Why I felt the necessity to create a girls only STEM group?

I remember when I decided to study Computer Science, one of my relatives said to me: ‘Wow, that’s a mans field!’. By that time I associated it with tough choice and you need to be very smart! And my reaction was the following:


When I finally started university, there were 150 students in my class. From this 150 only 10 were female. It’s quite intimidating, right?



From the girls that I had the opportunity to meet during my bachelor years, only one of them continued with CS. The other girls changed field or dropped out of university. First year was hard for me too and I thought several times to drop out. It was hard for different reasons, I was in a different country, I did not know anybody and I was not great with Italian language. I would have loved if a place like GirlsCodeIT would existed back then. Most of the students in my class knew already how to program, they were like genius to me. Rarely I would meet someone that did not know anything about programming and I would be like: “Let’s study together!”

I decided to find a reason that can help me go forward. So I was thinking that if I decided to dropout I would have to go back in Albania, probably end up as all my friends, married to some dude, have children, give up on all my dreams…


And it was just like this, that I found a reason to go on!

I'll tell a couple more stories, just to get them out there :)

Girls are still asked if they have family or are married even before going through the interview process. Like having a family makes you incapable of doing your work. Some of you fellows that are reading this and are from Trento would probably say: “Well this could not have happened in Trento”. Well… let me tell you more, it happened during the ICT days.

Questions that could have perfectly been asked to your female colleague, after she already told you that she knows how to solve the problem, are firstly asked to all your male colleagues. But if anyone, literally anyone needs some help with choosing a color or a gift and you are the only female around, guess who they are asking for help?!


I have also met great people throughout my career. People that have pushed me to go forward even when I felt uncomfortable. People that were actually interested in my skills and the value I can offer as an individual without the necessity of labeling me. If we take a step back and look at this from a business perspective, we are literally flushing resources down the toilet if the person who invested more then one year quits because the environment is (at best) not a fit.

We want to Invest in the future. Start a mentoring program. Help young developers, returning mothers and female STEM student. That's why GirlsCodeIT was created.

There were people who have told me: “That’s just no sense. I do not see the point of excluding mans.” When I talked to some of my male friends about this initiative, the conversation went like this:

Them - “Can I come?”
Me (super happy)- “Sure, you can help us as a tutor! We need more ..”
Them - “Nah! I’ll come just for the girls..”
Me -

Now, I understand that it’s not just women who receive unfair treatment but if you feel you identify to all this I have said above, then feel free to come. And for all those mans, who still think this is not fair and still think that there should be a place where man and woman should code and learn together then “CREATE IT!” and feel free to reach out if you need support!

I am investing my free time in this, because as a female I felt the necessity to do networking with other females, to keep learning and help them to push themselves so they can feel empowered as they go forward.

It will take work and a lot of time but it is totally worth it!