Women in iOS, iOSoho meetup
I help run the iOSoho meetup, the largest iOS meetup in NYC.
This morning I met Marc, the founder of iOSoho, to discuss organizing the meetups for the rest of the year, and for 2017.
I told him I was jealous that the Brooklyn Swift Developers meetup got Natasha Murashev to speak at their event, and that I want to invite her to speak at iOSoho.
Marc, how come we never have women speakers at iOSoho? Like, never.
Marc thought for a second:
I don’t think we’ve ever had one.
I started learning to code in June 2015. In July last year I attended my first iOSoho event. I had never been to a tech meetup before.
I had just learned about for loops and arrays. I was terrified and intimidated to go to the meetup. These are some of the thoughts that were going through my head: “They are the ‘real’ developers”, “I’m not a developer”, “I don’t know anything yet”, “They are going to look down on me”.
Sounds familiar? I know, we’ve all been there. 😅
Another reason I was terrified to go was the lack of women on the attendee list. There were 150 people on that list. I scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled… and I saw 12 women, including me, on it.
What’s wrong? Where are all the women?
I didn’t want to go. I thought I’d be uncomfortable in the room full of 150 men, and that the vibes would be unwelcoming and creepy.
I was wrong. Everybody was friendly and positive, and nobody looked down on me. 😅
iOSoho is the largest iOS meetup in NYC. 150–200 engineers attend the tech talks each month. 90% of the audience is white and male.
I told Marc my story, how I was terrified to go to my first iOSoho meetup, because I didn’t see any women on the guest list. As an organizer, I can’t help but think how many women and/or minorities feel the same way, and maybe never come to the meetup.
This is why we are starting the Women in iOS meetup under iOSoho umbrella. Please spread the word!
If you are a woman iOS developer, or you have a colleague who is, please get in touch. We’re especially hoping to communicate with women developers in leadership roles and speakers. I’m on Twitter here, LinkedIn, and Medium.
If you are a woman iOS developer, please fill out this form to get on the mailing list for updates about the Women in iOS meetup.
Our first event will be at Betaworks in September! 🎉🎉🎉
