Since our founding in 2012, Girls Who Code has built the largest pipeline of women and nonbinary computer scientists in the world and, as of 2022, we have officially served 580,000 students to date, including 185,000 college-aged alumni.

We remain on track to close the gender gap in entry-level tech jobs by the year 2030. And now, as we embark on the next decade of work, we’ve also set a new goal to reach 1 million students. We continue to set ambitious and bold benchmarks for our organization, because we spent the first decade of our work meeting every goal, and seeing every challenge as an opportunity.

Most importantly, as our students evolved, we evolved with them. When they told us what they needed to succeed, we listened. In 2022, we had more virtual and hybrid programmatic offerings than ever before, and ensured that our students wouldn’t have to make the tough choice between our programs or part-time work, caregiving responsibilities, and other afterschool activities. As our older students started to prepare for increasingly competitive jobs and internships, we launched Technical Interview Prep, and lifted the veil on one of the most difficult aspects of the interview process. Knowing that succeeding in your early career requires more than computing skills, we also launched Leadership Academy, and ensured our college-aged students would have access to mentorship and project management skills.

With these programs, Girls Who Code became our students’ “insider access” for an industry that’s notoriously hard to break into. Since more than 50% of our students come from historically underrepresented groups, we worked to level the playing field and remove barriers to securing the job of their dreams. Among alumni who we can track in the workforce, more than half are working in tech-related jobs. Nationally, only 26% of computing jobs are held by women.

Nothing we’ve accomplished this year – or in this last decade – would have been possible without our students. In the face of economic hardship, political strife, and an increasingly complicated world, they continue to push forward and focus on their futures. They inspire us to innovate new ways to teach them computer science skills. They challenge us to address barriers that continue to keep them out of the tech world. They ground us in our core values of sisterhood and community. They’re the reason I couldn’t be prouder to lead Girls Who Code, and why I’m so excited for the next ten years of our work together.

With Love,
Tarika Barrett