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01/08/12 | Uncategorized

Women In Technology: Not Anomalies, Token Hires Or Tomboys

By Kaliya Hamlin (Founder, She’s Geeky)
From the beginning of human civilization women have been engaged in understanding the science of the natural world. Ada Lovelace was the first programmer ever and women programmed the first vacuum tube computer the ENIAC. The stories of their pioneering and innovation in geeky fields like engineering, chemistry, physics and mathematicians are amazing.

Are there enough? Definitely not. We need to encourage girls and young women to pursue their passion for STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). We need to support women working day to day in these fields feeling comfortable enough in a room full of men working on a project. Woman can’t do this alone. We need the support and comradeship of other women.

That’s why we created She’s Geeky: to connect women in tech. We want women from all geeky fields and persuasions to meet each other face to face and find support, inspiration and new skills. The unconference method is so effective because women can discuss whatever is on their plate at that exact moment and the conversations can evolve over the three days.

One of the comments we hear from attendees is that the format allowed them to really delve into topics they find fascinating – from learning new programming languages to discussing relationships to finding a solution to an engineering problem.

One attendee from last year said “I had no idea I would be coding today!”

We want all women in the STEM fields to find their allies, get support and be inspired enough to continue to work on amazing projects. It’s not just important for the diversity of a specific company, but it’s important for the world in general.

I personally work in the field of digital identity online. I know that my perspective as a women brings up different angles on the issues involved in developing the technologies, ones that the men in my field often don’t consider. I feel strongly that the more women who come to work in technology the more the technology will reflect the needs and interests of our half of the population.

ALL women are invited to She’s Geeky – we want to bring women from all walks of life together to shared their geekiness – from Biotech Engineers to Gamers, from Social Media Mavens to Coders – all the women interested in technology are welcome.

Please use the discount code “women2.0” to get a 15% discount on registration!

All three days will be run the same, beginning with group/interactive agenda setting in the morning. Feel free to choose which day(s) you’ll come based on your schedule. Choose how many days you attend based on how much community exposure and opportunity you want and need. Each day will have new things to offer!

You can bring your daughters! We even created a special ticket price for them.  Girls as young as 9 years old have attended She’s Geeky with their mothers, aunts, sisters and/or mentors. We hope you will join us and bring your geeky ideas, projects, skills, problems and dreams to She’s Geeky!

Editor’s note: Got a question or answer for our guest blogger? Leave a message in the comments below.
About the guest blogger: Kaliya Hamlin is Founder of She’s Geeky. She is well known by her professional handle “Identity Woman” for her work on user-centric digital identity, founding She’s Geeky in 2007. In 2010, she founded the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium of companies working to help people collect, manage and get value from the data they generate as they live their lives. Follow her on Twitter at @identitywoman.

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