Closing the tech gender gap: Men and women who code are more similar than you may think

The coding gender gap

It is no secret that tech jobs are heavily saturated with men. With a ratio of about 70:30, men continue to outnumber women at all of the major tech companies.

Staggering ratio’s similar to that one imply that women aren’t interested in learning tech skills, such as programming and coding; and is just one reason we perceive men and women to be so different.

Similarities between genders

However, in a recent 500 person survey by Learn to Code With Me, conducted by Laurence Bradford, we learn that for every difference there is a striking similarity between genders. Here are the most notable similarities.

1. Men and Women Learn at the Same Age: Even though men outnumbered women in almost every age group. Most men and women both, learn coding between the ages of 25-34. This could be because 25 is around the age both are getting out of school, and have the time and ambition to learn to code.
2. Men and Women Spend the Same Amount of Time on Coding: Men are definitely more likely to spend over 20 hours a week learning code, 11.4% men compared to 6.7% women to be exact. However, most women and men both, spend less than five hours a week.
3. Men and Women Experience the Same Struggles: Unlike the other categories, there were no major differences between genders in this one. “Finding time” and “maintaining motivation” were the top answers for both men and women when asked what their struggles were with learning to code.
4. Men and Women Dream About the Same Career: Both men and women say that their dream career for for coding, is Web Development which can pay up to $90,000 annually.
5. Men and Women Dedicate the Same Amount of Time Learning: Both men and women have been learning to code for 6 months or less. This could mean that both only need six months to learn, or give up after learning for 6 months.
6. Men and Women prefer Full Time Work: Both genders chose “full-time employment” as their ideal career scenario. For women that was followed by freelancing, and business/startup for men. Which isn’t surprising considering that people regard full-time work as more stable than branching out on their own.

A step towards diversity

Again, there are notable differences between men and women in the tech world, in coding specifically (like how men prefer coding with PCs while Women prefer Macs). However, men and women are more alike than we realize which can be seen by the results of coding survey. Hopefully over the years gender gaps will continue to close, more women will be hired and we’ll start to see uniformity in the tech world.

#GenderSimilarities