Accidentally in Code - Latest Comments

Re: Intent

Meggin Kearney — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:57:59 -0000

Theme for 2012: focused-equilibrium.

There's been a lot of big changes in my life over the past two years (becoming a mom, finishing a dissertation, moving countries, moving jobs). Each change has been positive-- but the transitions have made it tricky to pursue long term goals.

I want to continue to enjoy my family and my job each and every day, in a way that feels steady, constant, with the ability to look further down the line towards the bigger goals.

Re: Encouragement Beats Re-tweeting

Meggin Kearney — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:48:56 -0000

Nice one.

Re: Intent

Ludi Akue — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:17:22 -0000

Inspirational.

Yes I have the same feeling, that 2012 will be a fantastic year. Maybe because of the maturity going on, or maybe because I'm being more self-conscious of what I am, what I want, what I want to have, to do, to be. Maybe because I'm giving myself permission to go out of my comfort zone, to challenge this little voice that often says "you are not ready".

Happy and fantastic year Cate.

Re: Encouragement Beats Re-tweeting

Lauren — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:38:37 -0000

I'm sick of those articles too, it's depressing and to be honest makes me feel like we can't do anything about it. However my problem is I can't think of anything to make it better. Should I speak to Uni students? Or is that too late? To high school students? And how do you even go about doing such things?

Re: Encouragement Beats Re-tweeting

Kim Moir — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:47:45 -0000

Well said Cate. Thank you!

Re: From Hard Focus, to Flow, to Stop

Doug Philips — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:34:59 -0000

Very interesting. I read your post here just after reading
http://calnewport.com/blog/201...
I can't tell from your post, but I get the sense when you're in flow you're doing-what-you-already-know-needs-to-be-done, whereas the getting-better post is about preparing to do the same. Curious what you think.

Re: Friends Don’t Let Friends… Become PMs

Thalestris — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:13:39 -0000

Hi, Cate!

I know *exactly* how you feel about studying business ... I can see more of its utility now that I am out of college and have a jewelry business I'm trying to get off the ground, but while I was in college (and, to a large extent, I still feel this way now) I definitely regarded it as kind of a superficial nonsubject. A couple of my friends and I would always make fun of the math classes business majors took...

The communication-skills thing kind of rings true for me as well. I don't have *oral* communication skills (am autistic, so very much no!), but I've always been told I'm a wonderful writer. So I took this as another thing that would help me achieve my goal of becoming a research scientist, since writing is obviously a big part of that.

I also took a class in middle school very similar to the one you are bemoaning here! I thought it was fun, but then I hadn't really found my academic niche yet, either. I can definitely understand how the woodworking parts of the class would annoy those students who already know they want to study computer science, but for me it was a nice way to get some exposure to lots of different technical fields.

Re: Come the Revolution

Grant Hutchison — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:12:50 -0000

Interesting post Cate. As a new high school CS teacher I ensure that I feed the inquiry engine of each student. The core concepts of CS take some time for teenagers to comprehend and simply telling them to join a moderated forum instead of an in-person classroom will likely not be motivational for very long.

It is amazing what high school students are capable of if you let them use their creativity. Thankfully there are many different CS learning experiences available these days. When I was in high school the only option was Basic and assembler.

The educational system needs to change and my favorite advocate for change is Sir Ken Robinson. His TED video on education is excellent:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/...

cheers

Re: My Career, Her Job

Neha Khera — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:30:59 -0000

...I just have to add one more nugget to ponder! I'm reading the Steve Jobs biography and, surprisingly enough, he did not build any of Apple's products. He openly admits to being a very bad 'engineer'. He was in essence Apple's marketing guru, and made the company what it is today! So while not directly a man 'in' tech, it's hard to imagine he could be labelled as anything but a total techie.

Re: My Career, Her Job

Neha Khera — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:13:53 -0000

Hi Cate. Came across your post and thought I'd add in my two sense.

As an Elec. Engineer by background, I had my fair share of being 'in' tech. I now work supporting tech startups and advising them on how their bright ideas can grow from being a prototype to a major brand & company. What I often find is the originators of these ideas - in many cases 'techie male engineers' - get stuck on their products and fail to think about the business as a whole. That's where marketing, sales, HR and the likes step in. So while the tech guy was vital to the creation of the product, he would have no customers were it not for business folk.

I can see where you are coming from with your post, but also see the importance people 'near' tech play in navigating the rapidly changing tech industry. It is vastly different from any other industry, and I would argue that regardless of whether you are 'in' tech or 'near' tech, you live, breathe and eat TECH. It's impossible not to with the way this industry is exploding.

As women in tech, we should embrace one another regardless of what function we are playing within a firm. If we try to sub-divide into even smaller groups, our tech support system will really dwindle down to nothing!

Re: My Career, Her Job

catehstn — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:17:50 -0000

Clearly I didn't word this well - have updated with apology and some explanation of what I was trying (and failing) to get at.

Re: My Career, Her Job

Lauren Gemmell — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:39:56 -0000

While I am not sure your career/job comment is a particularly fair one. I do sort of understand where you are going with it. Some people are in tech just because thats where there are jobs, roles like marketing at a tech company. Where your career is marketing, your job is tech. That doesn't really make you a girl in tech.

I stopped going to the only girl tech meetup because unfortunately it just wasn't techie enough for me. If I am going to go a specifically techie meetup I want it to be techie, I don't want particularly to have chats about standard girl things (I can do that with my own friends). Or worse talking about how hard it is to be a woman in technology...

Re: My Career, Her Job

Carolyn marshall — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:54:46 -0000

Going into ANY field that you aren't passionate about is unlikely to result in a 'career'. For you, it sounds like that's a 'soft skills' job. For someone else, it might be manual labour, or even tech.

