Last week, I enjoyed my 4th time at the She's Geeky Un-Conference. If you are a woman, you really shouldn't miss out on a chance to network and share your geeky-ness with other like-minded women. And maybe not even like-minded... I even learned about the science behind making balloon animals this year. What a fun way to unwind!
One of the quotes tweeted around after one of the conference days was "Whatever you want different in life, you should hack it."
It was tweeted by a IT friend of mine in attendance and a noticed by another non-IT friend to whom I had recommended they work together on a project. I received an email expressing concern that my IT friend was not "reputable" because she was endorsing HACKING. OMG.
Yeah. So here is my PSA.
Hacking isn't criminal by nature. That's just how the word is mostly in the common media. It's gotten a bad rap, but really it's about embracing discovery, learning and improvement. Like anything, you can apply it to more that just computers and technology and you can use it for good or for less than good. You can choose to make things worse for others, or you can choose to make things better for everyone.
So get out there and "hack" the things in your life that aren't the way you want. Learn a new skill, figure out ways to change things that don't work well. Use something "off label". Order off the menu from time to time.
Need an example?
This particular post (Beth Scott, @scanlime) embodies that quote from above in a way I can't even describe (and the topic is generally NSFW) but you'll see what I mean when you take a look. I'm not that skilled in electronic circuits and I don't have that awesome 3D printer, but this takes hacking your life right to the, um, edge.
So, get out there and "hack" your life a bit. You'll be better off for it.
Showing posts with label shesgeeky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shesgeeky. Show all posts
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Monday, May 21, 2012
Supporting Women in Technology
I'm a bad "Woman in Technology". I know this.
There's been a lot of chatter lately about Women in Technology, Women in Business... particularly with the responses to the whole "Dell" thing and what not. But on many levels, I just don't care.
Yes, there, I said it. I've got too many other things to concentrate on than to get stressed out about some sideways glace or inappropriate comment. That being said, no one needs to be harrassed at work, or their ideas discounted because of a difference in their sex. And some people are just crude and insensitive.
Sure it can be rough breaking into a male-dominated field. It can be hard working in a male-dominated company. It would be great if women were equally represented in every area. But most days I'd rather just concentrate on doing my job as well as I can.
But I do know that I'm "bad" at actively supporting women in technology and I like work to improve on that. So I make sure that I spend time recognizing and appreciating what women can and have accomplished.
One of the ways I do this is by attending conferences geared toward women. They open me up to the accomplishments of other women, expose me to great female speakers and give me a chance to learn about the challenges and successes faced by many in their professional lives.
Last week, I attended the conference put on by the Professional BusinessWomen of California, at the Moscone center in San Francisco. This was my first time attending this event and I was impressed with the number of women in attendance and the quality of the content and speakers.
While not technology focused, the sessions were inspiring and informational to women in any field. Using Gender Intelligence to Build Credibilty, Balancing Your Life in Your "War Zones" and Negotiating With Confidence were just some of the topics covered.
Another annual conference that I've attended and mentioned before is She's Geeky. Usually held over a weekend, this event brings to together women who have interests in STEM fields to network and talk about the things that interest them. It's a great opportunity to learn something novel or try your hand at running a session of your own.
Check out their websites and watch for upcoming events. You'll probably be impressed - I always am.
Also, if you'll be at TechEd in Orlando this year, reach out to Jessica DeVita of UberGeekGirl. She has some great ideas around bring women together to mentor other women. Check out her recent blog post about what she'd like to accomplish.
There's been a lot of chatter lately about Women in Technology, Women in Business... particularly with the responses to the whole "Dell" thing and what not. But on many levels, I just don't care.
Yes, there, I said it. I've got too many other things to concentrate on than to get stressed out about some sideways glace or inappropriate comment. That being said, no one needs to be harrassed at work, or their ideas discounted because of a difference in their sex. And some people are just crude and insensitive.
Sure it can be rough breaking into a male-dominated field. It can be hard working in a male-dominated company. It would be great if women were equally represented in every area. But most days I'd rather just concentrate on doing my job as well as I can.
