Anna Brailsford, the candid chief executive of Code First Girls, does not mince her words when it comes to her sometimes unpopular business philosophy: doing good for the world can, and should, be for profit. “There seems to be a perception that if you do anything to do with gender or creating social value, that somehow you have to be a non-profit,” she said with a touch of exasperation in her voice.
Code First Girls, a programme that teaches women of all ages how to code before matching them with new tech jobs, is proof of Brailsford’s approach. Since she took the reins in 2019, the company has reached a milestone of 200,000 participants. And Brailsford said the sign-ups aren’t slowing down. “We have no shortage. We’re completely oversubscribed.” This success, she insists, wouldn’t have been possible without taking on investment and building a profitable business model.
The urgency behind the mission is clear. As AI, machine learning, and automation reshape the workplace, women are at a higher risk of job displacement. “More women are potentially going to lose their jobs due to AI and [machine learning] transformation than men, and I think a lot of women are starting to say, actually, they need to be involved in that transformation,” Brailsford explained.
But Code First Girls is about more than just imparting knowledge of algorithms, stacks and HTML. The free programme offers mentorship and employment skills. It attracts a diverse age range, challenging the stereotype that tech is only for the young. Currently, it is most popular with ‘career switchers’, those who did not study coding at university. “Technology is just as popular amongst women as it is with men. They just come at it slightly later in life,” Brailsford said.
“Technology is just as popular amongst women as it is with men. They just come at it slightly later in life.”
Anna Brailsford, chief executive of Code First Girls
One of the biggest problems the industry faces is that there are not enough women studying computer science. Despite a lot of efforts to try to increase the numbers, there has been limited movement. According to a study last month by Kings College London, girls are 42 per cent less likely to aspire to be computer scientists compared to boys, even when they have chosen the subject at GCSE. In 2022, The Chartered Institute for IT found male students outnumber female students in computer science by 4.3:1.
This challenge starts in schools. Coding, Brailsford quips, is a bit like Shakespeare. Valuable, yet introduced too early, it will send students running the other direction. And the male-dominated ‘tech bro‘ image of the industry can be intimidating, especially for girls at school who may not have many classmates going hell for leather to study Python and Java. Compounding the problem is the shortage of qualified computer science teachers. Brailsford has observed that vacancies for computer science teachers often remain open for years and, let’s be honest, it’s not exactly one for the substitute.
What about *those* hastily-scrapped cyber ads featuring the ballerina and the tagline: ‘Fatima’s next job could be in cyber’. The problem, she said, is that many women might see an advert like this but struggle with the tangible next steps i.e. finding a job after you have retrained. Code First Girls is trying to help women navigate that process. But to do that effectively, Brailsford said it was crucial for the group to embrace employment data, matching the right tech skills with the right employers. This match-making process is now how Code First Girls makes its money – earning a fee from companies that make new hires through the group – and is what moved it from being a non-profit to a profit-making venture.
Many of the company’s biggest clients are major financial institutions in London’s Square Mile, currently undergoing digital transformations and replacing legacy technologies with modern coding languages. For businesses, particularly those in the City, Brailsford has a straightforward message: Code First Girls can deliver tangible, measurable returns on investment while driving meaningful social change.
“It’s not enough to just talk about diversity. There are a lot of companies that are in danger of just using diversity as a kind of fig leaf, particularly when it comes to technology.”
Anna Brailsford, chief executive of Code First Girls
“It’s not enough to just talk about diversity. There are a lot of companies that are in danger of just using diversity as a kind of fig leaf, particularly when it comes to technology,” she said. “Code First Girls can demonstrate return on investment. Let us show you how we’re doing that so it can both benefit your business, but also you can be doing something that is great for society simultaneously,” Brailsford said in a klaxon call to potential new clients.
Although a British company first, Code First Girls already operates within 15 countries – on track to train over a million women globally over the next five years – and is planning to expand its international presence. Looking ahead, Brailsford is aiming to turn it into “the richest data source for women in technology, potentially in the world”.