It's All Geek to Me

It’s All Geek to Me

Kathryn McClintockFrontend Drupal Developer

@kccmcck

Class of ‘07

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

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4

5

6

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

What is Drupal?• Content management system

• Open source software, free to download and build upon

• Built and maintained by a worldwide community

• Platform powering millions of websites and applications

Built with Drupal

• Translates static designs into markup

• Design in browser

• Write scalable code

• Build responsive websites

• Perform cross-browser, cross-platform, & cross-device testing

• (always!) Research new technologies

Frontend Development?What is

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

A Bit About Me• Fell in love with websites my 8th grade year

• Obsessed over typography and learning HTML

• Built first client website using Microsoft FrontPage

• Webmaster for sorority website during college

A Bit About Me• Introduced to Drupal at Rackspace

• In 2008, joined a Drupal-exclusive web design + development agency in Boerne, TX

• 3.5 years ago, found Amazee Labs

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

The A-Team 2011

The A-Team Today

+ Amazee Metrics

The tech industry is a great field for travel.

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

Being female is the story.

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“I’m also very good at my job, and as a technologist, I want to be recognized for that

and not because I have breasts.”

WiT initiatives have gone awry.

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–Lea Verou

“I believe [female-only events] cultivate the notion that women are these weak beings who find their

male colleagues too intimidating. That they need an isolated female-only environment to feel “safe” in

and thrive. As a woman, I find it insulting and patronizing to be viewed that way.”

Female-only Events

–Lea Verou

“If somebody is a good role model, they’re a good role model for everyone, regardless of gender.”

Female Role Models

Women are quitting.3

It’s the culture.4

What is “Bro Culture”?

• Hack-a-thons

• Beer

• Booth babes

• T-shirts

• Legos

• Video games

• Ping pong tables

• Apple Fanboy

• Rockstar

• etc…

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

Impostor Syndrome1

Impostor syndrome describes a situation where someone feels like an impostor or fraud because they think that their accomplishments are nowhere near as

good as those of the people around them. Usually, their accomplishments are just as good, and the person is

applying an unfairly high standard to themself (and not to others). It's especially common in fields where

people's work is constantly under review by talented peers, such as academia or Open Source Software.

“Wait, you’re the developer and

he’s the designer?”

2

- everyone

I’ll never be “one of the bros.”

3

OverviewDrupal & Frontend, explained

My journey to Amazee Labs

Working for a Swiss agency

Findings on Women in Tech

Being female in the web industry

Ideas on increasing gender diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

NO WAY!

Make computer science part of core curriculum.

Allow flexible work schedules.

Start early.

Appeal to women.

Actively recruit and hire women.

Assert yourself.

Thank you!

kathryn@amazeelabs.com

@kccmcck