Ready to meet some extraordinary women? Roll up your sleeves and plunge into the growing world of technology. Women in tech is a hot topic. And women of different experience levels are gaining valuable skill sets to advance their careers, to prepare for a career change, or just to network for personal development—all through a tech group called Girl Develop It Burlington. Girl Develop It, a non-profit begun in New York runs classes designed for women who want to learn computer programming and technical skills in a social and collaborative environment. GDI's name plays with the acronym, IT, for information technology and makes "it" a smaller case.

"Our vision is to create a network of empowered women who feel confident in their abilities to code and build beautiful web and mobile applications," GDI writes on their website. "By teaching women around the world from diverse backgrounds to learn software development, we can help women improve their careers and confidence in their everyday lives."

GDI has chapters across the United States, and now Burlington is on the list! The founder of Girl Develop It Burlington, Maureen McElaney, was part of the GDI Philadelphia chapter. McElaney explained, "I moved to Burlington and missed the GDI classes so much, I decided to start a Burlington chapter to help women break into the IT industry."

McElaney founded GDI Burlington this March, and the response to its launch was substantial, with 169 women eager to get involved. What's GDI all about? McElaney said, "Girl Develop It seeks to open doors for more women to advance in the tech industry by learning new skills and having fun along the way."

	GDI sells tickets to classes on their meetup page; they also have a scholarship program available by application. The first class on April 13 was almost instantly sold out. The first GDI Burlington class was focused on HTML/CSS, hosted at Office Squared over the course of two Saturdays. Each class has one teacher and a handful of TAs to ensure everyone gets needed support. After the final session, many students reported that the skills they learned were already helping them with their current jobs.
Alison Quigley, a Digital Specialist at Dealer.com, said the HTML she learned helped her to implement solutions in raw HTML code for her clients in the Control Center. The women in attendance came from companies as varied as Competitive Computing, Dealer.com, and Living Well Magazine, but all were looking to enhance their careers by learning software development. McElaney herself has been taking the classes to learn the basic HTML/CSS programming languages, and aspires to further her own learning through this program.

McElaney fosters an open and cheerful community of women passionate about learning to program. Her personality lends itself perfectly to the open and fun environment needed to encourage women of all experience levels to get involved.

Sarah Pettitt, a programming professor at Champlain College taught the first class. Her humor, and upbeat character set the room alight with hilarity. Emily Place, lead front-end web developer at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, volunteered her weekend as a TA. She was delighted with the "ohs" and "hurrays" coming from around the room as women witnessed their websites transform using Komodo Edit.

The room was filled with excitement, involvement, and proof that there are plenty of women interested in programming. Emily and the other TAs were responsive to questions and helped to engage the class with their demonstrated passion for programming and encouraged women to learn through their collaboration and explanations.

Photo: courtesy of Maureen McElaney First HTML/CSS class of Girl Develop It Burlington at Logic Supply in South Burlington.

Local Tech Groups: Close the STEM Gender Gap

GDI is one of several recent groups intended to close the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). According to the federal Commerce Dept. Economics and Statistics Administration(pdf file), the percentage of women holding jobs in 2009 makes up almost half of the national workforce; however, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM careers. Women with careers in STEM earn 33 percent more than women in non-STEM related careers. Developing these STEM skills and interests can help lead to better careers for women and fosters an environment of leadership for future generations.

Less than 20 percent of the bachelor's degrees in computer science go to women, a stark comparison to the near-60 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded to graduating females. Hopefully with the rise of organizations dedicated to helping build a culture of enthusiasm for technology more women will be enrolled in Computer Science degrees and other STEM-related fields in the future. In a recent article by CBS News, Jolie O'Dell, a reporter for VentureBeat, said, "The developer world is one of the last enclaves of hardcore sexism because it is so male-dominated." GDI and groups like it present opportunities for women to enter and grow within the technology industry. They encourage women to learn and embrace their inner geek.

Women: Get Involved

Opportunities for women to get involved with IT lay within reach. They can lead to prosperous career paths in technological roles. Take, for instance, Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, President and CEO of IBM. She was named by Fortune 500 Magazine one of the "Most Powerful Women in Business." Rometty, IBM's first woman CEO controls the 19th largest company in the world by revenue.

Technology is advancing every day and more businesses are recruiting to fill tech roles. While becoming CEO may not be looming in the forecast for most tech women, Rometty's accomplishment does demand recognition as women become more proactive in their development of technical skills and support.

This movement to encourage STEM among women—and youth—includes the Girl Scouts. Their Great Los Angeles branch partnered with Women in Games International to create a new STEM-aligned badge. Girls earn it by programming their own video games.

Amy Allison, Vice President of Women in Games International, said in an article in Wired, "Creating this badge will get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry." The ultimate goal is to make this badge available nationally. Encourage and support women looking to get into IT careers now, and the next generation of code heroes and rock stars will change the future.

Photo: LA Girl Scouts STEM-aligned Video Game Badge