Tech@WP indicates that technology is all around us: our houses, our pockets, and our bags are full of hardware and software we make in the tech sector. When you are on the street, at an airport, or in the hospital, you see more and more technical solutions supporting our daily lives. Our sector is very diverse, though the public view is that the tech sector is primarily a masculine and straight environment. This is not the case. For example, the CEO of Apple and Dow Chemical, the co-founder of Facebook, the intellectual property Vice President at IBM, and, of course, the members of Tech@WP are part of the LGBTIQ+ community and the tech sector.

The technology you use in your daily life, like your phone, car, TV, or medication, is designed and made by people working in the tech sector. We can attract and retain diverse talent by showing how diverse our community is. Tech companies need a diverse workforce to ensure that we will keep getting diverse technical solutions around us that are made for all of us and work in favour of all of us.

Martijn van den Tillaart leads the way

“When I started my job I did not feel comfortable to come out. Luckily, I discovered that another person in my department was gay. Once I found the courage to come out to him, he was very happy and told me: “I thought I was the only gay person in the company”.Because I found someone like me, I also felt comfortable coming out to other people. Having found this role model, it inspired me to become a role model as well to ensure everybody who joins my company will also feel comfortable being themselves. That’s why I helped start up the LGBTIQ+ chapter in my organisation and worked for my company to join Workplace Pride. Soon after, the Tech@WP community started. Within our community, we reach out to connect with LGBTIQ+ people in our industry. This allows us to share knowledge and best practices on diversity and inclusion between our organisations.“

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