experience side. But I think that's what you have also, for example, the networks for to share also the negative um aspects, maybe find help and tips. So, but I'm gonna think about how I can include that in an maybe in another sur survey. So it's going through the comments, just feel free to connect with me on linkedin. I'm gonna pop up and what I also um telling all the time, like I started the survey in end of February and I got in touch with so many women and so many incredible women in it. I never, never, never had before in the 10 years before. So also uh when someone is saying like, yeah, we didn't find the women as a speaker. It doesn't count for me anymore because there are so many, you just have to ask the right questions and ask into the right group. Uh ask the right groups to, to find speakers. So if you need any help there, you can contact me as well. So yes, you have to get them from the groups. Yeah, so you're right.

It's like you said, I guess the challenge is to encourage 15 year old girls to um be interested to try it out when they have, um, condition not to. Yeah, that's, that's how, how do you, how do you ignite that spark? That's the hard part to do. And I think it depends on the girls or on the, also on the boys actually, but it depends on the people and on, on the kids. What I love to see is that there are so many like hackathons at the moment, um, going on where they just can solve problems. And I think that's, that's a good way to start like solving problems or being curious how something works. How does that? Does that game work? Like it works and telling, especially the kids that they're not only consumers, they also can be creators. And that's also a way to start if there be some, if there are some creators and they writing text, I think it's a start at least and that they're getting in touch with, with the computer creating pictures, sharing that. But it's definitely hard to, I think and that's why I wanted to give the talk because I think we all have to work together. All we all women in it have to tell their stories and the people have to see why they're so passionate about it.

Why do you love it so much that can maybe try it out? And I mean, we do explain the kids how the world works. So we just have to tell him how the digital world world works as well. Thank you so much for being here and listening. I'm gonna share the slides. You're gonna find the link on my linkedin page probably. And if you have any questions or you wanna share your story, you wanna share your experience. Pop me a question. Thank you so much and have a nice day. Enjoy all the other talks and I'm happy to get in touch with you.