In this post, I will share the results of the Women in BEAM 2024 survey. But first, I would like to share my experience in the BEAM community to understand the motivation behind this initiative.

My journey

I’ve been working with Elixir since 2018, but my interest in it wasn’t driven by technical advantages—it was sparked by my experience at my first ElixirConf in Mexico.

Since 2017, I’ve been involved in initiatives supporting women in tech, frequently attending events to learn and observe industry gender gaps. A major challenge I noticed was the barrier of seniority—many talks were difficult to follow for newcomers, and women, already underrepresented (often less than 30% of attendees), could feel even more excluded. Unfortunately, I grew used to this dynamic, but it was always awkward.

In 2018, I was invited to ElixirConf Lite in Mexico City. From the start, I felt welcomed—no barriers, no judgment, just an open and friendly community. Inspired by this inclusivity, I decided to explore Elixir, later falling in love with its technical strengths.

Since then, I’ve combined my passions for diversity in tech and Elixir. A few months ago, I committed to a focused initiative: the survey.

Background

I have been part of the Code BEAM America committee during the last three editions. I know the efforts made to have a gender-balanced panel and promote diversity at the conference, such as the Diversity & Inclusion Programme. Initiatives that have undoubtedly yielded results. 

For example, the following graph corresponds to the number of women at CodeBEAM America since 2015:

There is an increase between each edition for almost all of them, and there are some, such as the one in March 2021, where the percentage is nearly a quarter. However, getting female speakers remains a challenge every year. 

I know many women working with Elixir and some with Erlang or Gleam. When I invite them to give a talk, their common response is, “Oh! I don’t think I have anything interesting to share”.I know it’s not true, but I don’t blame them because I know the feeling. Sometimes, I have stopped sharing content or talks for fear of not having enough experience, and I often get so nervous that I let the impostor syndrome win.

As I mentioned earlier, my initial reason for getting interested in Elixir was inclusion. During all these years, I have never had a bad experience in the community, which led me to wonder what is behind these barriers. The cultural context has a lot to do with it, and it is not something specific to the BEAM community; however, I was interested in learning more about other women’s perspectives on the topic.
There were a good number of responses for this first edition, and based on the open responses, I decided to focus the results on four main sections: Diversity in Roles, Challenges for Junior Developers, Programming Language Preferences, and Diversity and Inclusion.

Survey Highlights

The survey included many open-ended questions, and while all responses were different, some aspects were repeated across many, so the sections below are grouped based on similar responses.

Diversity in Roles

I decided to start with this section because role diversity is directly related to the topic of role models, which, from my perspective, is a determining factor in promoting greater participation of women in the BEAM community.

According to this article, women occupy only 11% of leadership positions in technology. This represents a barrier for women working in the industry and new generations, who may not easily see themselves reflected in these numbers. Aspiring to a leadership position is much easier when you have an example in mind, whether it’s a public figure, a teacher, a coworker, etc. This also applies to open-source contributions, technical talks, and more.

Therefore, it is essential to highlight the diversity of responses to the question about the primary role.
The majority of women surveyed indicated that they are Software Developers/Engineers. I wasn’t surprised since most women I know in the community play this role, but I was thrilled that this wasn’t the only answer, so let’s dig deeper into those who indicated they played a different role.

• One woman shared that she is dedicated to research and teaching, a direct way to pass on knowledge and experience. BEAM languages are often overlooked in education, as functional programming isn’t typically prioritised, but having a mentor can change that.

A teacher can encourage event participation, recommend key books, and even organise group attendance. Most importantly, integrating Elixir or Erlang into lessons sparks interest in new learners. Research also plays a vital role, inspiring students to explore deeply and cultivate the curiosity we value in the community.

• There is one mention of a Technical Leader and two of an Engineering Manager, both refer to leadership positions that can represent role models for those aspiring to be team leaders and manage greater responsibilities. It is important to mention that the years of experience are different for the three answers. This breaks the myth that a position is associated with years of experience rather than with the knowledge and value these women bring to a team.

• One respondent is a student, though her school level isn’t specified, so it’s unclear if she had prior BEAM experience. Still, it’s clear the BEAM community has successfully expanded its reach—not just in the workplace but also among students who can share their enthusiasm with peers and teachers.

