Technology seems closer to us than ever before, regardless of one’s gender. However, that is not the case behind the scenes. According to data from the European Commission , women account for less than 19% of specialists working in the ICT sector. Moreover, there is a deficit of workers in this profession, with 900,000 positions remaining unfilled each year. Attracting more women to the sector could lead to annual growth of 9000 million for the EU region.

In Spain, Samsung Innovation Campus seeks to palliate the gender gap that exists for women in the field of STEM. Under the theme, ‘Women for STEM,’ the program motivates young girls and women in Spain to jump into different professional specialties of software development.

The course holds the academic certification of the Universidad Camilo José Cela, and proceeds across 350 hours distributed over 9 months. It provides classes where students can adopt basic knowledge of web development, have hands-on experience in developing web applications, and acquire skills to conduct Full Stack development.

“The world is growing, and women should not be detached”

Georgiana is a 23-year-old blind student at the University of Barcelona. Her passion for web programming and interest in the women’s drive initiative was what drew her to the course. As someone who lacked prior knowledge in web programming, she was faced with many hurdles. Yet, she was able to overcome them through support materials and her tutor to succeed in realizing her new love for this field.

“I encourage other girls to try to train in this field because the world is growing technologically day by day, and women should not be detached from this.” Georgiana plans to further train and gain experience in this field to prove her professionalism.

“An experience to reinvent myself”

Lydia is a mother who worked in the educational sector for more than 15 years. Her experience in creating a website for her school became the harbinger for awakening her curiosity. “Thanks to the opportunity that Samsung Innovation Campus gave me, I was able to reinvent myself.” Despite her basic knowledge of web programming, coming back to university education proved to be rather difficult for Lydia. Yet, her persistence and passion landed her a job as a Data Developer at an important bank in Spain.

“I encourage any woman to step up and train in this kind of discipline and make her way in this sector. It does not matter whether they have related training. With effort, commitment, and motivation, anything is possible. More and more women are training in STEM disciplines, and we are fighting against the gender gap in these professions. Women have a lot to contribute to this sector.”