I have heard the question above asked many times over the last six years. We are always talking about how we need to reach younger women and girls and present them with role models who can inspire them to pursue a technical career. What I love about our upcoming Voices conference is that it will offer women an opportunity to share their conference experience with their daughters and other young women both while it is happening and for a month afterwards in the comfort of their own homes. Many times at in person conferences I've heard women say I wish I could have brought my daughter. With this event you can.
I’ve had several women tell me that part of their plan is to watch sessions with their daughters so they can see amazing technical women and help them ask questions. Women of all ages and nationalities will be speaking at Voices and during the live sessions you will be able to ask your questions to the speakers directly. Not only will they learn about technology but also what you can do with that technology. What an amazing opportunity for mother and daughter together to share inspiration and learning. And don’t forget, you can have your sons and husband sit in with you as well. And unlike going to the movies there will be 30 hours of content to share, not two hours. In addition, I’ve had mothers of college age daughters tell me they were buying their daughters a tickets so they can watch from their dorm rooms. And one amazing woman has offered to sponsor 20 young women that she has been mentoring so they can share the experience as well. So take some time and think about ways you can engage young women and girls in the Voices conference. Come share the inspiration on International Women's Day. The technical women of the future are our daughters, our nieces, our god daughters and our granddaughters.
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World Class Professional Development. The top women in the field of professional development for technical women are graciously providing thought-provoking sessions at Voices! Topics such as "Both Hands on the Steering Wheel: Turning a Breakdown into a Breakthrough" by the popular Barbara Fittipaldi, "Inner Success Inner Critics: Taming Success While Taming Inner Critics" by Stacey Sargent, a popular speaker at many global tech companies and "Resiliency Undefined" by Jo Miller who is always the favorite at conferences such as the Grace Hopper Celebration. Women and Men Talking Tech. Sessions include "What Happens if the Cloud Bursts?", "FOSS in Africa", "How Can a Woman be Very Successful in Testing?", "What is Takes to Build a Software Defined Data Center" and "<Shrink> that Big Data". There will also be regional, national and international discussions on technical trends around the globe. 30 Hours of Content Featuring Women Around the World. Women will be presenting from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, India, Ghana, Lebanon, India, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and others added daily to the conference program talking about issues important to them on a regional, national and international level. In understanding the challenges and best practices of technical women around the world sheds new light, ideas and solutions to your own interests. No Travel Budget Required - Zero Planes, Hotels or Time Away from the Office. We know you probably have budget to attend one technical conference a year, if you are lucky, and it probably lacks a lot of important content that would help you grow personally and professionally. This conference is coming to YOU wherever you are! If you miss a live session they will be recorded for viewing up to one month after the conclusion of the event. The cost for 30 hours of sessions and access to all recordings for one month is only $20 USD. International payments are accepted. Lend Your Voice to this New Global Movement. This is the beginning of something new. We are building an organization and a conference that will provide compelling programs, connections and resources to technical women around the world. If this is something you care about and want to contribute to we hope you will join us at Voices and beyond. Join us on Facebook,LinkedIn, Twitter (#GTW13) and sign-up for our newsletter. Let your colleagues and your network know this is important to you and to technical women everywhere. Together, we can change the world for all of us. Please join the global conversation, register now. We look forward to seeing you on International Women's Day! The Global Tech Women Team For 6 years I ran the largest physical conference for women in computing in the world called the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing located in the United States. I was also the conference founder for the Grace Hopper conference in India. I was often asked by technical women all over the world - places like Raleigh, Pune, and Kuala Lumpur - what I could do for them - how could I give them access to this conference and the community if they could not attend this annual event? I never had a good answer for them unless they could fly to the conference, take the time off of work, and pay the expensive travel and conference fees. It was very frustrating. About 4000 women attend Grace Hopper each year but hundreds of thousands globally can't attend. Now there is a community and a conference offering everyone access, visibility and connection no matter where a technical woman lives on this planet. In April 2012, a new organization launched, Global Tech Women, whose mission is to create a global network of connected, inspired and self-actualized technical