Well, that’s a wrap for this year’s events!

What a year its been, we’ve moved everything online along with the rest of the world which has had its pluses and negatives as for everyone. We’ve been getting a bit zoomed out but interestingly its also given us the opportunity to stretch our wings out as it allowed access to events for members who normally couldn’t make the previous in-person events (and it’s saved us a fortune in pizzas and drinks!).

Its not the end yet though and we do have some exciting changes that we are making and when it happens you’ll be the first to know about it! Don’t worry as we are not dissappearing – just improving some stuff, hopefuly you’ll bear with us and the new changes should enable us to support you all more. (Its good news!)

22nd November 202010th April 2021

How well is Bristol Business doing on Gender Equality?

As an ambassador for this group which we believe is a great initiative and we would like all Bristol companies to join them and get involved. If you’ve not heard of them or want to simply sit in and find out more then this is a great opportunity to do that this week.

The Charter recognises and supports the work of Bristol Businesses to create workplaces that are gender equal

Recognising the progress towards gender equality in Bristol businesses on November the 25th

More than 30 businesses have signed up to the Bristol Women in Business Charter since its launch in 2019, and they’re all making progress on gender equality.

This progress will make a positive difference to their businesses, the women that work in them and the communities they live in. We welcome all employers to join this community of progressive businesses who are changing the world.

Join us for the launch of our interim impact report, 6 months after we launched as a Community Interest Company and 18 months after our signatories began focusing on the 7 goals of the Charter to make change happen in their businesses.

We’ll share numerous examples of good practice that are making a difference to gender equality in businesses in Bristol. All attendees will receive a digital copy of the report at the end of the event.

15th November 202010th April 2021

Christmas is coming

The new John Lewis Advert is out so we now know that Christmas is coming to distract you all from lockdown

If you are not soo keen on saccharine adverts it looks like Lidl also isn’t and is even taking a sideswipe at ALDI carrots in their Christmas Ad here. Although we still think that the music should be less soporific and much more Christmassy – get this old school recorded off the TV footage Andrex puppies and Slade singing – what’s not to love? (plus it gave us an excuse to put a puppy on our page – they are very on trend)

On the subject of Christmas has anyone checked out the new Mozilla Privacy not included site for when you consider your shopping options this year? Is your gift not creepy or very creepy when it comes to Data collection?

8th November 202010th April 2021

Living la Vida lockdown

2nd Wave lockdown blues? On the plus side for parents who were furloughed last time with their children at home .. schools open, so not all bad news and its also nice not to have a commute in the current cold weather. Plus time to upskill – check out the training page for affordable ways to do it. If you’re looking for a Job however as yours has come to an end check out some of the new Jobs on offer on our Jobs Board or get on our candidate’s board and we’ll keep you updated.

#GiveNTech Campaign

On the subject of the lockdown and what it uncovered this year, we are fully behind Digilocals #GiveNTech campaign to get old laptops to disadvantaged children. Also considering that Christmas parties are tax-deductible and we’re unlikely to be seeing many of those this year, why not swap it for another tax-deductible option of giving to a charity to help children have access to tech.

DigiLocal is working with a number of partners across the region to provide re-conditioned laptops for vulnerable families. If you have a laptop that is no longer needed for your purposes, there may be a family that would greatly value it for online schooling, accessing social support, etc.

1st November 202010th April 2021

Ever felt like we’re living in a 70’s sitcom?

Women Who Tech Report

Women Who Tech retained polling firm Lincoln Park Strategies to anonymously survey 1,003 tech employees, founders, and investors globally on their experiences in the tech sector.

Their goal with the 2020 survey was to identify what barriers and challenges people face in the tech sector, and track whether the systemic sexism and racism that respondents’ experiences have shifted since our 2017 survey.

Some highlights (downlights?) from it:

When asked what kind of sexual harassment, 65%of women founders said they were propositioned for sex. This was up 9%from 2017. In addition:

59%of women experienced unwanted physical contact (-3%).
56%of women had sexual slurs directed at them (+17%).
32% of women were groped (+7%).
24%of women were sent graphic photos (+14%).

It really is like some retro 70’s sitcom – think Benny Hill and on the buses and it would fit perfectly – take this one as an example:

Of the women founders who experienced harassment by an investor, 59% were explicitly propositioned for sex in exchange for investment funding and introductions.

You really couldn’t make it up could you? It is an american publication so hears hoping that the UK industry is a bit more 21st century.

On a more positive note, we took a look at a free boot camp this week (the link is now on our training page). We had a look through the reviews and they are pretty positive and while they don’t claim to be a one-stop-shop, it is definitively a good place to go get started without any expensive outlay. If you are interested in coding but don’t know what to do then we are always here to make a suggestion on where to start, simply mail us on info@wthub.org to get started. If you about to go back into furlough but without the kids this time then its a pretty timely start for you.

It’s called the freecodecamp and covers:

Responsive Web Design
Javascript Algorithms and Data structures
Front End Libraries
Data Visualization
APIs and microservices
Quality Assurance
Scientific computing with Python
Data Analysis with Python
Information Security and
Machine Learning with Python