Taxdoo & Women in Tech: The winners of our fundraising campaign shed light on becoming successful in tech as a woman

In May, we reached another milestone – Taxdoo turned 5! It’s incredible how quickly half a decade passed by while we were doing VAT we love. We greatly appreciate and value our employees’ hard work and are thankful for our customers who have been part of our journey and success so far. We were given a helping hand by many in the past, so we wanted to give something back and searched for organisations we could support that reflect our values. Diversity has always been part of Taxdoo’s DNA and makes up one of our four values, so it was a no-brainer to have Women in Tech as one of the organisations we decided to back.

Tech is the industry to be in. Its rapid growth over recent decades and endless innovation makes it an attractive area to work and invest in. A rhetoric which is repeated when you look at the stats behind the industry, with global employment website Monster ranking the IT industry 4th on their recent job satisfaction ranking and Gartner projecting global tech spend to grow to $3.9 trillion in 2021.

However, women are estimated to make up only 19% of the tech industry workforce, which is why we at Taxdoo focus on a gender diverse workforce by giving equal opportunity to every employee. We are committed to closing up the gender gap by supporting young females to gain a foothold in the tech industry.

In our fundraising campaign, we donated a total of 5,000€ to three different charities: Women in Tech, App Camps and MOINWORLD. The winners, voted by our LinkedIn community, were Women in Tech. We are happy to share their views on why it is important to raise awareness of gender equality in the tech world and how women can become successful in a still male-dominated industry:

Why was the organisation created?

The non-profit organisation “Women In Tech e.V.” was founded by women with a passion for tech and science in August 2019. Our goal is to make women in tech more visible, so the younger generation of girls has more female role models to look up to. Our vision is to make technical professions more diverse by providing girls and women with helpful content regarding career choices and providing role-models and mentors to help them on their way into a successful career in tech.

Even today, the proportion of women who complete a technical degree is around 32 Percent, in computer science just under 21 percent. Only 10-20 Percent of software developers are women (depending on their position). The proportion of apprenticeships in the entire IT industry is around 17 percent in this area. This puts Germany in 20th place of 41 OECD and EU countries.

What are some benefits of joining a tech organisation?

With digital and local events, we bring the women of tech together to exchange their expertises and experiences or talk about their passion for tech and science in order to build a strong network of like-minded and motivated women. Some of them have been working in technical professions for years and can help you as mentors. Others can be career changers with whom it is nice to exchange interdisciplinary ideas. It’s a direct, private and uncomplicated way to get to know a lot of them. Another benefit would be that you get exclusive information or free tickets to events or special offers from companies or other NGOs.

For women who are interested in becoming a developer, what are the three recommendations you would give?

Digitalization and IT are more important than ever before! Having skills in these fields means having a lot of opportunities. Jobs found in technical or scientific fields are also very diverse, offering flexible and remote working options, often forward-thinking job roles and many other benefits. In these roles, it’s not just about the academic side of an employee, but also their personal attributes too. This means that for every individual, there is a fitting job in tech to be found.

1. Try different things to find out what you are passionate about! Use your talents that at first sight don’t have anything to do with tech – a good communicator or sales rep can be extremely valuable in a technical field.
2. Stay confident and brave: When applying for a job, don’t feel like you have to meet every single requirement, about 60-80% are more than enough, say several HR experts.
3. Don’t be afraid of failure or setbacks. It is a continuous learning process and even after years and years of working as a developer you will probably experience moments where something does not work. But that is also why developing is so much fun, and you will grow with every new challenge.

What skill set do you need to become a successful developer?

You have to be curious and willing to learn, even on your own. The fields of technology are constantly changing, and new innovations make it necessary to always be up-to-date. It is good to specialize in one area. Of course there are Full-Stack Developers, but having one area of expertise will always be valuable. Some people think a computer science degree or advanced mathematics are necessary to become a developer, but reasoning is actually what you need to have. Recognizing connections, outlining logical processes and thinking ahead are the most important skills for any developer. Patience and grit are certainly also beneficial.

How does Women in Tech support females looking to join the tech world?

It is extremely important for girls and women to have more female role models working in tech. When you see male engineers, machine builders and programmers only, subconsciously, you don’t imagine yourself as a woman doing these jobs. Therefore, our non-profit organisation Women in Tech e.V. takes great effort to increase the number of female role models and to show the many different occupational fields in tech. We also have to change how our society perceives females in male dominated tech fields. There is no reason whatsoever to discourage a young girl from chasing her dream job in a tech-oriented field, or a woman from changing her career path when she experiences the joy of working in tech.

Raising awareness is critical, but actions speak louder than words. We are happy to support organisations like Women in Tech, to improve the status quo of gender diversity and equality. If you would like to learn more about how you can support or benefit, then click here for more information.

We are always looking for new talent and motivated people who want to make a difference. If you are one of these people and want to learn more about Taxdoo’s open positions, see here.

A cross-sector, non-profit association with the aim of attracting, promoting and making women in technical professions more visible. At the moment, women are still clearly underrepresented in technical courses of studies and professions in these countries (the proportion is around 20%), and we want to change that.

Taxdoo is the platform for automated compliance processes in e-commerce and, in addition to ongoing EU-wide VAT compliance, Intrastat & financial accounting, also handles other compliance services securely & efficiently via a single platform.