women. My friend and former colleague, Jerri Barrett has joined Global Tech Women as our CMO and together we are reaching out to women around the world to create a global network of technical women, partners and organizations who share this vision. We are holding a global virtual conference the week of International Women's Day - March 8th called Voices. We are starting in New Zealand and working our way around the world holding sessions from women in every region to talk about cool technology, topics of interest to the technical women's community and to offer ideas and best practices on a regional, national and international level on how we can encourage more women in technology and inspire the women in this community. www.globaltechwomen.com Since this is a new conference we are all working together with friends, partners and sponsors to find regional, national and international representatives who can discuss the latest technologies, articulate the challenges of being a technical woman, what has been done to resolve barriers, and who is involved in these conversations. We are asking women around the world to attend and to add their voice to the conversation making us all accessible and visible. I am asking for your support, to help build a conference and a community for all of us, anywhere. How can you help? Register for the conference, invite your friends, post Voices on social media, celebrate International Women's Day with us and be part of the direction for this organization. Make it your own. This is an opportunity for every woman in technology, with your support, to have access to relevant information, which in many parts of the world is difficult, providing community, inspiration and to create possibilities for connection and collaboration. This is just the beginning of something entirely new. I am excited about the possibilities and I hope you are too. Will you help? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, - Deanna Kosaraju By Jerri Barrett
In the last 25 years I have attended over 200 conferences in person. This year while working on the production of Global Tech Women's Voices Conference I am realizing advantages of attending a Virtual conference. Here are just a few of them: 1. No Travel expenses: Travel to an in person conference can range from $100 (for parking and gas) to 1000's of dollars for international conferences (airfare, hotel, meals, transportation). Consider the advantage of a conference where the farthest you have to travel is your computer. 2. No Time Away from the Office: The other disadvantage of in person conferences is the travel time required going to and from the conference. A virtual conference requires zero travel time, in fact you can attend from home cutting your travel time to zero. 3. Get more Content: In person conferences mean that you can only attend 1 session at a time. In the Voices virtual conference you can attend sessions live or view recordings of the sessions at a later time. And if you want to see a session a second time you can review it for up to a month after the conference. No more splitting your attention between the speaker and your notes. 4. Global Speakers: Most conferences attract speakers from the region they are located in. A truly Global Virtual conference, Voices brings together speakers from around the world. Currently we have over 10 countries represented and more coming on board every day. 5. Networking on a Global Scale: At most conferences the number of people you network with are limited to the few you meet along the way. Voices will feature networking rooms where you can easily join a global conversation. Why is networking important? You meet potential collaborators, find jobs, share ideas and learn new ways to approach technology. 6. Expand your job search globally: Organizations will be posting jobs not just in the US but from around the world in their booths. 7. Make International Women's Day a truly International Experience: Women leaders around the world are participating - learn what they are doing to impact the world. 8. $20 for Registration: I cannot remember paying less than $500 for a conference in years. The Voices Conference has been created to be affordable for every technical woman globally. Register Today! Hi all. It's Karen Catlin again. Have you watched the latest Women Talk Tech webcast by Jo Miller, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching, Inc.? The webcast entitled "Take Charge of Your Career Trajectory" is inspirational and chock full of great tips. If you haven't already seen it, be sure to check it out! In the webcast, Jo shared five elements for creating a roadmap for advancement. One of the elements is to engage with sponsors, or people who are influential in your organization or your industry. Sponsors know you well enough to advocate for you and recommend you for new opportunities. With their organizational clout, they can open doors you never knew existed. They could be the key to your career advancement. But how exactly do you get a sponsor? As Jo explained, you have to earn the respect of a sponsor. You never approach someone and ask them to be your sponsor. She made me laugh when she said, "That would be like going on a first date and asking that person to marry you." Or, as my kids would say, "Awkward!" Instead, I have some practical ideas for you to consider as you think about engaging with sponsors. I collected these from workshops and discussions I've led about sponsorship; they've helped others and I bet they'll help you. What’s in it for the sponsor? To start, let's look at why a sponsor might be interested in helping you.
