'Women Who Code' Shuts Down Unexpectedly (bbc.com) 31
Women Who Code (WWC), a U.S.-based organization of 360,000 people supporting women who work in the tech sector, is shutting down due to a lack of funding. "It is with profound sadness that, today, on April 18, 2024, we are announcing the difficult decision to close Women Who Code, following a vote by the Board of Directors to dissolve the organization," the organization said in a blog post. "This decision has not been made lightly. It only comes after careful consideration of all options and is due to factors that have materially impacted our funding sources -- funds that were critical to continuing our programming and delivering on our mission. We understand that this news will come as a disappointment to many, and we want to express our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you who have been a part of our journey." The BBC reports: WWC was started 2011 by engineers who "were seeking connection and support for navigating the tech industry" in San Francisco. It became a nonprofit organization in 2013 and expanded globally. In a post announcing its closure, it said it had held more than 20,000 events and given out $3.5m in scholarships. A month before the closure, WWC had announced a conference for May, which has now been cancelled.
A spokesperson for WWC said: "We kept our programming moving forward while exploring all options." They would not comment on questions about the charity's funding. The most recent annual report, for 2022, showed the charity made almost $4m that year, while its expenses were just under $4.2m. WWC said that "while so much has been accomplished," their mission was not complete. It continued: "Our vision of a tech industry where diverse women and historically excluded people thrive at every level is not fulfilled."
A spokesperson for WWC said: "We kept our programming moving forward while exploring all options." They would not comment on questions about the charity's funding. The most recent annual report, for 2022, showed the charity made almost $4m that year, while its expenses were just under $4.2m. WWC said that "while so much has been accomplished," their mission was not complete. It continued: "Our vision of a tech industry where diverse women and historically excluded people thrive at every level is not fulfilled."
Well, stands to reason (Score:1, Troll)
Re: (Score:3)
How exactly has a non-profit helped women get jobs in tech fields? Honest question. I'm okay with their motives, but I'm confused as to how they functionally helped anyone.
Well, according to the summary they: "... had held more than 20,000 events and given out $3.5m in scholarships" and that last one should qualify quite easily as 'functionally helping someone'.
They did help as a networking resource (Score:1)
How exactly has a non-profit helped women get jobs in tech fields?
Just recently I ran into a woman having trouble finding coding work despite a solid background and resume, some people had suggested to her she try Women Who Code to get some connections that could help her find some job opportunities.
I had contributed to them in the past as they also held women only coding camps for teenagers, that is I think the key way you actually get more women into coding as opposed to simply juggling the few profession
Re: How did they help women get jobs in tech? (Score:1)
A little too late for an audit (Score:3)
Seems like the people contributing to the organization should have asked for an audit at least a year ago if those expense numbers are accurate.
Re:A little too late for an audit (Score:4, Insightful)
The point of this was to get women into coding (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Or the historical trash-fire toxic nature of a lot of open source projects contributes to women, PoC, and LGBT individuals just not bothering with them. Or that most women still have to perform familial duties in their off time in addition to working their full time tech jobs, so have less spare cycles to futz around.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: The point of this was to get women into coding (Score:1)
Old joke:
Did you hear the news about Frank in IT?
What about him?
He's "Francine" now, so everyone's gotta be on their best behavior.
What are you all down about? Now we only have to pay him 73%!
Re: (Score:1)
Indeed! Coding is mostly a dead-end job unless you move into management of some kind. RSI and ageism are clear risks. It pays relatively well out of college, but tends to plateau, and even dip.
Re: (Score:2)
I disagree at least to some level. I do think it's harder to move around, but as someone in my 50's I changed jobs 2 years ago on my own (not a layoff). It wasn't easy. Interviewing has become so much coding puzzles. I just didn't come into field that way. I dread the idea of getting laid off today.
But, I have been a rank and file software and data eng since the late 90's. Even in the darkest of days, aka 2008, I never got laid off or had my pay reduced, even as a remote worker. To this day I'm still at pea
Domain (Score:2)
5% budget deficit? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Re: Vaginas (Score:3)
Assuming youâ(TM)re a child and could use some explainingâ¦women are people, who need jobs so they can pay for things they want, just like you.
Some industries have a glaring issue where they tend to NOT hire women, if only for the exact reason you eloquently stated, because they are physically different.
Organizations exist because people say, hey thatâ(TM)s not fair, and the find ways to help said group access things that they were prevented from accessing before.
Then people like you fai
Re: (Score:2)
Some industries have a glaring issue where they tend to NOT hire women, if only for the exact reason you eloquently stated, because they are physically different.
Have you ever witnessed a hiring process in an IT company where a female appearance was actually held as an argument against a job applicant? In all my years in IT, I have only ever witnessed the opposite - recruiters being happy if any women applied for an IT job, at all.
There are certainly jobs where physical appearance is a hiring criterion. But I have not seen a charity yet giving money to men to help them getting a job as a fashion model, or a charity giving money to short people to help them becoming
Re: (Score:2)
Just fyi, I have a vagina.
Re: Vaginas (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The rare time I wish Slashdot had GIFs so I could response with the Leonardo DiCaprio aggressive clapping meme. Salut my friend.
Changed to WWPS for tech slump (Score:1)
"Women With Pink-Slips"
(It's that paper, not Barbie fashion.)
Think Different (Score:4, Insightful)
When I was a high school computer science teacher the administration and I were always looking for ways to get girls interested in attending the class. Each year, on average, I would have about 5 girls out of the 48 students I could take. No matter what was tried we had a hard time recruiting girls. The interest level in networking, computer repair, cable and fiber installation, programming, etc.. just wasn't there. The girls we did get performed just as well as anyone else and seemed slightly more focused on getting work done. After all those years I still have no idea why the big push to get females into the industry when the interest level does not exist. Auto, Electrical, Welding, and the CNC/PLC classes all had the same problem as well. CAD/CAM was the only classroom that consistently had about a 50/50 mix of students.
Re: (Score:2)
Yawn (Score:2)