But I do know that I'm "bad" at actively supporting women in technology and I like work to improve on that. So I make sure that I spend time recognizing and appreciating what women can and have accomplished.
One of the ways I do this is by attending conferences geared toward women. They open me up to the accomplishments of other women, expose me to great female speakers and give me a chance to learn about the challenges and successes faced by many in their professional lives.
Last week, I attended the conference put on by the Professional BusinessWomen of California, at the Moscone center in San Francisco. This was my first time attending this event and I was impressed with the number of women in attendance and the quality of the content and speakers.
While not technology focused, the sessions were inspiring and informational to women in any field. Using Gender Intelligence to Build Credibilty, Balancing Your Life in Your "War Zones" and Negotiating With Confidence were just some of the topics covered.
Another annual conference that I've attended and mentioned before is She's Geeky. Usually held over a weekend, this event brings to together women who have interests in STEM fields to network and talk about the things that interest them. It's a great opportunity to learn something novel or try your hand at running a session of your own.
Check out their websites and watch for upcoming events. You'll probably be impressed - I always am.
Also, if you'll be at TechEd in Orlando this year, reach out to Jessica DeVita of UberGeekGirl. She has some great ideas around bring women together to mentor other women. Check out her recent blog post about what she'd like to accomplish.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
For Some of Those Women in Tech...
You might want to check out the Women Who Tech Teleconference, which is taking place via phone/web on May 23rd. For a nominal fee, you can attend several panel discussions revolving around programming/development and entrepreneurship.
The topic list isn't geared toward "Women Who SysAdmin", but I might find myself there just to check out the discussion on Digital Rights and Online Privacy. One of the panelist is Kaliya Hamlin, the founder of She’s Geeky, which is a favorite conference of mine for women.
So check it out and see if it's up your alley!
The topic list isn't geared toward "Women Who SysAdmin", but I might find myself there just to check out the discussion on Digital Rights and Online Privacy. One of the panelist is Kaliya Hamlin, the founder of She’s Geeky, which is a favorite conference of mine for women.
So check it out and see if it's up your alley!
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Joys of "She’s Geeky" Bay Area #5
Oh, how time files and I've spent another weekend with the women inspired to attend She's Geeky - Bay Area #5 (http://www.shesgeeky.org/). Appropriately held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, my Friday morning began with an impromptu "around the water cooler" session at a common area table.
That's the cool thing about She's Geeky, or probably any unConference you might attend. If you aren't interested in a session that is scheduled for a time frame, it's pretty easy to find someone else in the same situation and have a great conversation anyway. And if there is something you are dying to talk about, it's totally within your power to announce it, pick a time slot and make it happen.
Your session might be packed, or you might find yourself in a great brainstorming session with another woman or two. Whatever the outcome it was the outcome that was meant to be. Jessica DeVita https://twitter.com/#!/UberGeekGirl) and I hosted a session on Disaster Recovery. We didn't have much of a plan going into it, but once we were joined by two other women, we spent an hour talking about all different things that need to be consider when protecting your important data and paperwork at home or a work. I think the purchase of some waterproof paper might be in my future.
And it's not all about what interest you in the here and now, or what you are working on at the office. You can also tap into the geeky interests of others to learn a new skill or get a taste of a completely different hobby.
On Saturday, I sat in on a hands-on session where I learned to solder. Not something I'll need everyday, but it was fun to do something new and you never know when you might have to break out some solder for a home repair. I'm certainly not an expert after one resistor, but now the tools and concepts aren't completely foreign to me.
As the weekend came to a close, I also enjoyed a fun lunchtime chat about Systems Administration and Operations, participated a great session on privacy and content management lead by @identitywoman, attended popular talk about dressing for success and picked up some good tips for working with cross-functional teams.
At past She's Geeky events, I've learned about wine tasting and had the opportunity to hear about the "geek factor" behind backyard bee-keeping. With all the information that is at our fingertips via the Internet, it's still very easy to find yourself in a world filtered to your liking, where you a surrounded by people with similar interests and views. She's Geeky gives you a great chance to spend an hour on something completely outside of your realm and find inspiration from other great women in science and technology fields.
