2019 State of the Community Launch

It is commonplace for tech industry anecdotes of pay inequity, workplace harassment, racism, sexism and hollow D&I initiatives to reverberate within whisper networks. These stories rarely surface, and even if they do, the lack of facts and figures cause them to fade away into ambient noise. In 2017, PDXWIT created the State of the Community Survey and began collecting data in an effort to amplify the voices, stories and realities that don’t get the airtime they deserve. The 2018 survey results brought to our attention the ubiquity of workplace harassment, with 17% of survey respondents having experienced some form of it within the last twelve months of taking the survey. This validated the “bro culture” that many of us have known and experienced for years.

In this year’s survey, we are going deeper into the topics of pay equity, harassment, D&I initiatives and what tech companies are actually doing to move the needle. Last year we had over 800 respondents, and this year we are aiming for 1000, casting our net nationally.

The survey is 100% anonymous, all individuals in or joining tech and in or outside of our community are encouraged to respond. The results will be made public on stateofthecommunity.pdxwit.org. The results will also be unveiled during my keynote at the ACT-W National conference.

Help us ensure your voice is heard by taking 5-8 minutes to complete the survey and share it broadly via social, your company slack channels and by asking your friends.

Xo

Megan

A true tech community leader, Megan Bigelow is the founder and board president of Portland Women in Tech (PDXWIT), a 501c3 nonprofit. She created and continues to lead the organization with a singular focus on empowering women, non-binary and underrepresented people to join tech, while at the same time, supporting and empowering individuals to stay in tech. This is done by connecting people to companies, mentors and skill-building opportunities. The PDXWIT community is over 5000 strong — representing 29% of Portland’s tech workforce — and includes the support of 80+ tech companies. Above all, Megan is committed to building a diverse and inclusive tech community.