Finally, there is a Project Manager answer, which is a big plus for someone working with a team of developers. Experience in the technical side and the technologies used in a project or team allows for a deeper understanding and better technical suggestions; she can encourage attendance at events to improve the team’s skills and promote using BEAM languages ​​in other areas.

Challenges for Junior Developers

This section is interesting as the survey had no direct questions about juniors and their challenges. Still, I decided to add it because there was an open question about how easy it was for women to get a BEAM-related job. Even those who indicated that from their perspective it was easily mentioned that it depends on the years of experience and that for juniors, it is complex because companies prefer to hire someone with previous experience rather than train someone. Let’s analyze the answers: 

Most women surveyed said they had between 3 and 5 years of experience working with a BEAM programming language.

57.1% of the total indicated that they currently have a BEAM-related job, but despite this, 71.4% consider that it is not easy to find job opportunities.

The reasons are mainly related to two factors: one is that on popular platforms such as LinkedIn, there are not as many offers as other technologies, and they do not know which other pages or media to look at. The second reason is due to the challenges that juniors face, and we will delve into that one for now.

“It is difficult to get a job because (BEAM technologies) are not broadly used, and it is harder for many people to have previous production experience.”

Many of the responses in this section agree that it is relatively easy to get a BEAM job when you already have at least two years of experience.

“If you are a junior developer, getting a job is very hard / Most companies only offer senior positions.”

I understand the problem, and in the end, it becomes a vicious circle: someone with no experience can’t get a job, but how can she get it if she can’t join a team? So, talking about external expertise beyond what a company can provide is essential.

I love working with Elixir because you can start a project from scratch and see results quickly. The documentation and resources—tutorials, blogs, and books—are excellent, and the same likely applies to languages like Gleam.

You can build experience through personal projects, coding challenges, or even creating a website. I enjoy writing to reinforce my learning, and if you do too, I encourage you to start a blog—it’s a great way to gain experience and make yourself visible.

Here are some resources to get you started:

• The Elixir programming language
• Erlang/OTP
• Gleam programming language
• Events and resources (community wiki)

Another indirect way to gain experience is by attending events. The 68.6% of women surveyed stated that they like attending virtual and in-person events, and 28.6% indicated that they only like virtual events. 

Attending meetups and conferences helps you learn about current technical challenges, BEAM updates, etc. Even if you are starting, it will give you an idea of ​​the topics you can focus on.

These actions may seem irrelevant since they are not the same as saying that you have x years of experience in a company, but they will undoubtedly make a difference. They will also help you find the area where you would like to specialize or learn more, get to know the community, and open the possibility of finding mentors.

Programming Language Preferences

I’m an Elixir developer, so I initially decided to focus the survey on just that programming language, as it’s familiar to me. However, seeing content about Erlang and Gleam in the community is becoming more common, so I decided not to limit it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of responses.

Most women indicated that Elixir is the primary programming language they use, but it was not the only one. In this question, 14.3% indicated they work with Erlang and 11.4% with Gleam.

Additionally, the survey included a question about other technologies, either as a hobby or as a secondary language. Most women working with Elixir as a primary technology indicated that they were experimenting with Erlang as an additional language and vice versa. This is not surprising, as if you work with Elixir and dig into the fundamentals, you must explore Erlang. On the other hand, if your primary programming language is Erlang, it can be pretty fun and easy to explore Elixir.

Something else worth mentioning in this question was that there was a mention of LFE and EML. I was surprised because at least I don’t know both fundamentals, but it made me think about everything I still have to explore in BEAM and the alternative options. In some way, it also motivated me to investigate more about it, and that is precisely the meaning of the community: sharing knowledge.

As an extra, someone else mentioned that although it wasn’t a programming language per se, their favorite secondary technology was LiveView.If you, like me, are curious to explore everything that BEAM has to offer, you can find out more about it in the following list: Languages, and about languages, on the BEAM.

Diversity and Inclusion

I believe diversity and inclusion are strongly promoted in the BEAM community, setting it apart from other technologies. I was eager to hear other women’s perspectives, whether they share this view, and what actions we can take to improve further.

This section explores several related questions in depth, but the key takeaway is that most agree diversity and inclusion are actively encouraged in the community.

