Highlighting speakers & panelists at Women Techmakers
If you would like to read more about #womenintech @WomenTechmakers, I published three blog posts:
The Speakers
Attendees were introduced to the emcee of the day: Jo Kulik, a Software Engineer at Google. She asked everyone why they were attending the summit and why they chose to be in the field of technology.
I remember a woman said she wanted a challenge…after living in the woods for about a year! Another woman made a jab at the artist’s profession, “Coding is creative like an artist…but with more money.”
Stacy Devino commented that the problem isn’t only about getting women into STEM, but retaining them. After the summit, it got me thinking more about women in technology. Women 2.0 recently released a blog post on well-intentioned myths that hurt (not help) gender diversity in tech that also supported this.
Attending events geared for women opened my eyes and encouraged me to be a part of helping women join and stay in technology.
The Grace Hopper Celebration introduced me to women who struggled with gender bias, and the Women Techmakers summit introduced me to women who overcame adversity to become successful in their field.
It was interesting to hear from the attendees, as it was a good lead-in for our keynote speaker.
Namrata Godbole
Namrata is a talented Software Engineer at Google. Working on projects like Ranking within Search, including Local Search, Book Search, and Answers; she explained some of the inner-workings behind the popular search engine.
When a child typed in symptoms of what was happening with their father, Google suggested it was a stroke. Quickly bringing him to the hospital, the father’s life was saved. Namrata said these types of stories made her work worthwhile.
She became successful because she learned from her failures and took risks. She wanted to learn more about the code base and asked to see code reviews before the tech lead. This lessened the tech lead’s work, educated Namrata on the code base, and made her become the go-to code reviewer.
She also mentioned that grunt and mundane work provides an opportunity to learn and grow. It is important to take things in the right spirit, otherwise you will never develop as a person.
For instance, bug reports encourage you to learn about the code and other people. You will need to interact with the individuals responsible for that portion of the code, or find someone who is familiar with it.
Namrata also believes that pressure is a privilege. Once you’re past a certain point as a contributor, you’re expected to solve problems quickly and properly. Although you might opt for a short-term solution due to time constraints, you want to avoid technical debt in the future.
She also emphasized to ask experts in the beginning when you don’t know things. Otherwise you will look stupid down the line.
Jane Odero Greene
Jane is a Senior Systems Engineer with the Cyber Solutions and Integration department in the Systems Architecture, Design and Integration Directorate at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Earlier this year, she was honoured with the prestigious Black Engineer of the Year Award as Most Promising Engineer in Industry.
Jane shared her experiences of what she did right in her life. She mentioned the typical stream for students was to complete high school, apply for post-secondary, get an internship, find a job, graduate, profit.
However, her story was full of different life events that lead to her success today. She said that life was not a constant gradient of success, but full of peaks, valleys, challenges, and overcoming them.
To be an effective leader, she believes you need to build technical expertise. You are more useful as a top performer that’s challenged than a top performer doing easy tasks.
She also said that stress will help you learn, and to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. She encourages others to be resilient and to recover from failure, as they are learning opportunities.
She also mentioned that it’s not just what you take from the community, but what you give back by pulling more girls into the STEM field. There’s also a symbiotic relationship with mentors; what can you do for them and how can you help with their projects or struggles?
Jane supports a balanced lifestyle to have the energy to continue. Experiences build a shell towards being resilient, and turn off personal troubles when you get to work.
She says that there are no stupid questions, as the only stupid thing is not knowing. However, if you do ask questions, give it some thought.
Panelists
The last speakers of the day were Emily Bernier, a Software Engineer at Google on the Android Edu platform team; Renee Robinson, a Senior Software Quality Assurance Engineer, Process Improvement Facilitator, and Certified Scrum Master; and Elena Glassman, an EECS Ph.D candidate at MIT CSAIL doing research on HCI, learning at scale, and Computer Science education.
When you are asked to find a solution and are wondering if you can do it, Renee says to do your research and have a contingency plan.
Emily says that if you’re not finding new problems, you’re not being challenged. At times you feel overwhelmed, but it’s not just you; it’s everyone. She encourages others to talk about it. Renee advises to leave if you’ve hit a plateau and not growing.
To help retain girls in STEM, Emily recommends making positive environments. Encourage more, and discourage less.
Elena recommends a positive way to give feedback by using “I like…” or “I wish…”. You need to believe that there’s a gem in something you’ve said, and people are there to help make it better. She also said that companies should offer options like flexible hours, but ensure there’s no stigma in receiving them.
Thanks to everyone at Google for making the Cambridge Women Techmakers a success! The speakers were wonderful, insightful, and helpful. I’m very excited for #WTM16 and hope to see these speakers again.
Note: This was originally posted on my website a few years ago. It has been edited to add additional information about the program.
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