ST. PAUL — A growing program
encouraging girls and young women to explore technology careers is again open
for applications.
The
2016 Minnesota Aspirations for Women in Computing awards will connect young
female programmers with job shadows, internships and other opportunities.
Becoming
one of 11 state winners last year brought Ana Pooley a Surface tablet from
Microsoft and other swag from technology companies. The year before, as a
junior, the Wayzata High School graduate and student at Macalester College
earned opportunities to job shadow with HelpSystems and Marco Inc., an
Aspirations sponsor.
Receiving
the honors and awards “gave me a lot of motivation,” Pooley said. Another perk
was membership in an online community of other winners, where the girls and
women share advice and news of career and education opportunities.
Pooley
said she “dabbled” in the HTML and CSS programming languages on CodeAcademy.com
as a younger student. After returning from middle school in England, she
enrolled in Advanced Placement computer science course as a sophomore.
Then
addiction struck.
“I got
hooked on Java,” she said.
Pooley
advised younger students to explore computer science courses at their schools,
and if none are available, seek out online options. Her sister wasn’t all that
interested in coding, Pooley said, but after playing around on CodeAcademy.com,
she signed up for an AP computer science class.
Devan Sayles, business
applications analyst at General Mills, another program sponsor, has seen her
involvement in the Aspirations program balloon over the past few years. Among
other tasks, she helps coordinate the annual awards ceremony, which will be
April 19 at the Vadnais Heights Commons. At General Mills, she coordinates all
technical work for Pillsbury.com.
Leading
more women into technology careers is wise for economic reasons, Sayles said.
With a more equal split between female and male workers, companies’ products
improve, she said. Its applications improve, and its workforce is better
representative of the consumer population.
Sayles
said companies should support efforts such as the Aspirations program. She also
praised the creation of mentors, who help advise young people outside the
company in regards to technology careers.
A group
of sixth grade girls she mentored built a mobile app and formed a business
plan, Sales said.
Russel
Fraenkel is the interim executive director at Advance IT Minnesota, one of
eight Centers of Excellence, which promote certain career-related initiatives
in the state.
He said the Aspirations program
grew out of a desire to interest girls about the technology field. What better
way to accomplish that goal, Fraenkel said, than to give them sneak peeks of
the industry through internships and job shadows.
Last
spring, the president of a Minnesota-based online learning platform put a
number on the incoming opportunities to hire women. According to Mark Hurlburt,
for every one woman who applies to The Nerdery, 38 men do. The software
company, also an Aspirations sponsor, helped produce Prime Digital Academy,
which Hurlburt co-founded.
When
girls and young women apply to the Aspirations program, they automatically
enter the national level competition, Fraenkel said. Minnesota has had two
national winners, he said, which are a “distinct group” of 35 students out of
about 2,500 applicants.
Fraenkel
commended Sayles’ work with Aspirations and said she’s a “classic example” of
Advance IT connecting professionals with Minnesota girls. They can identify
well with the 2008 high school graduate and envision a career path leading them
into technology, he said.
Pooley
told the Times girls should apply to the program, even if they think they’re
not qualified or they’re not all that interested. The background requirements
are low, and if they know a little logic and math, they’ll be fine, she said.
In any
case, applicants won’t suffer in the process, Pooley said.
“It
doesn’t hurt to try.”
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