How to help a young girl get into 'tech'

[askingsillyquestions]

This may not seem like the most relevant post on this board, but can see there are some women in tech who post so here goes.

If I have daughter age 10, 14 and want to help them get into 'tech' - reading stuff like this:

uk.businessinsider.com/coolest-women-in-uk-tech-100-slideshow-2016-5/#26-martha-baroness-lane-fox-of-soho-1

about some amazing female entrepreneurs, what do I need to help them with specifically, introduce them to, take them to? Are there particular University courses the older one should be looking at in a few years time?

I hope these don't seem like too-silly questions, but if you are not from this kind of background and your daughter asks 'how I do that?' it's not immediately obvious.

If they are interested in coding, we have a free coding club for kids at the local university. Look up Coderdojo. Perhaps there is one near you. They have great mentors who are programmers, kids often get three hours of 1-1 support with coding.

Second the local coding clubs.

I work in STEM (though life sciences by academic background) and when meeting female engineers/tech roles they often mention the disparity between hobby/lifestyle exposure to these areas between men and women. So at undergraduate level, you will have male and female students with the same academic aptitude, but en masse, find that it is the male students who have had years and years off engaging with the sector whether it be coding, computer games or just discussing things online with other boys. I think whilst getting better, this is a bit of an obstacle for girls still as these arenas are still very much male dominated.

There is no harm for your 14 year old daughter to order prospectuses from Universities to see the types of courses they offer and requirements for them - of course they will see changes before she's ready to apply but then again her interests may also change as well.

I posted a couple of these on another thread and am not sure if they may be of any help:

www.codefirstgirls.org.uk/
stemettes.org/
www.womenwhocode.com/london
www.geekgirlmeetup.co.uk/
www.gadgette.com/

Maths to A level standard would be a big help.

Yes maths is good. And a flare for coding.

Do your daughters want to get into tech?
It's a useful skill set, and lots of pretty well paying jobs, so not a bad choice at all.

There are lots of types of "tech" jobs.

If they're into electronics they might like "hardware roles" - building and installing most commonly. They might enjoy a local "Maker" club, and they might have a BBC MicroBit at school.

If they're interested in coding (taught at basic level in most secondary's now - "Scratch") then there are lots of free tools they can use online to develop apps for phones etc. Easy to get into, and some good online forums for help and support. Takes a little patience and practice, but quite satisfying "I built that!" in a few hours.

Maths and sciences are probably the subjects to go for at school.

An appreciation of logic would serve them well too, which sounds a bit vague. You can pick any topic and use it to practice logic - e.g. draw a flowchart to tell whether that creature in the back garden is a goat or not.

One last thing, if I may - get them to talk about it to encourage their friends to consider it too.

You could check if there is a coderdojo in your area. I highly recommend it for both boys and girls.

zen.coderdojo.com/

If you can get a place, and your DCs could bring some friends, it's also very social.

Thanks all

Coderdojo - Leicester, Notts, Derby are near us, will take a look thanks