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Education life

Uncertainty

A while ago I got into a slightly drunken argument. I’d had two martinis, so not what you’re thinking – I was mostly tipsy and mellow. But I was sitting next to someone whose position I thought was intellectually bankrupt, and I didn’t pretend to have any respect for it. Nor did I walk away. That […]

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Presentation Programming women in computer science

Why Programmers Lie To Get Dates

Slides 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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Awesome Foundation inspiration life Networking Reflections

Authenticity

My friend AY and I were out for dinner, and we got to talking about authenticity, and correspondingly, inauthenticity. It was interesting, because we were talking about how everyone seems to see through people who are fake, and how it ultimately comes back to bite you. A while ago, I subscribed to this blog, about, […]

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Career Networking Presentation WISE women in computer science

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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Education Organization Reflections Thesis

Fear is Not an Acceptable Excuse

In the aftermath of my decision to quit grad school, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and seeking out advice. I called Julie from Escape the Ivory Tower, and we talked about whether it was possible to write a thesis alone, and my fear that if I switched schools I would just fail again, […]

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Awesome Foundation inspiration Networking Reflections Relocating

Ottawa, a Love Letter

I received something in the mail last week, and it made me really happy. It was a copy of What Would Google Do? (Amazon) and a hilarious card from the wonderful Ian at the Code Factory. It really made me think about how I changed as a person during the two years I spent in […]

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Reflections Skiing

Becoming Less Awesome

I love Penelope Trunk‘s blog. She’s not afraid to write about her life. And sometimes that’s positive, but the most interesting and hilarious and insightful posts are always about a negative – some way in which she screwed up, something she found difficult, relationships – that ended. The tagline is “advice at the intersection of […]

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Reflections Relocating

Timing is Everything

I had the best time in Extreme Blue. I learned so much. I met such cool people. It was awesome. The summer though, was a terrible time to take off from my thesis. So close to the end. So clear on what I was doing. So motivated to ESCAPE and move on to the real […]

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Education Extreme Blue Organization Reflections

On Leadership

They call Extreme Blue a leadership development program. I didn’t get it at first, but by the end I did. I also started to see why I had been picked out as someone “showing leadership” – though I have so far to go there. It’s around that time of year when I re-read 7 Habits […]

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job hunting Organization Programming Reflections WISE women in computer science

Being Dispensable

I 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 […]