Project Athena: Upskilling women through 1 year MSc in CS

Accelerating intertwining of women and technology through a 1 year “MBA” type Computer Science (CS) education. Target audience are 25-45 year old women who own an university degree in a non-technical field and would like a full time condensed CS degree with a project-based portfolio as an outcome.

1. Create a 1 year full-time “MBA” type CS education tailored for women at age 25-45 who own an university degree in a non-technical field and would like a high quality full time CS education. With this, we'll broaden their career opportunities and enable women to work closely with technology that has a high impact on society and therefore is crucially in need of minority involvement.
2. Women face on an individual level greater barriers in following CS careers through gender stereotypes and current socio economic environments. There are only insufficient alternatives for quality upskilling available which further raises the obstacle for a career change. Studying computer science as 3 years Bachelor or 2 years Master is a heavy time and high risk investment that requires stepping out of workforce for a long time and needs financial backup, which reduces naturally the number of women studying CS as second education. Online course certifications lack a social support network and seem only like a drop in the bucket. Also, upskilling current´s female workforce will increase numbers of much needed actual role models and widen the path for girls in momentary CS pipelines that will enter workforce in 12-15 yrs. 
3. Overall increasing the tech skill set of women will increase their career opportunities and enhance their economic and financial independence. Equipping current´s female workforce with technical skills will have a ripple effect in enabling them engaging in technology and innovation decisions for societies. Women belong to the minorities that are highly vulnerable towards automation technology advancements and therefore are needed in designing new technology solutions with minorities and all of society in mind. Potentially we see intertwining of women and technology skills in an increase of innovation startups led by women and therefore multiplying further impact.

Many women have developed misconceptions about computer science and are unaware of opportunities to make a difference on a human level by enrolling in CS. Lately, society has stepped up its efforts to increase girls’ interest in STEM with slow progress. However female professionals were not in focus. For women who would like to do a lateral move into a CS related role, the barriers to upskill themselves are often high with the biggest obstacles being time and money. Also current CS programs miss the point of tailoring content towards women and making it more applicable to real world projects.

Initiatives like workshops or competitions try to get girls into STEM. There are two problems with these solutions - first, exposure to CS doesn’t automatically result in girls choosing a CS career. Girls who have taken a technology class are only 32% more likely to consider a tech career due to missing role models. Secondly, even if those girls choose a tech career, it will take 15 years until they enter the workforce. Upskilling female professionals will increase women’s involvement in CS short-term by having them take on new tech career opportunities, but also long-term by providing more role models.

With project Athena, we will upskill current female workforce with focus on erasing barriers to a computer science education as foundation for a closer relationship between technology and women. Ideally a portion of graduates will pursue an entrepreneurial path with a technology focus as their core focus for their start ups. Also we´ll increase the number of visible female role models within STEM and facilitating awareness that a technology career path can act as a strong foundation for an altruistic lifestyle.

The computer science education program is designed for 25-40 year old females already in the workforce with university degrees in non-technical fields. Students pursue an internationally-recognized degree in only 1 year and develop the skills required for careers in technology. Unlike online study courses and traditional enrolment at a local university, we offer a low risk time investment of 1 year and the chance to build a consolidated network of people while studying. The program fosters networking and collaborating with old-school computer scientists, new entrepreneurs, tech recruiters and of course fellow female students who are the future engineers and executives.

Staying in job and working on solution on side.

Potential pitfalls could be not creating a partnership with a high-class university which could lead to no official certification or acceptance by future employers of graduates.

Finding the right teachers and academic backers of this solution will be important to the success of this project. Another downfall could result from not enough women will enrol due to their challenge of how to sustain themselves financially throughout a year.

Online course platforms

Coding bootcamps

We don´t see them as real competitors, though.