Van Vlack - Women in tech: take your career to the next level with practical advice and inspiring stories

Copyright 2016 by Tarah Wheeler Van Vlack

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Sasquatch Books

Editor: Hannah Elnan
Production editor: Emma Reh:
Design: Anna Goldstein
Puzzles: Mike Selinker, Gaby Weidling, and Ryan LostboY Clarke
Copyeditor: Janice Lee

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-63217-066-8
eISBN: 978-1-63217-067-5

Sasquatch Books
1904 Third Avenue, Suite 710
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 467-4300
www.sasquatchbooks.com

Foreword Esther Dyson
The Crusader Angie Chang
The Developer Kamilah Taylor
The Hacker Keren Elazari
The Educator Kristin Smith
The Parent Katie Cunningham
The Gamer Brianna Wu
The Sysadmin Miah Johnson

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Creating this book took the entire tech community. Without you all, I would never have had the audacity to even attempt it. The power of just one outspoken person can change the worldNow, imagine an orchestra, joyful and riotous. I hear your music, and to you all I offer this dedication.

As you read this book, youll bring to it your own goals and history. And thats the point. Women are not all alike; your challenge in life is not to live as a woman, but to live as your own unique self. So in this foreword, I speak only for myself. I feel comfortable with the culture of technology and science, and I try to think logically and rationally. Ive been part of the tech community since the 1970s. I got into it because it was the most interesting thing happening at the time. I studied economics in college, and took a job as a fact-checker for Forbesthen an investors magazineshortly after graduating. I loved researching tech businesses; they had not just the financial prospects but also the social and intellectual elements to keep me interested: artificial intelligence, online communications (the Internet was not yet a thing, and I worked on a manual typewriter and got press releases by fax). Almost forty years later, with new technologies still emerging, Im still watching with fascination. And Im still learning, as the active founder of a nonprofit startup focused on health.

If I can tell you anything, its this: Find your own success. Dont let your mother or boyfriend or colleagues define it for you. Try to create your own job. If you want to found companies, do that. I havent worked for anyone since I was thirty-something. That may not be your thing. The challenge is how to go from where you are to where you want to be, not where someone else wants you to be. You always have an alternative. Im happy doing what I love. You have to see the whole spectrum of whats available to you. I was fired at Forbes, and it wasnt the end of my life. Im still here. Youre the actor running your own life through a script you write, not an automaton helplessly following its program. Dont choose the script that limits you. I had a lot of wonderful choices, but I know a lot of people who didnt and dont. Bad things may happen, but you can still decide how to deal with them. Theres help out there for you, and a lot of it is in this book.

Everything sounds easy in theory. Have an idea, form a company, sell it five years later, and retire. In practice, its much more complicated than that. People dont understand how complex life, tech, and business are, and they focus more on a job title instead of what they want to do. The bravery of the women writing in this book and sharing their lives with you is inspiring. Theyre showing you from the inside what its really like to make the best choice possible in impossible situations. Youre not defined by what other people think you are, or what you used to be. You are defined by your actions. Hear the advice and stories here, make your own choices, accept the consequences, and live your own life.

ESTHER DYSON

Tech. Its a scary word to a lot of people. It describes a field of endeavor, a career, a style of thinking, and our goals for the future. In the 1400s, the forefront of human thought was alchemy and astronomy. In the 1500s, the place to be was natural philosophy. In the 1600s, mathematics. In the 1700s, political science. The most creative people are drawn to the field of human endeavor in which the biggest advances are being made. Now tech is the place to be.

So why does it seem as if women, who make up 51 percent of the worlds population, just cant manage to break into the most exciting field of human endeavor on the planet today?

I have a very scary statistic for you. The number of women working in computer science and achieving computer science degrees achieved its height thirty-one years ago. In 1984, 38 percent of computer science degrees were awarded to women. In 2014, less than 10 percent were. No matter how many role models, mentors, and larger-than-life superheroines exist in popular media, we are failing. We are failing to bring women into technology in the first place, and the number of women in technology is dropping every year.

There are a number of potential reasons why women and technology dont seem to mix. Ive heard people talk about sexism, discrimination, biological imperatives, evolutionary and social preferences, and a host of other reasons why women just dont seem to be a good fit in the technological field.

You know what? I dont give a damn why someone else thinks I dont belong. I love technology, and I feel joy every single day that I get to invent something new, bring people a new perspective, invent a new automated process that gives time back to someone else, or make the world a better place. I realize that technology can seem like a field that just doesnt have a place for women, and I want to do something to change that.

It turns out that the reason we just dont think women would be a good fit in technology is unconscious social bias, not any kind of conspiracy. Screaming at men for being sexist doesnt lead to anything except for defensiveness and counterattacks. Most men in tech are just people interested in creating a great life for themselves and are willing to help others if theyre given a planand not blamed for everything wrong in the world.

The best way to combat unconscious social bias is to bring it out into the open and see all the ways in which women not only can but should be part of technology.

I really like men. I dig them just fine. Most of my friends are men. I married a particularly spectacular example of the gender. I generally tend to get along better with men. I dont know if thats because of the way Ive been socially conditioned or if its just the way Im built, but I frequently find myself in the position of translating one gender to another in technology. The thing I have found to be the most effective in changing peoples minds and hearts is telling stories. Often, I relay the stories of women I know whove been successful and let people draw their own conclusions. Real empathy is the only true answer to the women in technology problem.