small rgb medium rgb     large rgb

Did you love our geek at the launch party? we did! Jessamy is a drama student we found on facebook. If you would like to hire her for your function, contact her today. Click here to see the geek and chic!

Tech girls are chic, not just geek is a fun new book showing that it takes all types of people to work in Information Technology (IT). Our 16 'tech girls' are women working in a range of technology jobs across Australia. They are a bunch of fun and funky women who find working with technology challenging and interesting, and they are far from fitting the stereotypical 'geek' image portrayed by the media. They use their technical and/or non-technical skills (usually a combination of both) to have a successful career in IT.

So who wouldn't want to work with technology? There are heaps of jobs all over the world, travel to exotic locations, interesting and challenging work, and you often don't have to work in a boring office. Sounds like a great career? We think so! So why do so few people (especially girls) choose this type of career? That's a great question. Researchers have been trying to uncover this mystery for many years, and conclude that the industry has a serious image problem. The stereotype is that working with technology is boring, and that you have to be nerdy and spend all day in front of a computer alone. This is not what Information Technology (IT) is all about. Once you see the book you will see why! You can see a bunch of fabulous gals who work with technology every day; and they love it.

What if you were the person who invented the iPod, or YouTube, or Instant Messaging? Could this be you? Why not? It had to be someone! And it could be you. Imagine what technology would look like if we had more girls creating it? It might be a very different world! And new technology jobs are created every day, so your job of the future might not exist yet. How exciting!

Aimed at girls aged 12-16, the book also has wide appeal to educators and employers. As the number of females studying and working with technology is at an all time low, we hope to inspire girls to think a little deeper about technology, what they like about it, what they are good at, and what are the things that are important to them in their future career. We believe you will be able to relate to us and what we do, and we hope to help you understand that it is ok and even a good choice to have a career working with technology.

School girls attending one of the following events will receive a free book: Go Girl in Melbourne (October) and Perth (TBA) and Brisbane (TBA) and other school and industry events throughout the year. We encourage you to order your copy and be one of the first to get the book once it is launched on the 8th March. PS. We already have local and international pre-orders!

The editors

The editors are Jenine Beekhuyzen and Rebecca Dorries, and our main aim is to get as many girls as possible to read this book. Our experience tells us that girls often self-select out of a technology career at an early age because they dont 'fit' the image of a person in IT, or they don't have an accurate understanding of what a career in IT can be. We hope to show that all types of skills and personalities can make a valuable contribution to such a growing industry. Us 'tech girls' not only have technical and communication skills, but we are very much girls at heart, far from the 'nerdy' stereotype. We are often not a lot different from you; we love going out with friends, reading the latest best seller novel, listening to music and shopping. We don't spend all of our time on the computer, we have a life too! After reading our book, we hope that you will think seriously about a career working with technology. It really does takes all types of people.

Sponsorship has been raised to to allow us to give the books away free to secondary school girls across Australia. So for every book purchased, another girl will get a copy of the book for free (so girls, send us your orders!). This book would not be possible without sponsorship. We have some fantastic sponsors on board and they have helped us to get the book designed, printed and (soon) distributed. In order to keep producing free copies and get them into as many girls hands as possible in 2008, we are still looking for sponsors. We have a number of different options available if you have missed out on being part of the first print run. We also welcome in-kind contributions, so if you have some handy web skills or can help us to promote and distribute our book, we would love to hear from you. Contact us!

Our title

The title of the book came about through our competition to name the book. Previously called the 'girlie IT book', we are happy to announce our new title for the book - 'Tech girls are chic, not just geek'. A huge congratulations to Sarah Ray for the winning title, she wins a new model iPod nano. And thank you to everyone who entered, we received over 100 entries!

© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved

Tech2morrow.org

or Email us