Microsoft launches Code; Without Barriers across nine countries in Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE – Media
OutReach – 23 September 2021 – Microsoft and 13 companies across nine Asia
Pacific countries today launched Code;
Without Barriers to help close the gender
gap in the region’s fast-growing cloud, artificial intelligence (AI)
and digital technology sectors.

The program
provides a platform to enable female developers, coders, and other technical
talent to contribute towards inclusive economic growth, encourage innovation
and better reflect the societal makeup of their region.

“The balance
between consumption and creation is changing. We see developers increasingly
influencing every business process and function. Which is why Code; Without Barriers was created. We
identified an urgent need to increase the diversity of cloud, AI and technical
talent in APAC, so every country can achieve their national digital agendas and
have truly inclusive economic growth,” said Andrea
Della Mattea, President for Microsoft in Asia Pacific.

The partners in
the program include Accenture, AvePoint, Government Big Data
Institute (GBDi), HCL Technologies, Just Analytics, MetLife, NTT Ltd, PALO
IT, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), Simbiotik Technologies, Thoughtworks,
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn
Malaysia (UTHM).

These organizations operate in the areas of education, energy, financial services, public
sector and technology in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand,
Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Microsoft will
provide skilling and certification in cloud and AI to increase the technical
talent pools in the countries. Each of the 13 companies is committed to improving
diversity within their organizations and offers career opportunities to female
creators and developers. Equally, through a series of engagements, from career
fairs to hackathons to mentorship and support from business leaders, Code; Without Barriers will nurture and
develop female entrepreneurs in APAC.

Code; Without Barriers works with more than 21 developer communities
across APAC, reaching more than 407,000 developers across data, AI, DevOps,
Java, JavaScript and Python and Women in Tech.

“We
identified an urgent need in our region to increase the diversity of technical
talent, as only 26% of professionals
in data and AI are women and this drops to 12% for professionals in cloud
computing. For this to change, and for APAC
markets to have a truly inclusive national digital agenda, it starts with
breaking barriers and empowering developer diversity in our organizations and
industries. It’s our responsibility as leaders of this community to shape what
comes next; to show what’s possible when our
digital worlds reflect the diversity of the society we live in,” Ms Della
Mattea said.

Code; Without Barriers has piloted 18 Women in AI certification programs across eight APAC markets,
training more than 480 women, and certifying 203 developers. Microsoft also
hosted cloud skills challenges for more than 7,617 developers.

“Gender-diverse teams are smarter and more productive,” said
Gina Smith, PhD, IDC’s lead analyst for DevOps and digital innovation in the
Asia/Pacific region. “Hiring women in technology roles adds far more than
a fresh perspective. Recent studies quantifiably demonstrate that
gender-diverse enterprises demonstrably more innovation and higher returns than
the mean overall. Programs like Microsoft’s Code;
Without Barriers go a long way toward bridging that critical gap.”

“It is an
established fact that having more women in the tech industry benefits companies
and societies. But creating the conditions for a more diverse workforce is a
complex challenge – no single organization can do this alone. We have a shared
responsibility to simultaneously remove barriers and uplift women, and I’m
thrilled to see companies and organizations collaborate through Code; Without
Barriers,” said Leanne Robers, Co-founder and Co-CEO, She Loves Tech.

“We can’t do this
in isolation and are thankful that organizations across industry sectors have
joined us in APAC,” shared Annie Mathew, Director, Developer Relations and
Program Lead for Code; Without Barriers
at Microsoft in APAC.

Sustaining diversity by advocating for
responsible AI

Microsoft’s Code; Without Barriers team is taking
this further, with an upcoming community playbook that tackles how to handle
bias and how to sustain diversity in emerging tech.

“Communities look
to Microsoft to address and share the best practices in Responsible AI, so that
they can build in diversity, reduce bias, and ensure transparency in the work
that they do. We are empowering a new generation of women in technology through
Code; Without Barriers,” concluded Ms
Mathew.

Learn more
about Code; Without Barriers: Listen to our Podcast
series on Spotify, watch the YouTube
playlist, and read more at https://aka.ms/codewithoutbarriers