She's Geeky is held annually in the Bay Area with another annually event some place else in the United States (DC, Twin Cities and New York have been past locations). Check out the website for information about the upcoming events or review some of the notes that were taken from sessions this weekend.
I’m already looking forward to next year.
That's the cool thing about She's Geeky, or probably any unConference you might attend. If you aren't interested in a session that is scheduled for a time frame, it's pretty easy to find someone else in the same situation and have a great conversation anyway. And if there is something you are dying to talk about, it's totally within your power to announce it, pick a time slot and make it happen.
Your session might be packed, or you might find yourself in a great brainstorming session with another woman or two. Whatever the outcome it was the outcome that was meant to be. Jessica DeVita https://twitter.com/#!/UberGeekGirl) and I hosted a session on Disaster Recovery. We didn't have much of a plan going into it, but once we were joined by two other women, we spent an hour talking about all different things that need to be consider when protecting your important data and paperwork at home or a work. I think the purchase of some waterproof paper might be in my future.
And it's not all about what interest you in the here and now, or what you are working on at the office. You can also tap into the geeky interests of others to learn a new skill or get a taste of a completely different hobby.
On Saturday, I sat in on a hands-on session where I learned to solder. Not something I'll need everyday, but it was fun to do something new and you never know when you might have to break out some solder for a home repair. I'm certainly not an expert after one resistor, but now the tools and concepts aren't completely foreign to me.
As the weekend came to a close, I also enjoyed a fun lunchtime chat about Systems Administration and Operations, participated a great session on privacy and content management lead by @identitywoman, attended popular talk about dressing for success and picked up some good tips for working with cross-functional teams.
At past She's Geeky events, I've learned about wine tasting and had the opportunity to hear about the "geek factor" behind backyard bee-keeping. With all the information that is at our fingertips via the Internet, it's still very easy to find yourself in a world filtered to your liking, where you a surrounded by people with similar interests and views. She's Geeky gives you a great chance to spend an hour on something completely outside of your realm and find inspiration from other great women in science and technology fields.
She's Geeky is held annually in the Bay Area with another annually event some place else in the United States (DC, Twin Cities and New York have been past locations). Check out the website for information about the upcoming events or review some of the notes that were taken from sessions this weekend.
I’m already looking forward to next year.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Start Marking Your Calendar for 2012 Events!
If you like to fill up your calendar with events geared toward the tech community or you've got some training budget lined up for 2012, look no further than some of these tried and true events that are coming up in the first half of this year. Prices vary from free to several thousand, depending on your travel needs.
Pacific IT Professionals in LA (1/24, Santa Monica, CA) - Meeting the 4th Tuesday of every month, the LA chapter of PacITPros never ceases to bring lively discussions to the table. This month, Joey Snow will be speaking on Windows 2008 R2 Migration Tools. Join and attend for free!
She's Geeky (1/27 - 1/29, Mountain View, CA) - Back in Mountain View at the Computer History Museum, She's Geeky is a great way to meet new faces in the STEM fields. This unConference give you a chance to learn from a collection of really smart women and practice your skills of leading a group session yourself if you've got a topic you'd like to share.
San Jose Tech-Security Conference (2/2, Santa Clara, CA) - I enjoyed this low cost security centered event last year when there was one held in San Francisco. This event is held in various locations during the year. So if the Bay Area isn't your home base, you are likely to find another date in your area!
Pacific IT Professionals in SF (2/7, San Francisco, CA) - Meeting the 1st Tuesday of every month, PacITPros has been bringing IT Pros together for over 20 years.
RSA Conference (2/27 - 3/2, San Francisco, CA) - A San Francisco staple, RSA never fails to disappoint. Even if you can only swing an Expo Plus pass, you'll have access to lots of informative keynotes and the large expo hall.
Security B-Sides (2/27 - 2/28, San Francisco, CA) - A free security event hosted near the Moscone center earlier in the same week of the RSA conference. A great way to complement your RSA Expo Pass!
TechDays SF (3/22 - 3/23, San Francisco, CA) - A two day event with over three dozen sessions planned covering a variety of tech topics of interest to IT Professionals.
