STEM isn't the silver-bullet

Talking about STEM/STEAM 

Another reason we started this podcast was in response to the constancy of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) being portrayed as the panacea to the wicked problem of gender diversity and overall inclusivity.

Yes, STEM/STEAM is critically important. And yes, it's a no-brainer that we expect and demand that our daughter, who loves, and is very good at maths, should continue to have equal access and encouragement to continue participating in maths, science, tech and engineering subjects throughout her schooling. This may or may not include coding.

Solving today's problems today

However, the issue for people such as Robert and I who work in Technology organisations and roles today, is that we have a problem today. That we need to solve today, for today and tomorrow. The STEM/STEAM horizon is addressing critical, systemic issues in the education system which means a longterm, multi-year outlook.  We're after something much quicker for people experiencing issues and entering the industry today. Juniors trying to find employment are having a difficulty, at at time when there's a significant pipeline issue.  It takes a substantive investment in time and money; and particular mentoring skill to support and equip juniors to become work-ready.  University computer degrees don't necessarily teach work-ready skills; neither do the professional courses. And nor should we expect that someone effectively coming through a theoretical apprenticeship would be big-wide-world ready.  However, we need a pipeline to meet the growing gap of tech people that's experienced by every organisation.

Juniors are not a gendered issue

One strategy to address this gap is to 'grow your own' people through mentoring juniors - and most organisations can't wait the 20 years it will take for STEM/STEAM policies to kick in for help with this one.  This is not a gendered issue. Both male and female juniors alike struggle to find and then retain their positions in organisations which have sometimes underestimated the effort to train and equip a junior.

STEM/STEAM is already proving why it will be a longterm solution

Which is again why we started our techwomentalkingg podcast.  We know lots of people making everyday and systemic changes today, and we wanted to start hearing their stories.  Our first interview was Alexia MacDonald, a RailGirls alumnae whose first tech role came directly from her RailsGirls experience. She's an example of why the STEM/STEAM payoff is going to be a long haul. Alexia came out of a computing degree, not really ready to walk into a role.  There's no well-known route into a range of computing roles (eg product managers, designers or scrum masters). Unlike other professions, these paths still need to be created.  It's going to take a while.

Some of our other interviews have similarly explored this conundrum.  We had a fascinating discussion with Jane Nguyen and Candi Goodison from Redbubble.  Candi is completing her degree while working at Redbubble and it was great chatting about Jane and Candi's similar but different perspectives on life in the bubble.  Robert's last role saw him mentoring a junior dev who came out of a $12,000 software development professional course with high hopes; a willing attitude; the most wonderful personality in the world; a previous electrical engineering degree; and almost no ability to program. 3 months' unpaid internship and some patient mentoring, turned into a junior role in a start-up. This came after months of rejected code tests which were demeaning, demoralising and fundamentally attacked his confidence.

STEM/STEAM is a great solution to a component of the problem.  As our conversations have shown to date, we need to be clear that there are multiple problems we're trying to solve. STEM/STEAM can help.  Just not today.