As Jo told us in the webinar, you have to earn the respect of a sponsor. I believe the building blocks for earning respect are:
Previous managers and mentors often make great sponsors because they know you well. Or, a sponsor could be another leader who you respect. To engage them, ask them to sponsor specific things. For example, ask them to:
How do you thank a sponsor? Don't forget to thank your sponsor. Here are some ideas:
About Karen: Karen Catlin, a former high-tech executive, is now a leadership coach and author of "Use Your Inside Voice", a blog about the intersection of leadership and parenting. She is passionate about helping technical women have successful careers. By guest blogger: Karen Catlin I remember the day I told my boss that I was pregnant with my first child. We were having a one-on-one meeting, and my manager, Joe, presented me with an exciting opportunity: a promotion to director of quality assurance. There was a caveat: one of my main responsibilities would be to break up the department within three months, decentralizing the quality teams to report directly into the software development teams. It wasn't going to be easy, and I'd have to trust that there would be more responsibility for me to pick up after reorganizing the department. I remember smiling, saying yes to the promotion, and then explaining that I was pregnant and wanted to work part-time when I returned after my maternity leave. His response? "Cool!" With that promotion, I began a new phase of my career. I worked a reduced schedule (75%) for the next ten years, during which I had two children, learned how to be a parent in tandem with developing my leadership style, and grew my responsibilities. I was even promoted to vice president while working part-time. To this day, I am so very thankful that I was able to work reduced hours. I had more time with my kids, scheduled doctor's appointments without worrying about missing work, enrolled in parent-child education programs, and volunteered at our school. I was also pretty efficient at work, honing in on what needed to be done and steering clear of things that wouldn't make a difference. It was a winning combination for me. As you might imagine, women often ask me for advice about how to work part-time. Often it is because they are about to have a baby, but I've also heard from women who have a medical condition, want to return to school, or want to devote more time to a hobby. Here's what I tell them: * Ask if your company has an official part-time policy. Your Human Resources representative will know. If there is a policy, talk to people who have utilized it to understand their experience. * You need to ask. Chances are, your manager is not going to offer a reduced schedule without you initiating a conversation about it. * Suggest a trial period, where you work part-time for 3 or 6 months. By doing so, you give yourself time to figure out how to make things work, you send the message that you are open to feedback about the new schedule, and you give your manager peace of mind that they aren't agreeing to the schedule for the rest of your career (just in case things don't work out). The trial period also gives you an easy path back to full-time employment in case you aren't happy with the reduced schedule. * Understand your company's benefits. While you can estimate the change to your salary, don't forget to look at your entire compensation package. Some benefits may be offered only to full-time employees, some might be reduced for part-time schedules. You need to evaluate your needs and determine if you can afford the change in benefits. * Be realistic about how many hours you need to work to still have a viable role. Based on my experience in the software industry, I believe the minimum should be 24 hours/week, the ideal is 30-32. I tried working just 20 hrs/week for about a year, and I really couldn't get much beyond the basics done. All of my time was spent working on emails and in meetings, leaving me with no time to think strategically about opportunities. * Be aware of culture in designing your schedule. If your company expects employees to be available 24x7, to work evenings during crunch times, or to check emails on weekends, be sure you are doing your part. When your colleagues are working more than the 40 hours they are being paid for, you need to put in extra hours as well. I am a strong believer in part-time roles, and I've seen many successful examples in tech companies. If you think a reduced schedule could help you achieve your personal goals, I encourage you to explore it! If you already have experience working part-time, what advice do you have for others who are considering it? I look forward to hearing from you. Karen Catlin, a former high-tech executive, is now a leadership coach and author of "Use Your Inside Voice", a blog about the intersection of leadership and parenting. She is passionate about helping technical women have successful careers. Continuing to learn new things and evolve our capabilities is a critical part of every employee’s success in their organization. Many years ago I found myself corporate manager of learning and training at a telephone company. My primary goal, which aligned with one of three key corporate goals, was that all 7000 employee had to have 52 hours of learning in a year. I expected resistance to this goal but the employees loved it. I found myself working to find as many ways for the employees to get their learning books, videos, correspondence courses, and traditional classroom training. I wish we’d had an organization like Global Tech Women then.
