Niteco helps encourage girls to choose careers in IT

As part of its engagement in its chosen home country, global digital agency Niteco will take part in an initiative to encourage Vietnamese girls to pursue careers in the IT industry tomorrow (April 25^th). The event, held on Global Girls in ICT Day, is part of the Digigirlz campaign, which is driven by the Vietnamese Vietnet Information Technology and Communication Center (VIETNET-ICT) in cooperation with Microsoft, CED and other partners.

The campaign’s goal is to allow female students between the ages of 12 and 19 to explore a future career in technology, because for many girls, this option isn’t taken into consideration. In March and April of this year, the program toured 30 secondary schools throughout the country, giving students the opportunity to meet people working in technology, especially women. These speakers shared their journey into the sector and their experience working with IT.

For the last and largest event of this year’s campaign, held in the capital Hanoi on April 25^th, Niteco Senior Developer Ngoan Thi Mai will try to inspire students to choose the IT field. Ngoan has been working at Niteco for more than 6 years and has ascended to becoming one the most respected developers in the company. “Encouraging young girls to consider a future career in IT will not only show them the wealth of options to choose from, it will also help the industry by ensuring that a new generation of smart and innovative women will be available to put its stamp on the business in the future,” says Ngoan.

The IT business is a traditionally male-dominated industry. This is true for Vietnam as well as for the rest of the world. For instance, a recent Evia study found that less than 20 percent of tech jobs in the USA were occupied by women in 2018 – even though women make up more than half of the country’s total workforce.

While Niteco matches the US numbers with 20 percent of its employees being women, the ratio in Vietnam as a whole is suspected to be much lower. For instance, Dung Le Nguyen, a Niteco developer, recalls being one of only three women in her University class of more than 200. However, she adds, “At the moment, we have a lot of strong women taking up important roles in Niteco and in the tech industry as a whole, which is great. I hope to play my part too by mentoring and encouraging young women and girls to join an industry I love being a part of.”