This year has been a turbulent one, with the industry seeing thousands of layoffs from Twitter, Meta and Amazon; Twitter taken over by Elon Musk; Apple CEO Tim Cook calling for more diversity in tech; and women facing the economic fallout from the pandemic.
We will continue to bring you all the latest tech news and thought-provoking pieces in 2023!
March
The first quarter of 2022 was still reeling from the effects of the pandemic – and the Great Resignation was still going strong. PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey revealed that globally one in five workers might quit their jobs in 2022.
The survey found that one of the key factors for employees leaving was pay. Women are less likely than men to feel satisfied with pay, less likely to ask for a raise or promotion and less likely to feel listened to by their managers.
If you’re looking for advice on asking for a pay rise or considering a new role, we’ve got lots of resources to help you on your way.
April
April saw a number of tech companies bringing people back into the office, following years of working remotely due to the pandemic.
Despite organisations wanting employees back in the office, a number of return-to-office (RTO) policies have been questioned and amended, while workers asked why they need to be in an office.
Google, who have always said they would like its staff to return eventually, was assigning employees physical offices three days a week. Apple were pushing for their staff to return to the office three days a week by September. Amazon u-turned their original RTO policy, telling employees they had to come to the office 3 days a week, instead of full-time.
However, with the threat of the Great Resignation; staff finding they can work well, if not better, from home; and the cost of living rising – it looks like hybrid working is here to stay.
June
In June, global network EQL:HER revealed its European ‘InspiringFifty’ list of the 50 most influential women working in tech.
The InspiringFifty initiative aims to “provide diverse role models” and to inspire the “next generation of leaders and tech talent across the ecosystem”.
Nearly 600 nominees from across Europe applied. Names to make the list included; Abadesi Osunsade, founder and CEO of Hustle Crew; Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, founder of Stemettes; Dr Gioia Rau, research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre; Baroness Joanna Shields OBE, CEO of BenevolentAI; Melissa Di Donato, CEO of SUSE, Nicola Mendelsohn, VP of global business group at Meta; and Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel.
July
July sadly saw for some depressing stats including that the gender pay gap had widened in boardrooms. According to research by Mattison Public Relations, women directors receive 74% less than men.
Women on FTSE 100 boards are paid on average £245,000 annually compared to men who receive £935,000.
A whitepaper, published by Talent Works, also found that a “toxic culture” is turning women off from joining the tech sector. The research found that 44% of UK participating women encountered toxic culture in the last 5 years.
August
GCSE and A-Level results were released in August, with a positive spike for Computing.
The number of girls taking GCSE Computing jumped by 4.32%, while at A-Level, the subject saw a 13.5% increase in student numbers.
Despite this, there is still a long way to go in encouraging girls into STEM. The total number of GSCE students sitting for STEM subjects in 2022 decreased by 1.58%. Data from JCQ for male and female GCSE students revealed: Engineering (10.44%), ICT (5.68% decrease), Mathematics (3.50%), Further maths (0.22%) and Physics (1.01% decrease).
September
In September, Apple CEO, Tim Cook called for more diversity in the tech industry, saying there is “no good excuse” for the lack of women in tech.
Speaking to the BBC, Tim Cook said: “I think the essence of technology and its effect on humanity depends upon women being at the table.”
“Technology’s a great thing that will accomplish many things, but unless you have diverse views at the table that are working on it, you don’t wind up with great solutions.”
October
October saw Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, finally purchased Twitter for $44bn. In the days and weeks that followed, Musk set about implementing cost-cutting measures, including laying off around half of its workforce – around 3,700 employees.
Since then, Twitter has been plagued by a number of lawsuits, including one for unfairly targeting women during its mass layoffs.
On the 11th, women across the globe celebrated Ada Lovelace Day – a celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Ada Lovelace Day is marked annually on the second Tuesday of October, and aims to showcase the amazing women in STEM and serve as encouragement for girls to get into the field.
November
In November, we marked Equal Pay Day – the day from which women effectively work for free for the rest of the year, thanks to the Gender Pay Gap.
Equal Pay Day is a national campaign led by the Fawcett Society in the UK. This year’s Equal Pay Day was just two days later in the calendar that it was in 2021 – a worrying sign considering women have been disproportionately affected by the economic crisis.
SheCanCode took a look at how we can, as individuals and as collective organisations, help to take a stand.
November also saw NASA’s programme to land a woman on the Moon liftoff!
NASA’s Artemis programme successful launched mega rocket, Orion to the Moon, after taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The successful launch marked the beginning of the NASA-led Artemis programme, which the UK is part of through the European Space Agency (ESA) Human and Robotic Exploration programme, and which will eventually see humans return to the Moon.
Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of colour on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone for astronauts on the way to Mars.
December
Here at SheCanCode, we launched our tech podcast – Spilling the T!
‘Spilling the T’ podcast offers conversations with top female voices in the tech sector, as we plunge into the latest topics that have captured our imagination recently.
Learn about a range of tech disciplines and how to establish a career in them – from coding, AI, cyber, starting a business, career transitions and even diversity in space, we lay it out bare and Spill the T on everything you need to know.
