IT – a male domain? Of course not. But old role models have a long lasting effect, and thus only few girls and women dare to approach technical topics until today. The IT service provider adesso wants to change that. Under the motto "Girls, just do IT!"Project Y was launched at the start of the new school year in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The challenge of getting girls and young women interested in IT is not new, but has only recently been addressed more intensively by politics and business in order to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers. The problem: girls still have little contact with technical aspects at school – yet it is precisely at this age that interests develop and talents can be discovered and deepened. adesso wants to help clear up outdated cliches and promote the female IT talents of tomorrow. For this purpose, the IT service provider has launched Project Y.
IT-AG for female pupils of the Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule in Dortmund
Within the framework of Project Y, girls between 14 and 16 years of age are introduced to tech topics and the IT profession in small groups and are closely supervised by adesso mentors. The goal is to introduce the female students to the different roles in software development, at the end of the school year the development of an own app is planned. In addition, there is a learning platform, which was developed by adesso students and trainees and contains information on different topics, a question board as well as a chat function. Schoolgirls who do not have their own notebook are provided with one by adesso.
The first pilot institution is the Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule in Dortmund – later on the project will be extended to further schools.
"The promotion of girls and women is just as important to me as clearing up typical IT cliches. Girls should get a different picture of IT, of an exciting, multifaceted and future-proof job with many career opportunities", explains Kristina Grasmann, Head of Public Consulting at adesso and in charge of Project Y. "Within the framework of the initiative ‘She for IT’, of which the new project is part, we want to significantly increase the number of female IT specialists and female consultants at adesso. Therefore, we are not completely altruistic – I hope that the girls of the Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule will decide for a professional career at adesso after this year – whether as dual students, trainees or apprentices."
Kristina Grasmann, Head of Public Consulting at adesso, is responsible for Project Y. (Source: adesso SE)
Kick-off on 21. September in Dortmund
The official kick-off event for Project Y will take place on 21. The event will take place at the adesso premises in Dortmund from 3 p.m. on September 2021. Here the project is presented again and all students, mentors and adesso patrons are gathered for the kick-off event. Interested journalists can contact [email protected] register for the event.
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