The completion of an initiative to break the barrier of gender bias preventing women from becoming leaders in technology has been announced. With 32% of women still believing a gender gap exists, placing a major hurdle between them and their future careers, Compass Plus  introduced an educational programme specifically for women.

Designed to empower women to enter the IT sector and to equip them with a comprehensive IT skillset, Compass Plus launched IT4EVA.  Women in the programme were allocated a dedicated mentor, to help them gain professional qualifications and upskill them for their future careers.

“Women have been underrepresented for so long when it comes to careers in technology,” said Victoria E. Mialovskaya, IT4EVA Graduate and Software Engineer at Compass Plus. “I am thankful to Compass Plus for giving me the opportunity to have access to this kind of tuition. We hope to become role models for the next generation - it’s time that women had the opportunity to shine as experts in tech and to eliminate the imbalance we see so often.”

With comprehensive IT based training modules, including sessions on mobile and web development and JavaScript, IT4EVA students were exposed to an extensive knowledge network and the use of the latest high tech equipment as they undertook their studies.

“Encouraging diversity is a top priority for us,” said Vyacheslav Arkadiev, Head of Applications Software Directorate at Compass Plus. “IT4EVA allows us to translate our extensive software development expertise into becoming an important access point to take women into top jobs in IT. We look forward to seeing how this cultural transformation evolves, as more and more women become highly skilled computer programmers.”

Compass Plus employs a total of 248 women within its Group of Companies, with 32 in management positions.