“We don’t want help. We can do it on our own.”
During a recent NewTechKids computer science class at an Amsterdam primary school, we challenged students to design robots which can play musical instrument toys. Our collection of toy instruments includes a plastic didgeridoo which has never been used. When I mentioned this and challenged students to choose it, a pair of girls grabbed it. Not just any girls: a pair that loves building, figuring things out and challenging themselves.
Our teachers watched how they struggled to build a motorized mechanism to turn it. We reminded them that they were running out of time and offered to have a teacher or a student with advanced building skills help them. But noooo. They wanted to do it on their own. They kept making changes to their design, right up to the last minute. But guess what? In the end, they had a working prototype. Was it perfect? Far from it. But did it play a sound? Yes!
Grit. Drive. Perseverance. Confidence. They did it! 🎉  More importantly, they believed they could do it.
Now imagine if we could graduate legions of girls with this kind of mindset, ability and drive from tech programs in high school, college and university. Europe wouldn’t be scrambling for tech talent and the tech industry would be a different place!