With the initiative "She for IT" adesso has set itself the goal of strengthening and promoting women in the IT industry. Currently we employ 16 percent female IT specialists. Nationwide, the share of women in IT professions corresponds to 17 percent according to the industry association Bitkom. Our aim is to significantly increase the number of female computer scientists, female consultants, managers and junior staff in IT in the next few years at adesso and to make a long-term contribution to ensuring that more girls and women are interested in a professional future in IT.
She for IT
Excellent prospects and diverse career opportunities for women in IT
Out of the clichés and into IT
Because we can only realise our full potential if we meet projects and challenges with versatile teams. With exceptional expertise and a broad spectrum of skills and know-how, we can bring out the best for ourselves and our customers.
Issues such as diversity in teams and the (internal) promotion of female talent are just as important to us as to do away with typical IT clichés. We want to contribute to making IT more feminine. That girls and women get a different picture of IT: of an exciting, future-proof job with career opportunities.
Measures and actions
And to ensure that we don't just talk, but that we actually achieve something, we have developed focused goals and measures:
We would like to significantly increase the share of female executives at adesso in the coming years. In doing so, our focus is on the one hand on consistently promoting the further development of adesso's female colleagues. In addition, we want to inspire IT women on the market to join adesso in order to counteract the shortage of young and qualified staff in the long term and to be able to position ourselves more diversely. Therefore, the management has clearly formulated a goal: By the end of 2022 we will have at least 40 additional female managers at adesso.
With the Female Talent Programme, we have developed a further training programme to support the further career path for specialist or management roles. The programme aims to prepare for more advanced tasks, to become aware of one's own brand and goals and to be given tools to achieve these goals. The Female Talent Programme started in September 2020 with 14 participants. A further round will follow in 2021.
Discover career potential, be a co-creator and set an example: With the "adesso Elf" we have started an internal high potential programme that accompanies eleven adesso women in a two-year coaching programme to develop their professional and personal skills in a targeted manner. The talent coaching programme includes training to promote various action competences as well as didactic and creative coaching methods. Teambuilding, motivation, communication - in addition to personal career development, the IT women of adesso are role models and sparring partners who create encounters for exchanging experiences and networking with other women from the industry. For the female IT junior staff, they accompany activities that bring girls and women closer to the versatile possibilities in IT.
"Fit in Conflict", "Clever in Communication", "Strong in Negotiations", "Communicate Convincingly" - these topics are covered in our training courses with a women-specific focus, which all adesso employees - not only female ones - can register for.
We are happy to offer many networking opportunities and activities within She for IT. We regularly organise women talks - IT theme evenings with female speakers for adessi and external guests. Many locations already offer Women Get2togethers, network meetings or virtual afterworks for internal exchange.
The adesso lectures are a component of our university cooperation: In practice-oriented lecture units on different topics, individual aspects of the practical side of software development are highlighted. Universities can book these free lecture units with us and integrate them into their lectures or seminars. The special edition adesso women lectures is a contribution to our campaign. The lectures of our experts are intended to give an insight into the exciting and challenging field of IT and to encourage other female computer scientists and students to courageously continue their career path in IT.
We'll start very early: We go to schools and universities, play an active role in shaping computer science lessons and specifically target girls. We offer taster workshops for girls and young women, for example on Girl's Day or at the IT4Kids workshops. School sponsorships, adesso workshops for female students, and our XU scholarships are further building blocks for breaking with typical IT clichés and helping to make girls and women want to pursue an IT career.
“With my experience, I would like to encourage girls and women to live out their strengths and interests. Women can perform in male-dominated professions just as well as men. All that matters is that you are passionate about what you do. This was my experience time and time again during my career as a footballer and trainer, because I was committed to my beliefs”.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, coach of the German women’s national football team
“Why should women not work in IT? It is an exciting, multifaceted field of work that also ensures economic independence. I would like to see even more women opting for IT in the future. I am glad that my employer is very interested in this topic and that adesso is looking to inspire young women to study computer science at an early age.”
Kristina Grasmann, Head of Competence Center Public Consulting and member of adesso 11
“We would like to get female junior staff into training programmes and retain them in the long term. The women who already work at adesso receive the best possible support, so that they can confidently contribute their expertise in management positions. We would like to contribute to having more women work in IT and that people see the potential of mixed-gender teams.”
Dirk Pothen, Member of the Management Board
“Women are still underrepresented in computer science as a whole, but their share is growing. We would like to actively support this development and specifically address women with our offers. Research shows that mixed-gender teams are more motivated, creative and efficient, and develop a better understanding of our customers’ needs.”
Volker Gruhn, Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Project management
Dr. Angela Carell and Vivien Schiller are the project managers of the She for IT initiative. Angela Carell is responsible for research and research funding at adesso. Her aim is to support women in their career goals in order to fully exploit the promising potential of diverse teams. Vivien Schiller is Senior Software Engineer at adesso and specialises in IT security, especially user-centred security as well as technical innovations in software development. She pursues the goal of inspiring more young girls for a profession in the IT industry. Therefore, she is committed to breaking down clichés, breaking down prejudices and networking women with each other in the best possible way.
Do you have any questions?
There is no website or brochure which can replace a personal meeting to talk about your goals and topics. We are looking forward to an appointment on site.