Amy Cliett of TechGirlz sees this all the time: Middle school girls say they don’t like technology because they think it’s all about coding. That’s why TechGirlz works so hard to show young women the whole picture of the business of technology. “Every company is a tech company and we show girls that there are so many ways to get into a career in technology,” Cliett said.

In this episode of the Women TechCast, CompTIA Community Leader Kathleen Martin talks to Cliett and TechGirlz co-founder Tracey Welson Rossman about TechGirlz and how the nonprofit spreads the message that, according to Welson Rossman, “Girls like technology, they are capable of being in technology and that technology is not about coding.”

TechGirlz is a nonprofit program run and managed by Creating IT Futures designed to get girls excited about the possibilities of technologies as it relates to their future possible career choices. Middle school girls take part in short interactive workshops related to things like coding, robotics, video game design, photo and video editing. They also introduce girls to role models working in the technology ecosystem. “A lot of these girls just haven’t seen it yet, and it’s the simple matter of someone saying ‘This is what I do for a living, I don’t work for a traditional tech company and I love it,’” Cliett said.

Hear how their 10-year anniversary plans including big moves into new areas and how you can volunteer with TechGirlz as a technical or nontechnical person.

Learn more about TechGirlz at https://www.techgirlz.org/

See all the on-roads to technology from Creating IT Futures at https://www.creatingitfutures.org/ Find a Women in Tech Summit (WITS) near you at https://womenintechsummit.net/