Of the total number of women surveyed, 82.9% consider that diversity and inclusion are promoted in the BEAM community, compared to 17.1% who think they are not.

Women who think no, indicated that this is because they know few or no other women in the company who work with any BEAM programming language and they do not know of any initiatives working on this topic, however, there is no reason beyond that, they have never had any gender issues and they like to attend community events.

On the other hand, women who believe that these topics are promoted shared that the main reason is thanks to the warmth of the people. For example, at events where they felt safe to share without fear of being judged, or when you contact one of the pioneers on social media and have support and even mentoring in some cases.

“From my experience at Code BEAM Europe, the BEAM community felt very welcoming. It seemed like a space where people could make mistakes, try new things, and learn together. That openness makes it easier for different perspectives to be part of the conversation.”

So far, so good, the general outlook is positive, but there is a tricky aspect to mention: 4 women reported having had gender problems in the community. This question was a one-way question and I did not go into the subject in depth so as not to make these women uncomfortable, but it is certainly an aspect that needs to be worked on.

This gives us a lead into the next section, the steps to follow.

Actionable Steps

The actions listed here aren’t solely focused on gender issues but aim to make the BEAM community more inclusive, based on suggestions from the women surveyed.

Gender Policies and Codes of Conduct

Many respondents highlighted the need for clear gender policies and better awareness of them. They support reinforcing codes of conduct at conferences, ensuring attendees know who to contact if issues arise.

One woman admired a company’s anti-harassment policy, and I agree—though few respondents reported problems, we must not minimise the issue. Strong community support makes addressing misconduct easier.

Spaces Dedicated to Women in BEAM

This was a recurring theme. Many women cited impostor syndrome as a barrier to participation and expressed interest in safe spaces to ask questions, practise talks, and seek advice.

“In my case, I don’t feel 100% comfortable in the environment but I am not sure how to promote greater participation. Maybe it will help if we create a small subgroup for women/nonbinary in the community to promote ourselves or to share projects and ideas.”

“Create women’s support groups. Where we can have learning sessions, mentors, talk about the working environment, talk about career levels to look forward to, give advice, etc.”

Support for beginners

Going back to the topic of the challenges faced by juniors, some of the suggestions are also to promote more content for those women who have little or no experience with BEAM and especially focus on the reasons why it is worth giving it a try.

Role Models

This is definitely my favourite measure. I have always been a supporter of promoting role models in technology to encourage more girls and teenagers to become interested in this, so I was delighted to know that this is a common opinion.

Many of the women surveyed pointed out that having a role model in the community can help with the goal of getting more women interested and participating.

“Highlighting the work of women already active in the community can make a difference. Seeing other women as speakers and leaders may encourage more to step forward.”

“I think the more visible women are in the community, the more women will participate.”

“Just seeing other women speak is an example to me. Seeing others who are relatable to me helps me realize I can just get up there and be me and speak on something I am interested in.”

These are just a few of the related responses.

Acknowledgements

 I would like to take this opportunity to mention the names of the people who came up in the survey, as many of the women mentioned that they do not have a female role model, but that along the way they have met men who support diversity and would like to acknowledge that.

Laura Castro, Elaine Naomi, “Tobias Pfeiffer who really advocates for diversity”, Robert Virding, Peer Stritzinger, Sigu Magwa,  Sophie Benedetto, “Female role models are Ingela Andin from the OTP team, her history and dedication to working with the BEAM are great, and Hayleigh from the Gleam team, she is such a brilliant person”, “Some of my favourite folks I have seen speak, and who make me feel included in the community are: Meks McClure, Miki Rezentes, Jenny Bramble”, and to the women who mentioned me, thank you so much, I want to tell you that you made me smile a lot.

Women in BEAM Conclusion

I would like to thank all the women who took part in the survey, and to everyone who shared it on social media or with colleagues. Most of all, thank you to those who care about diversity and inclusion and work to make the BEAM community better every day.

I’ll be following up on all the comments and suggestions, and some women have even reached out to collaborate, which I’ll also pursue. Based on the responses, I’ve decided to make the survey an annual initiative. The details are still in the works, but I’ll keep you updated.

Lastly, thanks to all the role models in companies, schools, and the community, who inspire more women to discover how incredible Women in BEAM is.

See you in the next edition!