THINK ing Big, THINK ing Diverse, THINK ing Forward by Grace Jansen

With less than 3% of young female students identifying a career in technology as their first choice, how are we ever going to achieve a diverse workforce and bridge the gender gap that persists in technology careers? But, don’t panic, this can all still change! Learn how even the smallest of events can have a lasting impact in encouraging more females into STEM and technology careers and explore how you can get involved to actively make a difference towards increasing the diversity of the technology industry. Grace is a developer advocate at IBM, working with Open Liberty and Reactive Platform. She has now been with IBM for a year, after graduating from Exeter University with a Degree in Biology. Moving to software engineering has been a challenging step for Grace, but she enjoys bringing a varied perspective to her projects and using her knowledge of biological systems to simplify complex software patterns and architectures. As a developer advocate, Grace builds POC’s, demos and sample applications, and writes guides and tutorials to help guide users through technologies and products. Grace also has a keen passion for encouraging more women into STEM and especially Technology careers.