Women in Technology Pittsburgh (WIT PGH) began modestly in the summer of 2018 as a showcase for Q&As with women in the local tech community.
The forum is the brainchild of Pittsburgh-based developer and activist Alison Falk, whose work has been profiled in WIRED magazine and the Pitchwerks Podcast.
Falk says she began the project as a way to highlight women in tech beyond just the executives. She sought out artists, journalists and Ph.D. students, among others. “I just wanted to highlight different women on the tech spectrum,” Falk explains. “So many amazing sectors of technology don’t really get covered.”
While she initially worked on the site in addition to her own projects as a freelance programmer, Falk decided to make the website her full-time focus in November of last year.
“I had all these really wild ideas that I wanted to execute,” she says, “and I knew I couldn’t nurture this platform while having a full-time job.”
Now, with a freshly launched job board and several other new initiatives in production, the website is joining the growing ranks of regional organizations dedicated to supporting and connecting women in tech.
As Falk explains to NEXTpittsburgh, she envisions the site as a tool that can be used by the many local advocacy groups that are already established.
“I want it to be the go-to platform for everything that’s happening with women in technology in Pittsburgh,” says Falk. “Because there are so many amazing organizations already here.”
This month, the site launched a new jobs portal where companies can post for free until March 31. In addition, the site offers primers and toolkits for local companies looking to diversify their workforce.
The group will also host public networking events and will premiere a podcast in 2019. Like her initial Q&A series, Falk says the podcast will feature women from every stratum of the industry, from CEOs to recent coding boot camp graduates.
“It’s really important to uplift each other so we can tackle these problems,” says Falk. “We’re all in this together.”
