All roads lead to the information super-highway, and women in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) wear awesome shoes because their careers take them on amazing journeys.

I recently attended the Girls in ICT day in Johannesburg, where some of the industry’s leading women told girls in Grade 11 and Grade 12 about the unexpected roads their lives have taken them.

The keynote address was delivered by Melanie Botha, Marketing and Operations Director of Microsoft South Africa. She highlighted that you didn’t have to become a developer, a programmer – any of the conventional IT-specialists – to make a difference in IT, and mentioned that currently only about 20% of the IT industry is made up of women. However, regardless of what career path you want to follow, it is inevitable that you will use computer technology in some shape or form, so we need to start breaking down our own mental barriers to the ‘IT’ label.

The key is having an “ambidextrous attitude”. This simply means that you need to have multiple areas of interest. You don’t need to study towards a travel qualification if you want a job that takes you places; and you don’t need to learn several languages to speak your mind and be heard. If you have an interest in medicine, but feel squeamish about blood, you can still make a difference and save lives through ICT, such as diagnostic tools and software, 3-D design, and streamlining hospital admission through clever managed document solutions – to name just a few.

“The number of lives we are changing through technology is tremendous.” – Melanie Botha

And you don’t need to work for a big tech corporation to be considered a force in ICT. Community managers, bloggers (tech, food, travel, lifestyle, etc.), PPC specialists, online PR, digital strategists – all of them make a difference, and without these professions, all the amazing applications, programmes and games developers create would live in a void and not mean anything to anyone.

Just like you don’t need to be an award-winning chef of journalist to write a popular food blog, you don’t need to be technical to work in ICT – the only limitation to this field is that imposed by perception; it’s not just for guys, for geeks, for gamers, for those with a head for numbers. It needs the creative types as much as the analytical ones. It needs the dreamers as much as the Dreamweavers.

The most important thing is to stay interested and keep learning, which comes easily when you love what you do. And keep those stilettos handy to step over obstacles and kick down stereotypes.

Related articles

• What is ICT? (nasarpro.wordpress.com)
• ICT eLesson Sequence (ebonnyh.wordpress.com)
• AUA hosts “Tech Needs Girls” forum (panarmenian.net)