THORNTON, Colo. — Tech is the fastest growing industry in Colorado, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
The state added nearly 26,000 computers jobs since 2012 and it's brought with it some sizable paychecks. The median salary was roughly $94,000 last year, around two times more than the median salary for other occupations, which is $42,310.
There is a group that's largely missing out on the opportunities, though: women.
Women do have the majority of jobs in certain occupations like nursing and psychology, according to the National Science Board. However, NSB said women have just 28% of science and engineering jobs as of 2015.
A 2019 study by Abbott, a healthcare company, found that nearly half of young girls aren't encouraged to pursue STEM jobs.
In Colorado, numbers from the state demography office show that in general for all occupations, women fill 47.1% of all jobs in the state, which is a little lower than the U.S. average of 48.6%.
But when the state demography office pulled numbers for tech jobs, they found women filled 28,700 of the 124,000 computers jobs in Colorado last year, or 23.15%. That's a 1.85 percentage point less than the national average.
We wanted to take a closer look at what young girls are hearing about pursuing this field. So we visited the STEM Lab school in Thornton and talked to two 9-year-old girls about the messages they've received about pursuing science, technology, math, and engineering before even reaching their first double-digit birthday.
Chloe Walsh, fifth grade
Chloe Walsh says her 10th birthday is coming up, but it won't be too exciting because she fractured her arm during gymnastics.
She's currently doing her best to type with her left hand as her right hand heals, but that hasn't stopped her from absorbing everything she can about tech.
"Technology is evolving as we speak," she said.
That's her favorite thing about the booming industry that's captured her attention,
She's already thinking like a businesswoman about prototypes she could show a panel of engineers and scientists, who could help make an idea come to life.
She picked up the right attitude from her parents but knows that's not the case for everyone.
"I think that, probably, people might mistake them for the care type, stay at home, but really girls can do what ever a man can do," Chloe said.
She's not the only one navigating what feels like conflicting messages.
Maxine Gray, fourth grade
Maxine, who goes by MJ, has a lot of aspirations for when she gets older.
"I want to be an artist, musician, a teacher, an actor, and a singer, and a dancer, and a gymnast," said MJ.
When it comes to STEM, it's math that piqued MJ's interest.
"I really like how math is a different language," she said.
Just like Chloe, she's gotten a lot of encouragement at home, where "yes" is the go-to answer when it comes to exploring different subjects to learn.
But the message MJ gets at home isn't always the same one she gets elsewhere.
"Most girls know they can do it, but other people think they can't," she said.
That's when MJ said she gets into her own head, finds her own confidence, and tells herself she can rise to the challenge so that means other people around her can too.
Becky Mueller, STEM Lab
Becky Mueller, who is with the school, is proud of the girls' confidence but isn't surprised by these answers.
She is well aware there is a gap, specifically when it comes to women in tech jobs. Mueller pointed out it's more than just messaging, but also access to resources.
When it comes to education, out of the 1,021 computer science graduates, only 17% were women in 2017, according to the non-profit code.org that works on computer science curriculum for schools.
Code.org also reported that out of all the Colorado students who took an advanced placement computer science exam in 2018, 24% were girls.
The group then broke down the number of students taking these exams even further:
Hispanic/Latino students: 300
Black students: 49
American Indian/Alaska Native students: 8
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 2
Even for students who are really interested in a computer science class, they need to find the right school. There are 129 high schools in Colorado that currently offer an AP computer science class, out of the more than 500 high schools in the state.
It's why Mueller supports non-profits like Code.org that work with regional partners like MindSparks to get more computer science curriculum incorporated into schools.
She's also encouraged by some of the changes in Colorado, like the state setting aside money for computer science professional development and lawmakers approving a policy to allow schools to count computer science towards graduation requirements.
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