flavia Weisghizzi it is proof in the flesh that contamination pays. that thee women for technology and coding are extremely talented. What a purely humanistic training can be a springboard for one tech career. And that a tech education can boost a liberal arts career.
Flavia Weisghizzi of aulab
Graduated in Literature with a thesis on poetry and comics in the 60s, writer and literary critic, today Weisghizzi is Chief Marketing Officer of aulabi.e. the first Coding Factory Italian, and continues to love comics and poetry. “I found that the technology also gives an edge to my passions“, tells. «What was said about English a few years ago is true today for coding: if you don’t have the basics, you miss out on various opportunities».
What courses to work in coding
With the aim of providing precisely these skills, aulab was born in 2014 and has grown within the training and software development (based in Bari). Creating, in 2016, his Hackademy: one coding school that allows to start a career with a 3-month “concentrated” course. And, today, by organizing the first coding bootcamp: a three-day event aimed at girls, with the aim of closing the gender gap in STEM disciplines and in the digital world. For 70 students intrigued by the digital world, the appointment is from 21 to 23 April in Bari, in collaboration with Puglia Women Lead.
The gender gap in STEM disciplines
From 2014 to today, a lot has changed in the audience of aulab students, but not enough. «At the beginning the students were overwhelmingly men. This is why we have worked hard on initiatives for break down the gender gap”. Next to Shetecha non-profit association active for years in Italy to support women in the world of technology, aulab has, for example, launched the first SheTech Coding School.
Today the percentages have changed, more and more girls are interested in programming and digital: «Girls and adolescents today feel mostly equal to their male companions» continues Wighizzi. “However, we still encounter various resistances in adults. And for this reason we strongly believe in the importance of a dialogue with mothers: their daughters can be excellent engineers, or computer scientists, or scientists. It’s really like this”.
The job prospects of coding
The data demonstrates how much the prejudice is not completely archived and the situation of women remains serious. The Gender Equality Index, according to which less than 20% of women work in the STEM field. The Global Gender Gap Report, according to which well will still be needed 132 years to achieve equality between men and women in the world. According to Istat, 99,000 women out of 101,000 newly unemployed lost their jobs after the pandemic.
“The employment prospects in the field of coding are enormous and absolutely accessible to women, even those with a liberal arts education,” assures the expert. «For example, thanks to the great development of artificial intelligence, such as conversation designer. The figure who builds what virtual assistants and chatbots say must have humanistic and coding linguistic skills to put user and machine in dialogue». But web designers and front end developers also have the future in hand, she explains.
How to start a tech career
«Often, I note, the difficulty is above all that of the first step, the first step-in, which allows you to realize that… “I can do it”». The Bari bootcamp was organized to help the girls do it. Among the participants, some girls will be selected who will be able to access the 3 or 6 month program of the Hackademy aulab (which costs 4500 euros at full price).
«The first step is the first project: the creation of an app, or a blog, something useful for oneself, which can become the first work of one’s portfolio». If the bootcamp is in presence, the Hackademy offers lessons in virtual classroom and materials that can be accessed at all times, for maximum flexibility. But also personalized consultancy to build one’s career and lots of meetings with companies, to get in touch with the world of work.
Training and remote work
A path that is also within the reach of the so-called “under employed”: those who work but would like to training to take care of more and better. But also of post maternity mothers and in general of those who care about their own work-life balance. «And he wants to train and work remotely: many coding professionals live far from the headquarters of the company they work for».
All you need is the right training, and… believe it.
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