Technical women should be supporting technical women. Professional women should be supporting professional women. People should be supporting people. I absolutely agree that conference/event/community organizers need to make their target audience clear to avoid over-specializing or watering-down events for attendees, but that isn't a female or career-related issue. It's an organizational one.

I've met a number of women that have started out in tech-peripheral roles (myself included), and only through working 'near tech' have they discovered they want to move into a more technical role. And I'm sure many have gone the other way. Maybe women in these fields love their careers as marketing/pr but find themselves drawn to the technical industry. Does that make them any less of a women-in-tech? Absolutely not - they're in a technical field, just not a technical role. Does it mean that certain conferences might not be for them? Sure. But again, that's an organizational issue.

A career is a long-term job-path in which you find passion and growth. We need to support women - people - finding THEIR careers so they can bring the most value to themselves, their organization - and maybe the world. I can't decide what anyone else's career is, and neither can you.

The best we can do is connect with people that can help us and that we can help. You want a more technical conference with fewer marketers? Target it that way - I find watered down tech events annoying too. But just because that marketing person can't participate technical conversation doesn't mean they don't have a career, doesn't mean they aren't in the tech industry and doesn't mean they can't bring valueable insights from a different perspective.

Re: My Career, Her Job

Sherry — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:12:00 -0000

Cate, you need to rethink this:

So Marketing at a tech company? Job. Software Engineer? Career. HR pro? Job. Technical program manager? Career.

You can't actually think that people in non-technical roles, as you define them, don't have careers? Whatever you are trying to say, that is not the way to say it.

Re: My Career, Her Job

Melanie Baker — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:41:39 -0000

Wow, this is... impressively offensive. Because I choose not to write code or manage people I don't and can't have a career? That's just bullshit. And speaks to extremely limited experience not only in the work world, but with people and roles outside a very narrow group.

And no, not writing code does not mean you're a woman NEAR tech. We're just as in it as you are. More so, I would argue, given that typically, developers don't spend much time talking to customers, potential customers, partners, industry experts, analysts, other departments within the company, and assorted other groups. Compiling stuff isn't the be all and end all of business, and I would welcome you to see just how successful a company with nothing but engineers would be.

Re: My Career, Her Job

Meggin Kearney — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:32:04 -0000

This piece has me thinking, which is good, as my brain is fuzzy this morning traveling in on the early bus.

I sit in the middle of the two sides of women in tech that you describe above. The bridge between is like something out of Indiana Jones (picture rotting pieces of randomly placed wood, frayed rope, high up over a huge ravine).

I can almost grasp the fundamental differences between the women on either side of the bridge, and then I get nervous about the rotting board beneath me, and the shakiness my position. It would be very cool to think about this more deeply. You are on to something here, Cate - the examination of both roles.

Re: Novels are the Best Hiding Place

catehstn — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:38:12 -0000

Oh I LOVED the Diana Wynne Jones books! I don't think I've read any of the others though.

Hmm, late teens I got into Louise Bagshawe - http://amzn.to/rxStag - the earlier ones like Monday's Child, Tall Poppies, were better I think. The more recent ones have got way more glamourous.

I did really like Agatha Christie, which is what took me to DLS, but DLS is more rounded, I think - about more than just the mystery. The shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella (http://amzn.to/tesELa) is a bit fluffier, but Can You Keep a Secret and Twenties Girl are both charming.

I've never been much about science fiction, but of course I read - and reread, and reread - everything by Douglas Adams. The man was such a genius. I should buy those books again for Kindle...

Re: Novels are the Best Hiding Place

Caitlin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:12:58 -0000

I love Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, and like Dorothy L. Sayers (though not all mysteries in general). I also love science fiction. Can you recommend more authors/books (e.g. that you liked as a teenager) to check out? I am in desperate need of more reading material!

Some of my favorite authors (in case you have not read them): Diana Wynne Jones, Lois McMaster Bujold, Doris Egan, Patricia C. Wrede.

Re: Engineering an Interesting Life

catehstn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:03:18 -0000

Thanks for coming! Glad you got something out of it :)

Re: Interviewing @ Google

catehstn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:12:14 -0000

yep! :) and it's awesome!

Re: Not a Good Use of My Time?

catehstn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:42:39 -0000

It was a conference, and people didn't register for sessions in advance. I think the thing is that I want to cut down the number of talks I give in general, and will probably use semi-arbitrary reasons why when for the right topic and people I would make an exception!

Re: Emotional Roller coasters, and Being Less Neurotic

catehstn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:31:12 -0000

Starred but not yet got around to! Thanks - you are absolutely right, v inspiring!

Re: Emotional Roller coasters, and Being Less Neurotic

catehstn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:29:33 -0000

Meggin, you always have the best perspective - thanks :)

Re: Emotional Roller coasters, and Being Less Neurotic

catehstn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:28:35 -0000

That blog is awesome :) thanks!

Yeah it's true, the unfair flipside of that is that we attribute success to luck or help from others. At best, "hard work". Whereas guys, when good things happen tend to do the opposite - when they succeed it's "well duh! I'm Awesome" and when they fail it's "how could I be so unlucky?"

It's something I continually work on too :) thanks for the reminder that it's not just me!

Re: Emotional Roller coasters, and Being Less Neurotic

faro — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:19:08 -0000

Cate,

I recently discovered your blog and I am extremely happy that I did! I agree with Meggin's comment below - we are all the same.During my graduate studies I took a course called "The leaky pipeline"
The course allowed women from all fields to come together and talk about 'Why there are such few women in science?"

One issue that was repeatedly brought up was how we tend to associate even the slightest of failures to our professional lives or achievements.I have since then made a conscious attempt not do that.

I have read a few of your posts and think that you are awesome! Hope this comic makes you feel better http://hyperboleandahalf.blogs...