Women in Tech

women_in_tech.md

1. Since when are you interested in tech? When was the first contact with tech (parents, school, friends, self-interest etc)?
   I was first exposed to tech in my first job after college. I was working as a project manager at an advertising agency and was working with developers on a daily basis. I was extremely intimidated by what they were working on and in listening to their conversations, but I was also fascinated. From there, I went on to another marketing role where I managed the company’s content management system. It was in that role that I first took the plunge and started to tweak some markup and styles. I was hooked!

2. Tell us your background - How was your way up to your job today, which different careers have you chosen?
   My background is definitely not traditional! To be honest, computer science didn’t even cross my mind once in college or leading up to it. I spent over 15 years as a competitive figure skater and my plan was to coach for the rest of my life. I loved skating, and I still do but halfway through college I started to wonder what another path might look like for myself. It was too late at that point to change majors since I was on an academic scholarship, but I did spend the remainder of my time in college interning at a few advertising agencies and slowly started pursing a new career path in marketing.

3. Were there persons which supported you? Do you have a role model?
   There are tons of people who supported me as I transitioned into tech. While most of them were men, there were two organizations that those men pointed me to that were geared towards women. RailsBridge and Rails Girls both helped me connect with other women learning like I was, and they also provided me with examples of women doing what I wanted to do who were just a few years or months ahead of me. That was exactly what I needed at the time to know I could do it.

4. Did someone put a spoke in your wheel?
   I wouldn’t say there was a particular person or situation that thwarted my plan, but there have been tons of bumps along the way… some bigger than others. Since this is a post about women in tech, I’ll say that it was trying at times being the only women in the second half of my programming bootcamp. Most of the guys were great, but I did start to miss having some girlfriends around. Burping and boy jokes can get kind of exhausting after awhile!

5. What is it you’re doing for a living today? (position, company) How is your typical workday/What are you doing exactly?
   I’m currently a Front End Software Engineer for an affiliate of Warner Bros called DramaFever. I work remotely from Nashville, TN and my day usually starts around 9am. We have a standup at that time and then the rest of the day is spent working on features and bugs. I enjoy going to meetups during the week a lot of the time and I travel around to conferences pretty often as well.

6. Have you developed something? If yes, tell us about it.
   I’ve been able to work on some amazing products including Boomerang, Warner Archive, DramaFever, Moodica, and most recently something for DC Comics. Before that, I worked on a curriculum management system for Kuali and an email deliverabilty system called SparkPost.

7. Why are there such few women in tech? Which obstacles do women still need to overcome today? Did you face any cliches/stereotypes? Which problems arise out of it?
   Well, my opinion comes from my own experience. I think there are a multitude of reasons, but some of it stems from the fact that a lot of girls aren’t exposed to tech early on so they don’t see it as a possibility for themselves. I have gotten the typical “whose girlfriend are you” at meetups from time to time but it doesn’t bother me too much. I enjoy seeing the guys reactions when I explain that I’m a developer also. That’s usually more fun than getting upset about it! As far as problems, I can definitely see how some women could become shy or discouraged by this. While I do usually laugh things off, I have definitely had to learn to speak up and become more assertive since I’m usually in the minority and soft spoken.

8. Why should more women work in tech? Would our world be different if more women worked in STEM? Which advantages (socially, culturally, economically and technically) would unfold if there were more women in tech? Would specific sectors notably benefit from it?
   First, I’m glad this question is “why” and not “should” they! Yes, our world would definitely be different if more women worked in STEM. We need more women in tech because women are also the consumers of tech. One of my favorite hash tags on twitter is #peopleoverpixels. I think it relates to this in that although I spend much of my day looking at code and breaking down problems into smaller and smaller problems, at the end of the day it’s all about the big picture. If we get too focused on those small problems we can lose sight of the value diverse teams provide.

9. What do you think about the future – will the diversity debate soon be history?
   I have a good feeling about the future, despite what others may think. I love seeing the flood of non traditional people entering tech as second careers because I think it helps others consider the field who may have not felt welcomed in the past due the stereotype attached to this field.

10. Do you have any tips for other women who want to be in tech? What should they know about working in this industry?
    My tip, which is based on a talk I’ve given is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. While that might not be what everyone wants to hear, I think it’s the reality of the situation. If you can maintain a positive outlook, and hold on to the joy you have for the field I think it shouldn’t be terribly difficult. Your mental energy is finite, so you have to spend it wisely. For me, that means focusing my energy on technical challenges, and maintaining a lighthearted approach to everything else.