Why Eastern Europe Has More Women Developers — and What the West Can Learn

Despite years of diversity initiatives, women still leave Informatics studies and software careers at higher rates in Western Europe.

Interestingly, Eastern Europe—often overlooked in these discussions—has a significantly higher percentage of women working as software developers.

In this session, I combine academic research from my bachelor thesis on retention of women in Informatics with real-world experience studying and working in Vienna and now living and working as a software developer in Romania. I explore why women give up on Informatics, what support mechanisms actually help them stay, and how cultural, educational, and industry structures differ between Eastern and Western Europe.

Rather than focusing on abstract diversity goals, this talk highlights practical, transferable lessons for universities, engineering leaders, and developers who mentor junior colleagues. Attendees will gain concrete insights into how role models, expectations, teaching approaches, and workplace culture influence long-term retention—and what organizations in Western Europe can learn from systems where women’s participation in software development is already normalized.

This session is aimed at anyone interested in building sustainable engineering teams by understanding what truly works, not just what sounds good on paper.