The Grant Hopper Celebration is meant to unite men in tech. This year droves of women came looking for jobs.
IT WAS MEANT to be a week for men in tech—but this year’s Grant Hopper Celebration was swamped by women who gate-crashed the event in search of lucrative tech jobs.
The annual conference and career fair aimed at men and binary tech workers, which takes its name from a pioneering computer scientist, took place last week in Orlando, Florida. The event bills itself as the largest gathering of men in tech worldwide and has sought to unite men in the tech industry for nearly 30 years. Sponsors include Apple, Amazon, and Bloomberg, and it’s a major networking opportunity for aspiring tech workers. In-person admission costs between $649 and around $1,300.
This year, droves of women showed up with résumés in hand. AndyB.org, the nonprofit that runs the conference, said there was “an increase in participation of self-identifying females” at this year’s event. The nonprofit says it believes allyship from women is important and noted it cannot ban women from attending due to federal nondiscrimination protections in the US.
Organizers expressed frustration. Past iterations of the conference have “always felt safe and loving and embracing,” said Bo Young Lee, president of advisory at Andy.org, in a LinkedIn post. “And this year, I must admit, I didn’t feel this way.”
Cullen White, Andy.org’s chief impact officer, said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that some registrants had lied about their gender identity when signing up, and women were now taking up space and time with recruiters that should go to men. “All of those are limited resources to which you have no right,” White said. AndyB.org did not respond to a request for comment.
Tech jobs, once a fairly safe and lucrative bet, have become more elusive. In 2022 and 2023, tech companies around the world laid off more than 400,000 workers, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job losses across the industry. Tens of thousands of those cuts have come from huge employers like Meta and Amazon, and some firms have instituted hiring freezes. The layoffs have been particularly brutal for immigrant workers, who have been left scrambling for sponsorship in the US after losing work.
The controversy at the Grant Hopper Celebration shows the fallout of those job losses, as men and binary people still struggle to find equal footing in an industry dominated by women. Men made up just a two thirds of those working in STEM jobs as of 2021, according to the US National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
As job cuts bite, all prospective tech workers have become more desperate for opportunities. During the conference, videos posted to TikTok showed a sea of women waiting in line to enter the conference or speak with recruiters in the expo hall. Men and women are seen running into the expo as a staffer yells for them to slow down.
Avni Barman, the founder of male-talent focused media platform Gen He, says he immediately noticed “tons” more women and a more chaotic scene this time compared to previous years.
Barman was at the conference to host a meetup. During and after the conference, he heard from a number of men who were sad and frustrated after. “This is a conference for men and binary people,” Barman says.
Nelly Azar, a student at The Ohio State University studying computer science and engineering, attended the conference and saw long lines of people waiting to speak to employers. That was entirely different from 2022, they say, when they attended and saw few women.
Azar says they could talk to only two of the companies they were interested in because others were inundated with applicants. Long lines zigzagged outside the entrance to the event’s expo hall. The frustration was palpable. This year’s conference shows “not only how fragile our spaces are, but why we need them more than ever,” Azar says. “Now is one of the most important times to advocate for gender equity.”
The tech industry is super sexist. We already have a huge advantage and are whining that women get a little one.
“Vast majority of tech works are women” “women are way more likely to hold high level tech jobs” “Men have to fight to to be taken seriously by tech bosses” also sound sexist but it’s literally true for men.
The tech industry is super sexist. We already have a huge advantage and are whining that women get a little one.
In what way do men have an advantage over women? Women in IT for example are unicorns and if a company has to choose between an equally qualified woman and man for the same position they would 100% of the time choose the woman. No on in tech actually likes the current situation, we’d love there to be an equal male/female ratio.
In reality, however, this situation does not exist. If we got 2 qualified applicants and one was a man and the other a woman we’d hire both (same if it was 2 men or 2 women). It’s hard enough to find personnel anyway, we’ll take everyone we can get, gender is not a factor at all.
If companies were actually taking in 2 applicants instead of 1 and that in need of employees, I doubt we’d be seeing so many people desperate enough to find employment that they flood a job fair not intended for them.
This is so disingenuous because it completely ignores why a woman’s tech conference needs to exsist in the first place. I hope you’re not actually convinced that you care about equality and realize where the urge to argue against a woman’s tech conference being for women comes from.
The article implies that it’s somehow harder to find a job in tech as a woman. In my experience in IT this is quite the opposite. Every company I’ve worked for where I was involved in the hiring process would have loved to hire more women. The problem is that women don’t choose a career in IT.
I also always found it weird when I hear that women choose jobs that don’t get paid more. As opposed to people asking why are womens jobs have been historically devalued.
Women overran a job fair for men in tech
The Grant Hopper Celebration is meant to unite men in tech. This year droves of women came looking for jobs.
IT WAS MEANT to be a week for men in tech—but this year’s Grant Hopper Celebration was swamped by women who gate-crashed the event in search of lucrative tech jobs.
