Dice this week released new data showing that more than half of new tech jobs created in 2013 year-to-date have been filled by women.
We’re encouraged to see this trend and believe it will continue. The Linux Foundation is doing what it can to encourage women to contribute to and advance Linux. Our participation in this year’s Outreach Program for Women resulted in a variety of important contributions to the Linux kernel by the interns. These interns were also invited to speak at LinuxCon North America and LinuxCon Europe about their experiences. I talked to a variety of attendees who enjoyed the interns’ session and learned a lot about getting started in Linux.
Many of the interns attended our new Women in OSS events this year, the first of which was a luncheon at LinxuCon North America and was followed with a breakfast at LinuxCon Europe. The discussions we had were insightful and inspiring. What I loved most was seeing how many women who attended the lunch and breakfast were Linux kernel developers. Women are represented throughout our community in every role from developer to sysadmin to marketing, legal and project management (among many others). Together, their contributions are making a difference in the future of the platform. The more people working to advance Linux the better for all.
We’re looking forward to hosting these events again in 2014 and are welcome to additional ideas about how we can involve more women in the community. If you have ideas, please share them with us here in the comments.