Okay, I know this isn’t the most alluring way to start a post but here are some statistics:

Total no. people in class: 80

80 Boys: 65 (81%)

65 (81%) Girls: 15 (19%)

Total no. people with a 1st: 19 (24%)

19 (24%) Boys: 14 (22%)

14 (22%) Girls: 5 (33%)

These are from my 2003 graduating class of students who studied Bsc Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London. All joint degrees were removed for purity of data.

The first thing this sample does is confirm something we already know: not many women major in Computer Science compared with men. The second thing the (admittedly small) sample shows is that women who do choose the course achieve proportionately better results than men – by a fair margin.

It may be that there is some inherent bias in these stats (e.g. could it be that only the brightest female students apply to CompSci as they feel they can hold their own, versus lots of mediocre male students who feel comfortable with the status quo?) – but taken at face value they show that women are just as good as men at university level, if not better.

So what happens afterward? Do women constitute 20% of people at the top of the field? Facebook makes the cut but only nine years after it was incorporated. Twitter added its first female board member this month seven years after incorporation. Microsoft and Apple tell similar stories. Getting women into tech is an issue we all recognise but keeping women in tech and getting them to the top is just as important.

Personally, since graduation I’ve been fortunate enough to work across my two passions: writing and technology, sometimes criss-crossing between the two. Other women I graduated with left for HR, teaching, finance or project management. So how do we get women to stay in tech in the future? We all know that we need an overarching cultural shift, especially in Silicon Valley where ‘brogramming’ culture has long been dominant, but rather than passively wait for this change, what tangible things can women do on a daily basis to make working in tech better for themselves and for others? I asked the handful of women I know in the field and, together, we came up with the following list.

1. Shed the Impostor Syndrome

This may rankle with women in tech who are confident in their skills but I think it’s a fair generalisation that many question their abilities. It’s easy to feel intimidated by the vast and specialised vernacular of the field or by cocksure brogrammers who speak in acronyms, or by hoodied hackers who’ve been coding since the age of eight – but it’s important to acknowledge that men are not genetically smarter than women. Men are not genetically better programmers and they are not genetically more intelligent. Women in tech shouldn’t be afraid of tackling challenges and accepting risks; it’s the only way to grow.

2. Choose a specialism…

Tech is a vast, vast field and people who have a good grasp on all its varieties and vagrancies are extremely rare. A truly great full-stack hacker is like the white whale of tech. You don’t have to be the white whale. Choose a specialism and become an expert in it. And I mean a true, ass-kicking, ninja-level expert in it. When you really know your stuff – and you have confidence that you know your stuff – the brogrammers will not be able to intimidate you. Don’t choose your specialism based on what others will think. Back-end programmers will always accuse front-end programmers of taking the easy route but if front-end is what you enjoy, go with that. Own your choices.

3. … But read around the subject

A specialism doesn’t let you entirely off the hook when it comes to everything outside it. Fair enough, you may not know how long it takes for a typical PC to fetch from L2 cache memory, but understanding what L2 cache memory is will give you a good grounding for talking to other specialists. Familiarise yourself with web application framework architectures, understand how SSL works, read around the field as much as possible. Again, don’t feel you need to be an expert on everything in the field; just a light understanding will help.

4. Ask questions

Use your colleagues (if they’re not braying idiots who will call you out on every tiny thing you don’t know), use StackOverflow, use Quora. Build a network of contacts you can ask for help if you run into issues. Identify a database specialist and a network specialist and a security specialist and tap into their knowledge when you need help. You don’t need to be an expert in all areas; you just need to know who is.

5. Don’t use your femininity

London School of Economics lecturer Catherine Hakim’s 2011 book Honey Money argues that ‘erotic capital’ is an acceptable commodity that women (and men) should use to get a better deal in both public and private life.

Don’t do it. If you need help, ask for it but don’t hair-flick or giggle your way into getting it. You will lose the respect of colleagues and seniors and be doing no favours for those entering the field after you. Don’t get involved with seniors. Don’t highlight your sexuality. Don’t use your femininity. Just don’t do it.

6. Pick your battles

We’re all going to face sexism: we just will. It’s a fact of working in the tech world. Some women argue that you should take a zero-tolerance approach to this but I would say you should pick your battles. If the guys in your team are discussing that hot chick in her bikini on that reality show last night, perhaps you can live with that. If they make a sexually aggressive comment about you, then you definitely can’t. Establish your personal boundaries of tolerance and let them get on with it as long as they don’t cross that line. If you complain about every macho, chest-beating thing they say, you’ll quickly be ostracised. On the flip side, if you let them get away with truly inappropriate comments, you will only encourage them to do it more. Set your line and don’t get angry about what they do on the other side.

7. Help other women

On a tangible, everyday level, help those junior to you. If a new girl joins the team help get her oriented. Share resources and advice, and let her know you’re there if she has questions. On a wider scale, take on big, challenging projects and finish them successfully. Use your knowledge and skill instead of looks and appeal to get things done. Earn respect so those coming behind you will have it there waiting for them.

Author: Kia Abdullah