Sergey Tokarev: There is a way to achieve a gender balance in IT
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IT teams that have both men and women generate more innovative and unexpected solutions compared to men-only teams. However, there are only about 25% of women among all Ukrainian IT specialists. Roosh Founding Partner and Reface investor Sergey Tokarev explains why it is important to attract more girls to the industry and how it is possible to do it.
So far, Ukrainian society still has some prejudices about women and tech specialties. At times, girls can be blamed for choosing to study IT only to find a husband among the young specialists, orthat they are simply unable to do any complicated work and are fine only with HR or QA testing jobs. Sergey Tokarev, Founding Partner at technology company Roosh, explains that by attracting girls to IT teams, the whole company benefits. Apart from bringing a new point of view on emerging issues, there is also a great shortage of data science, cybersecurity, and AI/ML specialists.
Yet, it is not enough to welcome female specialists in a company. Many girls are afraid even to start their IT career due to several obstacles common for the whole society.
To solve this problem, it is necessary to createthematic clubs and communities, explains Sergey Tokarev. This way, every girl interested in IT can find a role model in this profession and can turn to like-mindedpeople for advice or support.
As an example, Sergey Tokarev mentions NGO STEM is FEM which allows girls to know better about all kinds of tech specialties. One of the projects initiatives, SHE is SCIENCE, is dedicated to popularizing female role models 12female scientists born in Ukraine who made a significant contribution to world science. Two of these scientists are IT specialists. One is Kateryna Yushchenko, a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, who developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming. And another is Olha Perevozchikova, a physicist, who took part in creating programming standards for the whole country.
However, showing tole models is not enough, it is also importantto let girls try themselves in one or another tech area. That is why this year STEM is FEM, together with Empowerment Lab and Oracle, has launched free IT courses on Data-driven web apps, App prototyping, and Machine Learning. All the courses are targeted at girls aged 12-16 and mentored by female IT specialists.
After the school age, there comes higher education which also should support future female specialists, believes Sergey Tokarev. There are many options in Ukraine for both boys and girls when it comes to IT, yet SET University opted also to provide girls with scholarship programs to support their desire to enter the tech industry.
And once the education is over, one of the options to support women in the industry is to create professional unions and communities. Sergey Tokarev exemplifies AI HOUSE as such an initiative. It allows both Ukrainian and foreign AI and ML specialists to share their experiences.
IT teams that have both men and women generate more innovative and unexpected solutions compared to men-only teams. However, there are only about 25% of women among all Ukrainian IT specialists. Roosh Founding Partner and Reface investor Sergey Tokarev explains why it is important to attract more girls to the industry and how it is possible to do it.
So far, Ukrainian society still has some prejudices about women and tech specialties. At times, girls can be blamed for choosing to study IT only to find a husband among the young specialists, orthat they are simply unable to do any complicated work and are fine only with HR or QA testing jobs. Sergey Tokarev, Founding Partner at technology company Roosh, explains that by attracting girls to IT teams, the whole company benefits. Apart from bringing a new point of view on emerging issues, there is also a great shortage of data science, cybersecurity, and AI/ML specialists.
Yet, it is not enough to welcome female specialists in a company. Many girls are afraid even to start their IT career due to several obstacles common for the whole society.
To solve this problem, it is necessary to createthematic clubs and communities, explains Sergey Tokarev. This way, every girl interested in IT can find a role model in this profession and can turn to like-mindedpeople for advice or support.
As an example, Sergey Tokarev mentions NGO STEM is FEM which allows girls to know better about all kinds of tech specialties. One of the projects initiatives, SHE is SCIENCE, is dedicated to popularizing female role models 12female scientists born in Ukraine who made a significant contribution to world science. Two of these scientists are IT specialists. One is Kateryna Yushchenko, a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, who developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming. And another is Olha Perevozchikova, a physicist, who took part in creating programming standards for the whole country.
However, showing tole models is not enough, it is also importantto let girls try themselves in one or another tech area. That is why this year STEM is FEM, together with Empowerment Lab and Oracle, has launched free IT courses on Data-driven web apps, App prototyping, and Machine Learning. All the courses are targeted at girls aged 12-16 and mentored by female IT specialists.
After the school age, there comes higher education which also should support future female specialists, believes Sergey Tokarev. There are many options in Ukraine for both boys and girls when it comes to IT, yet SET University opted also to provide girls with scholarship programs to support their desire to enter the tech industry.
And once the education is over, one of the options to support women in the industry is to create professional unions and communities. Sergey Tokarev exemplifies AI HOUSE as such an initiative. It allows both Ukrainian and foreign AI and ML specialists to share their experiences.
