Women Who Code Drink Beer!
Ah, let’s hear it for sensationalist blog post titles!
Last night I went to my first Code’n'Splode meeting. Code’n'Splode is a group of women who all work in the tech industry in one form or another (programming, tech support, development, etc.). Can’t tell you how great it was to sit in a room (a) filled only with women who (b) were all more knowledgeable than I am in some technical area. Awesome!
I got there a little late, but it seems that the group meets monthly to exchange information, the members each do a five-minute presentation on topics particular to their expertise, then it’s off to the pub for a general chat/rant session about those same subjects. And if it sounds boring, it’s only because I’ve done a poor job of explaining just how awesome it is.
I learned about apps I’d never seen before, heard about languages and games that I didn’t know existed, tried a new pub I’d never before visited (and believe me, that’s saying something), and walked out with a list of twenty things (no joke) to check out on the Intertubes today.
The only thing that disappointed me was that I couldn’t immediately think of a way to contribute. It was odd to me that, after a dozen years in the tech industry (tech support, systems administration, network administration, network analysis, application support, engineering — stopping here before it gets annoying), I don’t have a skill that I can’t share with other folks? In retrospect, though, I realize that isn’t true, and that I was nervous about meeting new folks. I’m sure that in a few days, I’ll have thought of a dozen different subjects I could rant about for 5 minutes.
In any case, I met some amazing women who are doing really cool things. Heck, that’s the whole reason for .51! And huge thanks to Sarah Sharp for telling me about Code’n'Splode.
(p.s. I was told I could name names, but just this one time, I’m playing it safe. More on folks involved next time I post about Code’n'Splode.)
Related posts:
- Today’s Complete Waste of Time: Sales Guy Vs. Web Dude
- WomenInTech: O’Reilly Gives Women Our Due
- O’Reilly’s “Women In Tech”: Where Are They?
- Geek of the Week: Selena Deckelmann
- BCS Schedules Recruiting Event For Women In IT
