women in computer science
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Should all women aspire to be entrepreneurs? In OSBR
→: Should all women aspire to be entrepreneurs? In OSBRMy article is out in the OSBR, in the issue on women and leadership. I was trying to make a point about how we should take a broader view of what leadership is, and be supportive of quieter forms of leadership, as well as talking about why I personally don’t want to be an entrepreneur.…
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Secret Lives of Superheros
→: Secret Lives of SuperherosThe wonderful Serena invited me to join her for a panel at a women/tech conference in October. We’re still working out the details, but essentially we’ll be talking about role models – our own personal superheros. if you will. Some points that I’m thinking about: It’s great to see really successful women in tech, I adored…
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Why Programmers Lie To Get Dates
→: Why Programmers Lie To Get DatesSlides and commentary for the talk I gave at Ignite Waterloo, June 15th. Missing two slides – title slide and end slide (with my twitter handle and website on it). Ignite is a tough format – 5 minutes, 15 seconds a slide, the slides auto-advance. The *’s are where I expect the slide to change…
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Advice for Future Engineers
→: Advice for Future EngineersI can’t tell you how happy this xkcd made me. It’s a powerful statement on women in science (and engineering) but also contains this snippet of amazing advice. You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great…
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Who Do You Think I Am?
→: Who Do You Think I Am?Recently, I was at an event. A colleague was giving a talk, which I’d worked to set up. Someone “important” at the location, who I’ve met, who in fact once signed a thank-you note to me and was, I’m told, part of a (positive) conversation about some of my work days before came down. I…
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Building, Not Destroying
→: Building, Not DestroyingWhen I was 5 or 6, the school thought I had learning difficulties because I couldn’t read. It transpired that it wasn’t so much couldn’t – as wouldn’t. I refused to read the nonsense little books about Little Jonny Red Hat. Clearly my aversion to things that I find pointless started at a young age. Once…
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Experimenting with a Visual, Activity-Based Curriculum
→: Experimenting with a Visual, Activity-Based CurriculumWhen I left Ottawa, I had to find the new me to run my Processing Workshop. His name is Ali and he’s awesome. He’s had the idea to write up the ideas into a paper, so we’re working on that at the moment, but it occurred to me that I didn’t write much about it…
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Am I a Feminist? Depends on Your Definition
→: Am I a Feminist? Depends on Your DefinitionThere are certain things I am, but don’t necessarily talk about that much. I’m atheist, but I don’t feel the need to argue about it anymore. I’m a feminist, but I’m not screaming it from the rooftops. In the circles in which I move, I tend to assume the programmers are atheist or at least…
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Being Dispensable
→: Being DispensableI heard a horrible story the other day – someone had been off work because they were seriously ill, and a week before they returned to work one of their colleagues called all her clients and said she was never coming back. Shocking, right? Bitchy! Horrifying. Disgusting behavior. Hurtful. The last thing you need. If…