General Assembly is out to show you what developers really look like

When we talk about diversity and increasing diversity across the workforce, one oft-cited strategy is increasing the visibility of diverse role models. The thinking? It’s hard for a young girl to imagine herself CEO of a powerful tech company if she’s never seen anyone who looks like her do the same. This is why high-profile firsts, like the first Black president, feel so meaningful.
General Assembly, the global purveyor of coding bootcamps with a campus on 15th Street, wants to get in on the role model conversation where it pertains to female developers. And so, on Women’s Equality Day just a week ago, the company launched the hashtag campaign #ilooklikeadeveloper.
As part of the campaign General Assembly has partnered with Women Who Code and Walkers Legacy to hold events around the world — evenings spent coding and learning from other women in the field. The D.C. edition of this event is set for Sept. 13.
General Assembly is also encouraging female devs to snap a selfie and share on social media using the #ilooklikeadeveloper hashtag. In many ways, this is reminiscent of the viral #distractinglysexy campaign that emerged in June 2015 after a Nobel Prize winning (male) scientist made some sexist comments about women in the scientific workplace.
Lady devs of #dctech — you know what to do.