Girls in tech: the 5 things our team took away from Jump in Tech

At Spideo, we believe we have a responsibility, a role to play to inspire new generations. That’s why we’ve

been partnering with Becomtech, a NGO that educates and inspires girls to get familiar with the tech

industry. As part of Jump in Tech, a computer science initiation program organized by our partner, we

were proud to welcome in our offices a group of girls aged 12-17. Our wonder women explained

what we do at Spideo and what it’s like to work in tech. We compiled the most valuable takeaways for

you (only for you).

1) All roads can lead to tech. “Ah, we can do literary studies and also science, we don’t have to

choose!“. “I did not think there were so many different jobs in the same company“. The girls we welcomed

discovered the depth of jobs you can find in the tech industry. They got to talk to six women working

at Spideo, in Engineering, IT, Business Development, Product and Design. All of them come from different

backgrounds and many have been through non-linear career paths leading to Spideo. We pointed out that

no career is set in stone: it’s ok to try a path and switch after a while for a new adventure!

2) Look out: new generations have ambition! “Can you share advice to have a successful career?” Many

were curious about our paths and looking for insights. As Romy, Business Development Executive at

Spideo, put it: “Actually, there’s no secret answer. You just have to understand what you like to do, think

about your strengths and choose a job where you know you can kick ass!”

3) Addressing different types of user segments is crucial when designing personalization

features. Young generations identify and expect recommendations more than you may think. During

the presentation and workshops we did together, the girls showed high interest in recommender systems.

They were already very familiar with them and knew how crucial relevancy is when recommending

specific content such as movies, books or podcasts. Actually, they’re a “tough crowd”. Using collaborative

filtering approaches on them and pushing popular content without identifying their specific tastes

would not go unnoticed. They have unique tastes and we’re here to help adapt to it!

4) These girls care about transparency as much as we do. Most of the girls we met don’t use Facebook

but Instagram and Snapchat only, because they realized Facebook’s algorithm pushes content they

don’t want to see on their feed. “It’s very obscure”, one said. We can’t agree more with them: transparency

has been at the heart of Spideo from the very beginning. We believe emotions can’t be understood

by a black box algorithm.

5) As a tech company, standing for gender equality means a lot. Only 17% of tech jobs are held by women in

France¹ (20% in the US)²… it’s not enough! Meeting this group of young girls gave us hope that things will

change in the years to come. Here at Spideo, 46% of all employees are women. Women represent ⅓ of

the developers and 4 out of 5 managers.

We want to thank Becomtech for their significant work in bringing more equality into the (tech) world and

opening our minds with powerful volunteer experiences like Jump in Tech. You are doing an amazing job and

we are thankful to be a part of your adventure. We wish these girls the very best and look forward to having

them shape the future of tech!

¹ “Où sont les femmes de la tech française ?“, Maddyness, March 8, 2018,

² Shubhomita Bose, “Only 20% of Tech Jobs are Held by Women, How About at Your Business?”,