Ally Watson: a vocal champion for change in the traditionally male-dominated tech sector

Ally Watson is the Scottish-born, Melbourne based CEO of Code Like a Girl – a social enterprise that empowers and supports girls to enter and flourish in the world of tech. As a vocal champion for change in the traditionally male-dominated tech sector, Ally and her Girl Gang are inspiring young women, one piece of code at a time.

Interview by Maria O’Dwyer Photography by Mia Mala McDonald

Maria O’Dwyer: You started out wanting to be an artist. What led you to work in tech?

Ally Watson: Yah, technology was definitely a plan B. After receiving rejection after rejection from various art schools, I knew it was time to go back to the drawing board. But by that stage there weren’t many programs still taking applications. I’d always been pretty savvy with tech – growing up with MSM and MySpace, etc. And I also loved graphic design. So when I considered a degree in software engineering it kind of made sense: I could bring my analytical and creative skills together to design technology!

People often think of technology and coding as stemming from a more ‘literal’ mindset, but you’ve obviously come to the industry from a very creative perspective. How much of an influence has this had on your success?

Even to this day, my love for coding is rooted in creative expression. But it wasn’t until I started working for creative agencies that I was able to articulate my approach to technology as design-led thinking. Over a span of 7 years, I worked on countless creative projects – from ideation to development. That time taught me how integral the creative process is to successful tech design and it honed my understanding of product development.

The very nature of agency work will give any professional exposure to tight deadlines, shifting scope and diverse stakeholders. This experience really set me up with an agile approach to start-up life.  But the greatest skill I learned from creative agency work is the alchemy of building a kick-ass team. And you can really see that in the team we have at Code Like a Girl. They’re the business’ life-blood. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the enthusiastic commitment of our Girl Gang.

Code like a Girl’ began after you’d been working in the tech industry in Scotland and then moved to Australia. Why?

At the time I decided to move overseas, I was well on my way to mastering my trade and was working for one of Scotland’s top creative agencies. I felt like the boundaries of what Scotland could offer me professionally were becoming clearer and at such an early stage in my career, I had a yearning to go bigger. So I looked abroad. Australia felt like the right mix of change without being too dissimilar to my Scottish roots.

But despite the similarities in culture, I couldn’t have predicted the isolation I would experience after making the move. Suddenly I was living alone, with no family in Australia and only a few friendships I had made since arriving. Turning to the workplace can often be a good solution to this but, as the only woman on my team, I also felt isolated at work. It was rare to work with other female developers – it took me 7 years in Scotland to find 3 female tech friends. With Code Like a Girl I now have over 100!

So the real reason I started Code Like a Girl in Australia was because I was looking to alleviate a struggle. It’s now very apparent that my story of struggle resonates with women around the globe.

What was the reaction to Code Like a Girl from the tech community?

The whole thing started with a website, a few school speaking gigs and a meet-up. And the initial feedback was quite positive. Then I got some media attention which brought tech’s gender problem to the fore. It also paved the way for many of the key relationships that supported my success. In those early days I didn’t have any experience in feminist studies, which meant I was always super nervous to represent the cause or speak publicly on the issue. I’d get the odd individual challenging the idea that we’d support girls and women specifically or asking why there isn’t also a ‘Code Like a Boy’. But that was pretty much it. I kept waiting for a bigger backlash, yet it never came.

Code Like a Girl really took off around the same time as the #WomenInTech movement was born. Shortly thereafter, Australia’s skills shortage in tech became a hot topic. Women occupy less than 20% of tech roles, so getting more women into tech was the clear solution. Our little army quickly became the go-to gals to change the face of tech in Australia, and beyond.

Why did you turn Code like a Girl – initially a networking event for women in tech – into a social enterprise?

To get more women into tech we don’t actually need to shift the recruitment process. Businesses are desperate for new tech resources and in most cases they’re quite happy to hire a woman. When we realised that the absence of women in tech is due to a sheer lack of candidates, we took a look upstream in the hiring pipeline. 

As it turns out, the barrier for women in tech was actually in education. There are simply too few women studying for a career in tech, but when you take an even closer look that disconnect is happening at a very young age when girls are first introduced to technology. That realisation was the catalyst for evolving our business into something bigger than a networking group.

We launched adult workshops for those considering a career in tech, we started our internship program for those with non-traditional education backgrounds, and we launched our coding camps to build girls’ confidence and enthusiasm for tech at an early age. Complement each of these business divisions with our ongoing events series and you have the globally recognised social enterprise, Code Like a Girl.

What’s so important about teaching girls to code?
Technology can’t serve our community equally until the team building it represents us equally. But to get more women into coding careers, we need more girls to see themselves as equal creators capable of the same tech brilliance as their male counterparts. Unfortunately, our social norms don’t align with that messaging. It’s not enough to simply teach girls how to code. We need to dispel any belief that girls can’t code or that tech is for boys. We need to create a space where they feel free to follow their curiosity and tinker with tech. And most importantly, we need girls to visualise tech professionals as both men and women.

What are you most proud of since launching Code Like a Girl?That’s such a tough call to make. But if I had to pick one, and reflect on our mission I’d say I’m most proud of the Losing Lena documentary campaign. Losing Lena uses the history of one image as a metaphor for tech’s gender problem. We just found out this week that it’s been nominated for a Webby and it’s also been added to the National Australian Film Archives. To be the voice of a global campaign that gave visibility to such a critical issue and changed the minds of so many people, has been huge for us – for me personally.

But looking ahead, I’m even more excited about the Coding School we’re about to launch. The potential impact of this school is greater than what any one human is capable of. It will be the result of our community’s collective passion. To have grown the business and our fierce community to the stage where we have the woman-power to make such an impact? That’s very exciting.

We’re in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic right now. How are you managing this drastic transformation of our reality?COVID-19 has actually had a pretty significant impact on my personal life. My partner and I were all booked for a beautiful elopement in Fiji, next week actually. That’s of course been cancelled now. And as a business owner who is also hoping to start a family someday, I was (naively?) hoping to navigate my personal life goals to a particular agenda. But COVID-19 has put a spanner in absolutely all of that. But I’m lucky to have such a supportive partner. He has supported me in every step of my professional journey. He keeps me positive and assures me that we’ll make it all happen in due course.

Professionally, the business has taken a huge hit. Compared to this time last year, our revenue has seen a more than 70% reduction. So I’m not going to lie, times are tough. But the desperation of the situation has actually given our business and brand the permission to innovate with more courage and daring than ever before. It’s been a huge catalyst for us to work on initiatives that just a couple months ago seemed like pipedreams for our company. So, with as much stress as there is for us, there is an equal amount of excitement for what our business could look like on the other side of this pandemic.

One other heartening outcome of COVID-19 is the comradery we’re feeling from the tech industry, particularly within the small business and start-up community. You get the sense that we’re all in it together. In a strange way, it’s galvanised my networks and bolstered so many of my professional relationships.

What’s next for you?

Well we’ve just launched our new edugame: Tech Puzzles for Problem Solvers. It’s a fun interactive platform where girls aged 8+ can interact with code at an introductory level. And we’re excited to continue developing more puzzles for our budding coders. But with that live, we’re quickly pivoting our energies to what will be our greatest initiative yet – our online Coding School designed by women, for women.

Development is still in the very early stages, so I can’t tell you too much just yet. But we’re lucky to be partnering with some amazing organisations and I really think the outcome is going to be something spectacular, surpassing all expectations. Watch this space.