Wakanda Meeting Was That?
Person X: How is it like being a woman in Tech?
Girl from DevC Women’s Circle Launch: Can I show you what I’ve built instead?
Happy new year Developer Circles Nairobi!
I know, it’s March already We have had an immense year already, and it’s only fair to start by stating that we did have a busy season since last year with the AI MasterClasses and there’s a sweet hacking challenge coming up so that we can certify you who attended all classes! Fair enough?
Okay, to the main agenda of this very first post of Developer Circles Nairobi 2018.
We launched the Women’s Circle Nairobi! It was all about Women. Code. Women. Code and then some!
If you missed it, then this post is right on time for you.
Meet the day’s agenda in pictures, and how we spent close to 6 hours coding and showing what we have build, taking breaks to have some girl chats and having conversations of why gender doesn’t count when it comes to code, because talent is gender neutral.
All neutral. Like a Litmus paper on a PH Scale of 7 . Is that even right?
The Community of Women Software Developers in Nairobi
On the 17th of February, women engineers and developers in the area of computing came together at iHub and 16 countries all-over Sub-Saharan Africa joined us online! To break down the statistics these Developer Circles, Out of 25,000 developers, 5,000 are Women, and we had an additional 47 women joining the community from Nairobi and that was very exciting for the local community here in Nairobi.
Women Engineers, Students and Software Developers filled the room, and we also had the honor and privilege to hear from Notable women working at Facebook such as:
The Design Program Manager at Facebook - Melaina Chambers
Head of Open-Source, and Developer Advocate -Christine Abernathy (Who is Kenyan btw :))
Partner Engineer, Messenger Platform, London Office — Laura
Head of Developer Circles Europe, Middle East and Africa, London Office — Mrs Zane Holt
We also had Female Leads across the world joining us on video from: Cities such as Lusaka, DRC, Vienna, Dakar, and last but not least Harare, in Zimbabwe. Additionally, we had
amongst us, Proud Dzambukira, who is The Strategic Product Partnerships Lead at Facebook, who was present to witness the launch of the Women’s Circle and celebrate this cause to get more women developers in DevC Nairobi. Alongside Proud was our Community Lead, Anthony Nandaa, and co-Lead Elsis Sitati.
We had tonnes of inspiration from women in technology and Tadzoka from Harare noted that Women constitute 50% of the worlds population and therefore technology is one of the most evolving and important areas of expertise in the world today and women and men need to collaborate to drive change in our communities using technology to build solutions in and for our communities.
Natalie, the Lead from Vienna put it across very well, and I quote “People of all genders are welcome to attend our event. As always, we try to focus on the accomplishments of technologists that also happen to be women, rather than just focusing on the story of doing something as a woman. This helps the focus be more of the work rather than our gender.”
Women’s Circle Nairobi is a splinter group of DevC Nairobi, that targets Women in Computing by intentionally reaching out to them through meet-ups in a bid to grow the community of female developers to learn, to collaborate and to connect and bring out the best in them to lead courageously, and we’re asking you to help us see more women disrupting and building solutions in the community, and more importantly collaborating with the men.
And now, the pictures!
The Talks and Code Labs
Key Note Speech — Wambui Kinya. Chief Strategy Officer, Andela
Tech Journey — Carol Kariuki. Facebook Developer Circle Nairobi Co-Lead and Software Developer at VituMob
React — Jacky Kimani, Software Developer, Andela
React Native — Gertie Nyenyeshi, Software Developer, BBC
Open-Source — Joy Warugu, Software Developer, Andela
Spread some code love to every girl you know. To every woman in engineering you know who’s seated right opposite you, or that one that loves to chill in her bedroom hacking away. Cheers! Until next time. Go code, Let’s come back with solutions in our next meet-up.
The Mini-Bar-Camp Session
Meet Stella Ngugi.
She’s running her own show! Jobonics. She’s a Founder and CEO at her start-up that focuses on disrupting the HR Industry. Stella brought forth very strong sentiments on today’s hiring process and why Women- in -Tech meet-ups need to focus on the work, rather than the gender. You can read more and connect with Stella from her Linked-In Profile.
And now, the beautiful women engineers and programmers who came together for the Launch of DevC Nairobi, Women’s Circle. Feel the energy and the happiness of knowing that we can own this male dominated industry, by showing what we can do.
Location: iHub, Senteu Plaza. 17th Feb 2018.
All the proceeding s of the day can be found in our live sessions on the Official Developer Circles Nairobi page.
Until next time, keep building.
