90% feel they can be themselves in the field of technology

In honour of World Engineering Day, Engineers Finland conducted a study examining the sense of belonging in the field among professionals and students in technology. The full results of the study entitled “Belonging in tech” will be published during EF’s webinar “Who belongs in tech?” on 8 March.

The study revealed good news: 90% of the respondents feel that they can be themselves in the field of technology. In addition, over 83% of the respondents agree with the statement “people like me can succeed in the field of technology”; this figure was up to 93% for respondents with a university degree in technology.

The respondents feel a sense of pride in studying and working in technology. The highest scores were given by students: 80% of them felt proud of their studies in the field. Women expressed a sense of pride in working or studying in the field more often than men.

“It’s great to see numbers that show what many already know from experience: people enjoy working and succeed in the tech industry. Technology professionals play an important role in our society as we are looking for solutions to reduce global emissions, for example – they deserve to be proud of this work,” says Chairman of Engineers Finland Jari Jokinen.

Having confidence in one’s competence is also common in the industry. More than three in four believe they can obtain or already possess the skills they need to succeed in the field of technology.

But who belongs in tech?

The sense of belonging refers to “the subjective feeling of fitting in and being included as a valued and legitimate member in a particular setting” (Lewis et al. 2017). The study by EF provides new knowledge about experiences of belonging in the technology industry, a topic that has not been studied to this extent before in Finland.

Approximately 80% of the respondents feel they belong in the technology industry. People with a university degree experience the highest sense of belonging, while students report a slightly lower sense of belonging.

A closer look at the results reveals more differences. When comparing the genders, women and non-binary people report the lowest sense of belonging both among students and graduates.

“The experiences of belonging show that the common image of a tech professional is still fairly narrow. Minorities face more challenges with belonging,” says TEK’s Research Manager Susanna Bairoh, who conducted the “Belonging in tech” study.

When comparing different sectors, the results that stood out were the lower scores for sense of belonging in mathematics and the sciences and among architects. The study also compared the responses of Finnish, Swedish and English speakers, but language or nationality did not affect the sense of belonging.

It was somewhat surprising that the importance of belonging fell far short of the experiences of belonging. Just over half of the respondents felt that belonging in the industry is important.

“International professionals, in particular, found it important to belong in the industry. For them, the community they study or work in may be their most important social group in Finland, so the importance of belonging is naturally greater,” says Bairoh.

Based on the responses, belonging to a work community is, in fact, considered more important overall than belonging in the technology industry. More than three in four respondents felt that belonging to a work community is important, while roughly half of them valued belonging to a group studying the same field.

Tech needs everyone – and more knowledge

Although the majority feel like they can be themselves in the field of technology, there is still work to be done so that everyone would also feel like they belong in the field.

“The tech industry would benefit from a more inclusive work culture. In the current talent shortage, it is even more important for us to include every possible person in the field,” says General Secretary of Engineers Finland Tommi Grönholm.

“We at Engineers Finland also consider it important that employers examine and systematically monitor the situation in their workplace and seek to promote a sense of belonging, especially considering that the responses indicate that belonging to the work community is particularly important. We know that this is already done in some companies, but more knowledge is needed,” says Grönholm.

The study respondents were members of the Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK, The Union of Professional Engineers in Finland IL, Tekniska Föreningen i Finland TFiF and DIFF – Ingenjörerna i Finland. A total of 22 330 respondents answered surveys in 2022.

Sources

Lewis, K. L., Stout, J. G., Finkelstein, N. D., Pollock, S. J., Miyake, A., Cohen, G. L., & Ito, T. A. (2017). Fitting in to move forward: Belonging, gender, and persistence in the physical sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (pSTEM). Psychology of Women Quarterly, 41, 420-436. DOI:10.1177/0361684317720186