Microsoft Management Summit (4/16 - 4/20, Las Vegas, NV) - Geared toward managing your Microsoft enterprise, MMS brings you the latest technical training for desktop and device management as well as data center and cloud technology solutions.
Microsoft TechEd (6/11 - 6/14, Orlando, FL) - As a 7 or 8 year alumni of TechEd, I always look forward to this conference. The expo hall and Technical Learning Center always provides opportunities to connect to vendors and Microsoft employees. Community areas bring MVPs, User Groups and other IT Pros together. And don't forget the crazy number of sessions you can choose from.
Pacific IT Professionals in LA (1/24, Santa Monica, CA) - Meeting the 4th Tuesday of every month, the LA chapter of PacITPros never ceases to bring lively discussions to the table. This month, Joey Snow will be speaking on Windows 2008 R2 Migration Tools. Join and attend for free!
She's Geeky (1/27 - 1/29, Mountain View, CA) - Back in Mountain View at the Computer History Museum, She's Geeky is a great way to meet new faces in the STEM fields. This unConference give you a chance to learn from a collection of really smart women and practice your skills of leading a group session yourself if you've got a topic you'd like to share.
San Jose Tech-Security Conference (2/2, Santa Clara, CA) - I enjoyed this low cost security centered event last year when there was one held in San Francisco. This event is held in various locations during the year. So if the Bay Area isn't your home base, you are likely to find another date in your area!
Pacific IT Professionals in SF (2/7, San Francisco, CA) - Meeting the 1st Tuesday of every month, PacITPros has been bringing IT Pros together for over 20 years.
RSA Conference (2/27 - 3/2, San Francisco, CA) - A San Francisco staple, RSA never fails to disappoint. Even if you can only swing an Expo Plus pass, you'll have access to lots of informative keynotes and the large expo hall.
Security B-Sides (2/27 - 2/28, San Francisco, CA) - A free security event hosted near the Moscone center earlier in the same week of the RSA conference. A great way to complement your RSA Expo Pass!
TechDays SF (3/22 - 3/23, San Francisco, CA) - A two day event with over three dozen sessions planned covering a variety of tech topics of interest to IT Professionals.
Microsoft Management Summit (4/16 - 4/20, Las Vegas, NV) - Geared toward managing your Microsoft enterprise, MMS brings you the latest technical training for desktop and device management as well as data center and cloud technology solutions.
Microsoft TechEd (6/11 - 6/14, Orlando, FL) - As a 7 or 8 year alumni of TechEd, I always look forward to this conference. The expo hall and Technical Learning Center always provides opportunities to connect to vendors and Microsoft employees. Community areas bring MVPs, User Groups and other IT Pros together. And don't forget the crazy number of sessions you can choose from.
Monday, January 31, 2011
And With That, She's Geeky Bay Area #4 Ends...
I had a fabulous time at She's Geeky again this year. Just like last year in Mountain View, it was a great chance to experience the various kinds of geekiness that bringing over 150 women together in a room generates. I hosted a small session about Systems Administration on the last day and spent the rest of the conference enjoying sessions on things like cyber identity issues, open source standards creation, "being present" while juggling new mobile technologies and wine tasting. (Hey, there are many kinds of geekdoms!)
The next She's Geeky will be held in Washington DC, so if you or someone you know is in the area (and happens to be a geeky woman), I totally recommend attending at least one of the days. Personally I go to all of them, since it's impossible to know ahead of time what each day will bring!
Finally in other news, today is the day that IANA has handed out it's last block of IPv4 address. Check out a quick post over at www.Howfunky.com that explains more.
Monday, December 20, 2010
She’s Geeky unConference – Early Bird Registration Ends 12/22
Are you a woman in an STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) field and looking to connect with other like-minded women? If so, you probably don’t want to miss the She’s Geeky unConference, especially if there is one planned for a location near you.
Starting off 2011 in San Francisco on January 28-30th, She’s Geeky will be held in the Mission, right near downtown. Score! I enjoyed the conference in Mountain View last year, but this makes it even better.