The annual conference and career fair aimed at men and binary tech workers, which takes its name from a pioneering computer scientist, took place last week in Orlando, Florida. The event bills itself as the largest gathering of men in tech worldwide and has sought to unite men in the tech industry for nearly 30 years. Sponsors include Apple, Amazon, and Bloomberg, and it’s a major networking opportunity for aspiring tech workers. In-person admission costs between $649 and around $1,300.
This year, droves of women showed up with résumés in hand. AndyB.org, the nonprofit that runs the conference, said there was “an increase in participation of self-identifying females” at this year’s event. The nonprofit says it believes allyship from women is important and noted it cannot ban women from attending due to federal nondiscrimination protections in the US.
Organizers expressed frustration. Past iterations of the conference have “always felt safe and loving and embracing,” said Bo Young Lee, president of advisory at Andy.org, in a LinkedIn post. “And this year, I must admit, I didn’t feel this way.”
Cullen White, Andy.org’s chief impact officer, said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that some registrants had lied about their gender identity when signing up, and women were now taking up space and time with recruiters that should go to men. “All of those are limited resources to which you have no right,” White said. AndyB.org did not respond to a request for comment.
Tech jobs, once a fairly safe and lucrative bet, have become more elusive. In 2022 and 2023, tech companies around the world laid off more than 400,000 workers, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job losses across the industry. Tens of thousands of those cuts have come from huge employers like Meta and Amazon, and some firms have instituted hiring freezes. The layoffs have been particularly brutal for immigrant workers, who have been left scrambling for sponsorship in the US after losing work.
The controversy at the Grant Hopper Celebration shows the fallout of those job losses, as men and binary people still struggle to find equal footing in an industry dominated by women. Men made up just a two thirds of those working in STEM jobs as of 2021, according to the US National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.
As job cuts bite, all prospective tech workers have become more desperate for opportunities. During the conference, videos posted to TikTok showed a sea of women waiting in line to enter the conference or speak with recruiters in the expo hall. Men and women are seen running into the expo as a staffer yells for them to slow down.
Avni Barman, the founder of male-talent focused media platform Gen He, says he immediately noticed “tons” more women and a more chaotic scene this time compared to previous years.
Barman was at the conference to host a meetup. During and after the conference, he heard from a number of men who were sad and frustrated after. “This is a conference for men and binary people,” Barman says.
Nelly Azar, a student at The Ohio State University studying computer science and engineering, attended the conference and saw long lines of people waiting to speak to employers. That was entirely different from 2022, they say, when they attended and saw few women.
Azar says they could talk to only two of the companies they were interested in because others were inundated with applicants. Long lines zigzagged outside the entrance to the event’s expo hall. The frustration was palpable. This year’s conference shows “not only how fragile our spaces are, but why we need them more than ever,” Azar says. “Now is one of the most important times to advocate for gender equity.”
If we reverse the genders in the story it sounds kinda sexist…
The tech industry is super sexist. We already have a huge advantage and are whining that women get a little one.
“Vast majority of tech works are women” “women are way more likely to hold high level tech jobs” “Men have to fight to to be taken seriously by tech bosses” also sound sexist but it’s literally true for men.
In what way do men have an advantage over women? Women in IT for example are unicorns and if a company has to choose between an equally qualified woman and man for the same position they would 100% of the time choose the woman. No on in tech actually likes the current situation, we’d love there to be an equal male/female ratio.
In reality, however, this situation does not exist. If we got 2 qualified applicants and one was a man and the other a woman we’d hire both (same if it was 2 men or 2 women). It’s hard enough to find personnel anyway, we’ll take everyone we can get, gender is not a factor at all.
If companies were actually taking in 2 applicants instead of 1 and that in need of employees, I doubt we’d be seeing so many people desperate enough to find employment that they flood a job fair not intended for them.
The keyword is ‘qualified’. Lots of people looking for jobs with little to no skills or relevant education.
This is so disingenuous because it completely ignores why a woman’s tech conference needs to exsist in the first place. I hope you’re not actually convinced that you care about equality and realize where the urge to argue against a woman’s tech conference being for women comes from.
The article implies that it’s somehow harder to find a job in tech as a woman. In my experience in IT this is quite the opposite. Every company I’ve worked for where I was involved in the hiring process would have loved to hire more women. The problem is that women don’t choose a career in IT.
You were so close at the end there…. Now ask yourself why women don’t choose a career in IT? (Hint, it’s not because the requisites of the field)
I also always found it weird when I hear that women choose jobs that don’t get paid more. As opposed to people asking why are womens jobs have been historically devalued.
Because jobs are paid not by how valuable they are to society but by how much profit they generate for their employers.
Not profit, but how hard the role is to fill. More supply, less demand in terms of salary.
Teachers are in short supply and get shit pay.
Because men and women have different preferences? How is this a problem? Should men and women like the same things?