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“Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder,” states Sandberg. She describes how Lori Goler, now Global Head of People at Facebook, first asked Sheryl about how she could work with her at Facebook, “I think I want to apply to work with you at Facebook, so I thought about calling you and telling you about all the things I’m good and all the things I like doing, but I figured everyone is doing that. So I just want to know what is your biggest problem and how can I solve it.”

AOL’s MAKERS Conference brought together the most influential women across the country to empower and inspire women and young girls to break the glass ceiling and strive for equality.

The percentage of tech workers who are woman has remained flatThe companies that ABI looked at had about 435,00 technology workers in total. While the overall number of women technologists increased from 2013 to 2014 by 3,500 workers, the percentage of those workers who are female remained at about 25%, compared to 32% of the overall workforce at participating companies.

Sources have said that less than 6% of U.S. employed women work in the computer industry, and that only 2 percent have a degree in the engineering or computer science fields.

that so many women — not always highlighted in the media — have led the way and have shown how many paths there can be toward success in technology-related businesses.

Women can go to the site and begin designing their playbook with “To-Do” items, tracking weekly accomplishments, building a personal brand, searching for advisers and coaches, and taking advantage of career-boosting services. “Our goal is to knit all that together and essentially path you because it is overwhelming. Woman want the relevant information in their busy lives that [they] can action on,” Skeete Tatum noted. She also added that women need to build a “Board” of coaches, mentors and sponsors to guide them through career choices. She described coaches as high-power experts that provide insight and recognize patterns that move people forward; mentors as individuals who influence and help examine idead; and sponsors as the door openers and network builders.

The tech industry today remains a boy’s club, with only 26 percent of jobs filled by women at any given point. The average woman faces a 3:1 male-to-female gender ratio in the industry, and it only gets worse higher up the management ladder.

The study, “Securing Our Future: Closing the Cyber Talent Gap,” finds low overall awareness of the field: In the U.S., 67% of men and 77% of women said no high school or secondary school teacher, guidance or career counselor ever mentioned the idea of a cybersecurity career.

“Not only are we missing obvious opportunity to remediate a global shortfall of cybersecurity workers, but we’re also seeing the problem compounded by leaving women behind when it comes to cybersecurity education, programs and careers,”

explaining the urgent need for women to pursue at least one  technology path, “and we need to do a better job of exposing women to technology related jobs,”

We’ve done lots of research on why young women don’t choose tech careers and number one is they think it’s not interesting. Number two, they think they wouldn’t be good at it. Number three, they think they will be working with a number of people that they just wouldn’t feel comfortable or happy working alongside.”

At a time when girls in general comprise about 46% of the advanced placement calculus test takers but that approximately 80% of them don’t end up taking a computer science class, clearly something is not working.

essary first step to changing the underrepresentation of women in the technical workforce. Young women are more likely to enter and succeed in fields in which they can see themselves. However, this can only be achieved when female students have the same opportunities as male students to succeed in STEM fields during high school and college, and then encounter successful role models in the professional world.