The early bird registration sale ends on Wednesday, so even if you register for all 3 days it’s a great price.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Upcoming Tech Events in 2011
Looking to fill your calendar with some free or low cost tech events in early 2011? Consider some of these:
- TechNet Events Presents: Virtualization 101 - Microsoft Evangelists will talk about the creation of the hypervisor and demonstrate usage scenaros ranging from the home user up to multinational corporations. Discussions will also include how virtualization has given rise to "the Cloud". The event is free and will be in San Francisco on 2/2/11, but check the list for dates in Los Angeles, Irvine, Denver, Portland and others locations on the west coast.
- Data Connectors Tech-Security Conferences - Just like the one-day event I attended a few weeks ago, Data Connectors will be all over the west coast in early 2011. In particular, find it in San Jose, CA on 2/10/11.
- She's Geeky unConference - For all those women who embrace their geekiness, save the date for "She's Geeky Bay Area #4" running January 28-30th.
- Register by 1/21 and snag a free Expo Only pass to the SPTechCon (The SharePoint Technology Conference) in San Francisco February 7-9th. The full event doesn't fall into the "low cost" category, but if SharePoint is your thing, you might want consider more than just the expo.
- RSA 2011 - Another one of my favorites, the "Expo Plus" pass at RSA gets you into the expo hall, the keynotes and one conference session of your choice. RSA will be at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, February 14-18th.
Plan your time well and you won't have to be in the office for much of the first quarter!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
"She's Geeky" Session Notes
I just checked back at the She's Geeky website for the conference I attended at the end of January and noticed that a good selection of the session notes have been posted. The Privacy and Identity Online session was great and there were several others that seemed like they would have been fun to participate in. I'll keep checking back, but really I'm just looking forward to the next event that's close enough for me to attend!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
She’s Geeky Conference: Days 2 & 3
This weekend I enjoyed some more great sessions at the She’s Geeky unConference. Not only was this event filled with a collection of fantastic women with a variety of tech interests that I can’t even begin to list, it was a great opportunity to learn new tips and tricks for soft skills that aren’t always high on the “geekdom” list! Practicing the “elevator pitch”, improving your speaking skills and discussing how to manage transition as tech roles evolve were some of the sessions on agenda wall today. The notes for the sessions will be posted to the She’s Geeky Wiki over the next few days and I’ll post the links to the sessions I enjoyed most when they are available.
The one thing that seemed to be missing from the weekend was other system administrators. I was excited to enjoy the experience with Jessica DeVita, the owner of UberGeekGirl, but it was a little hard to believe that out of approximately 300 registered attendees, less than .01% identified themselves as server or desktop administrators. Those that even hinted they might have done it previously didn’t even utter the word “Windows”.
Is there something about this particular area of tech that makes it even less appealing for women? Maybe that will have to be a session topic when I attend next year.
Friday, January 29, 2010
She’s Geeky: Day 1
Today I attended my first “She’s Geeky” unConference. I didn’t know what to expect, but after today I highly recommend checking it out if you are a woman who works in technology (or mention it to a woman you know in the math, science or tech fields).
Lots of women were willing to talk about the areas that interested them in technology, so the day was filled with a variety of topics ranging from using social media to “green” technology, programming and development to Internet privacy and identity. (I even managed to make some time to present an overview of Windows 7!)
The privacy and identity talk was lively and full of ideas about one’s online identity(s) and how managing those can be different for women for a variety of reasons. Managing online privacy is only going to get more important as data continues to be collected, stored and mined, regardless of gender.
Notes from all the sessions will be compiled and available online, so I’m looking forward to being able to recap what I’ve learned (or missed) at the end of the weekend. While not everyone does the same type of “tech” it was a great experience to spend the day with other women who were all passionate about whatever thing that made them “geeky”.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Who's Geeky? She is.
Happened across the She's Geeky conference while surfing around the web. "She's Geeky" is an event specifically for women interested in and/or working in the technology, math and science industries. Actually, it's an "un"conference - 3 days of geek-minded women gathered together with a daily agenda of tracks and sessions generated fresh every morning.
I'm always up for an interesting tech conference, plus it's hard to pass up an event being held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Seems like a great chance to check out the Babbage Engine, too!
I'm always up for an interesting tech conference, plus it's hard to pass up an event being held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Seems like a great chance to check out the Babbage Engine, too!
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