At Joyous, we have always been focused on building a diverse organisation. How? We work hard to increase the diversity of the candidates we interview.

Turns out, the technology sector in New Zealand is facing a major crisis. There are not enough people to fill the available roles. Nor is there anywhere near enough diversity within the existing talent pool.

The facts speak for themselves: Less than 25% of people in tech in New Zealand are women. For software engineers, the numbers are even lower at less than 20%.

We didn't set out to come up with a guide to help women, Māori, Pasifika and other underrepresented people get into a paid software technology role. There simply isn't an existing guide for New Zealand that is comprehensive enough.

The aim of this guide is to help anyone, particularly people underrepresented in tech, get into a paid software technology role in six months to a year - without needing a degree first.

The major parts of Pathways

Pathways is divided into four major parts:

• Understanding the opportunity
• Getting ready for a role
• Landing a role
• How to run an internship program (for organisations)

We want women, Māori, Pasifika, and other underrepresented people to have a single easy resource that can help guide and support them into a paid role in technology.

We want to see improved diversity across our entire sector, not just in Joyous.

We also want more technology organisations (specifically software organisations) to create internships for non-graduates shifting into technology from other careers.

Not only will this benefit your own team, but other organisations too.