CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the world's largest and most
trusted cloud delivery platform, is pleased to announce its
partnership with Girls Who Code – a national non-profit
organization that seeks to inspire, educate and equip girls with
computing skills for the 21st century. Akamai will
serve as a host company for the organization's acclaimed seven-week
Summer Immersion Program (taking place at Akamai from July 10 – August 24). This is the company's
third year hosting the program.
The Summer Immersion Program will reach 1,600 rising 11th and
12th grade girls this summer across 80 programs in 11 cities
including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los
Angeles, Miami,
Newark, New York City,
San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.
In addition to providing onsite computing skills training,
volunteer mentors from Akamai will help the girls each week with
activities such as updating their resumes, adding to their LinkedIn
profiles, and presentation skills. Akamai will host a
workshop with local experts in user-experience engineering, and a
field trip is scheduled to Watson Health, where they will learn
about artificial intelligence for medical diagnostics. In
addition, the girls will participate in a 'How the Internet Works'
game and tour of Akamai's state-of-the-art Network Operations
Control Center (NOCC).
"The imbalance in the numbers of women focused on careers in
computer science, software development and Internet technologies
continues to be one of our industry's biggest challenges," said Dr.
Tom Leighton, Chief Executive
Officer at Akamai. "Partnering with Girls Who Code is an important
step towards better preparing young women for technology jobs – an
investment, we believe, that is vital to the future of technology
and innovation."
"Too often girls don't pursue computer science because they've
never been exposed to it, or they don't see the impact it can make
on the world," said Girls Who Code Founder and CEO, Reshma Saujani.
"Through our partnership with Akamai, we can show them, 'Look, you
can do this. You can code this. This is a world that's open to you,
and once you learn this skill set, the possibilities are
endless.'"
93% of Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program participants said
that because of the Summer Immersion Program, they now want to
major in, or are interested in computer science. 84% of Girls
Who Code alumni said they were likely to pursue a career in
technology (source: Girls Who Code annual report, 2016).
"I am so proud of Akamai's continued strong support for Girls
Who Code," said Kate Jenkins, Chief
Architect of Mapping Engineering at Akamai and Akamai's technical
advisor to the Girls Who Code program. "This program has a huge
impact in inspiring girls to pursue careers in computer
science. I want girls to know that this career path is open
to them, and is filled with opportunities to work with smart,
creative people to develop technology that shapes our
world."
The seven-week Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program embeds
classrooms in major media and tech companies and universities.
Students learn the fundamentals of computer science from robotics
to how to build a webpage while gaining exposure to the tech
industry and mentorship from women working in technology. No prior
coding experience is required.
About Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization working to
close the gender gap in technology. Through its Summer Immersion
Program and Girls Who Code Clubs, the organization is leading the
movement to inspire, educate, and equip young women with the
computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. Additional
information is available at www.girlswhocode.com.
About Akamai
As the world's largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform,
Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and
most secure digital experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere.
Akamai's massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale
with over 200,000 servers across 130 countries, giving customers
superior performance and threat protection. Akamai's portfolio of
web and mobile performance, cloud security, enterprise access, and
video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer
service and 24/7 monitoring. To learn why the top financial
institutions, e-commerce leaders, media & entertainment
providers, and government organizations trust Akamai please visit
www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai
on Twitter.
Contacts:
|
Jeff Young
Media Relations
617-444-3913
jyoung@akamai.com
|
--or--
|
Tom Barth
Investor Relations
617-274-7130
tbarth@akamai.com
|
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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.