Reinventa-Tech: Bridging the Gender Gap in the STEM World

Author: Rosa Mª García Gallego & Mª Ángeles Fernández Solana Reinventa-Tech Leaders @Oracle

Reinventa-Tech is a SOCIAL initiative supported by Oracle Women Leadership in Spain.

It aims is to provide jobs in the technology sector for 20 unemployed women, who have not previous experience in the Technology field, have been working for more than 5 years, and got a University degree. Utilizing our Oracle partner community the initiative hopes to provide a minimum of 3 months of practicing with an opportunity for long-term employment.

The idea grew when the Oracle Women Leadership team asked themselves the question: How can Oracle help society and particularly women overcome some of the health and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic? Without a doubt, women are one of the groups that is suffering the greatest loss of employment and are losing their jobs three times more often than men. So, we did some research into the Spanish professional employment marketplace and identified four technical roles currently in high demand in Oracle Technology.

The roles we identified were:

  • Java developers.
  • Data Analysts.
  • Digital Marketing.
  • Database & Cloud Administrators.

As a result, we engaged with Oracle University to identify the Learning Paths and Oracle Certifications associated with these roles with the aim of creating a 6-months professional development plan that the women could take in preparation for their new career in Technology.

We also contacted our Oracle Business Partner community to validate that the identified roles and professional certifications were in fact in high demand for them. Seven of our Business Partners in Spain, including Quistor, embraced the initiative.

Based on job opportunities, we distributed the 20 learning paths as follows:

  • 3 – Java developers
  • 3- Digital Marketing
  • 7 – Data Analysts
  • 7 – Database & Cloud Administrators

The final step we took was to put in place a framework of mentors and buddies from within the local Oracle community in Spain. This was important as the women who would be taking part of the initiative would not have a technical background and would require additional support during their transition. These volunteers, in addition to providing technological support, act as role models, since they are specialists in these technologies within Oracle.

The initiative was launched on social media and on Oracle Spain blog on November 17 last year. We received 100 applications, did 80 interviews, and closed the final list with the 20 selected women on December 22nd. The official kickoff took place on January 19th with the presence of the Oracle Country Leader in Spain, the EMEA Executives from Alliances & Channel, and Financial and CEO roles of each of the Oracle Business Partners involved.

Currently, by August 2021, these 20 women… our “Reinventa-tech ladies” are in different steps of their re-skilling path: The three women in the Digital Marketing track passed their Certification by the middle of May, two of them are already working, and the third will start by early September.

Six in the Data Analyst track got their Certification as well, one already started in a position at Quistor and the rest are involved in different interview processes within the rest of Oracle Business collaborators in the project.

The other three women in Java Development track and the seven in the DB & Cloud Administrator tracks are still in the process of finishing their studies because these tracks require double exam certification. We are expecting to get some good news by September. Every woman is doing an extraordinary effort in their learning process spending 10 to 14 hours every day!! Reinventa-Tech represents the biggest challenge that we have ever faced in OWL Spain, and it´s being funded by Oracle University EMEA and our OWL Spanish local budget as well. We have more than 65 Oracle volunteers engaged from all the areas of the company: Oracle University, HR, Business Operations, Legal, Recruiting, Communication (internal & external), Finance, Alliances & Channels, Marketing, Tech, Apps, OCS and AC investing their time and talents to help these 20 women in their transformation paths. We are also dealing with 18 different contacts from our partner community.

This marvelous project is a proof that working TOGETHER and sharing a UNIQUE SPIRIT has always had an impact: we are changing the lives of our “Reinventa-Tech ladies” opening an opportunity for them to reinsert in the Spanish technical workforce and promoting diversity in the technology companies in our country.

"By collaborating with the Reinventa Tech initiative we are supporting diversity and talent in the technology sector".

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