For the past five years I have listened as technical women have shared what they want from their careers. They want the opportunity to move up in their organizations and make their lives and the lives of their families better, they want support and coaching from mentors, champions, managers and peers and they want to be treated as the highly qualified technologists that they are. Global Tech Women is taking a big step towards meeting these needs. From creating regular opportunities to learn through our webinar series and our upcoming global Voices Conference on International Women’s Day, to our platform which will provide a wide range of resources, to our creation of a global network of technical women that will provide the support, encouragement and coaching, Global Tech Women is focused on providing what technical women need to succeed. Why did I join Global Tech Women? Because I want to make this a reality and know that the many women I’ve met globally will have an organization to help connect them not only to each other but other organizations as well. We don’t expect to meet our goals by ourselves, rather we are partnering with individuals and organizations globally. I encourage everyone to join with us and share our journey. Please feel free to email me (jerri@globaltechwomen.com) and let me know what you want from your career and what resources and learning you need to make that happen. In the October 2012 edition of the Harvard Business Review, Tom Davenport and DJ Patil deemed the sexiest job of the 21st century to be “data scientist.” These individuals are responsible for manipulating Big Data at companies to glean insight and improve business operations.
These professionals are in high demand for a number of industries, from pharmaceuticals to insurance. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the demand will outstrip supply for analytical professionals by up to 190,000 in 2018, so it's a hot market to enter. Here are four tips from data experts on how to prepare for a career in data science: 1. Be Ready for the Long-Haul in Academics: Focus on obtaining undergraduate, masters and doctorates in applied mathematics, computer science, machine learning, physics, econometrics or other interrelated disciplines. Ideally, learn as much about the theory behind programming, statistical models and popular computer algorithms as possible. 2. Don’t Forget About Academia After School: Even when your educational career is over, keep in-touch with happenings within academic research. Subscribe to the academic journal of your choosing, such as the IEEE PAMI or the Journal of Machine Learning Research. 3. Work on Project Management Skills: Unlike in academia, the business world often affords a team of programmers to help with coding and development projects. As important as it will be to expertly manipulate a dataset, it will be equally important to be able to delegate tasks and manage team projects so they are completed on time and correctly. Read books on various management styles and find the method that works best for you. 4. Participate in Open-Source Projects and Coding Contests: It’s important to keep your skills sharp, as data scientists often use a wide variety of languages, tools and applications every day. To hone your skills, there are a number of web resources online (such as bigdatauniversity.com) to obtain more information on a variety of programming languages. To test your prowess in the “wild,” look for collaborative projects in web forums, or participate in data contests on websites such as Kaggle.com. Michael Koploy is an Analyst for the Software Advice website. For more in-depth information on the topic of data science careers, check out 3 Career Secrets for Aspiring Data Scientists. Link to the ACM InRoads Article Catherine Lang and I wrote on the transition of the Grace Hopper Conference from a US based conference to one focused on the needs of technical women in India. Enjoy! I would love to hear your comments.
In my previous post, I asked the question: how do you keep up with the pace of technology in your career? Global Tech Women has noticed a surge in the last few years of women (and men) that do not keep up with the pace of technology on their own time are handed early retirement packages or downsized out of their positions as the needs of the company changes. New employees with new skills are hired instead of training existing employees. Often these new workers are younger and cheaper for the organization and the organization doesn't have to train them on the new technology. The former workers lacking current skills are forced out of the marketplace. Women often take the legacy or proprietary system work because it is stable and allows for work/life flexibility so we see women leaving the field at a higher rate during this surge. There are many ways to learn new skills both online and in person but I have to say from this angle, there is little interest in this topic! Very few people seem concerned about this trend and fewer people commented on what their plan is to stay relevant. Our post on What to Wear to Work exceeded viewers by twenty-fold over this topic. I am wondering what this means. Should we focus on other things? Lynda Weinmann at Lynda.com Academics are clearly concerned about the growth or MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). The quality of an online experience versus the conventional college classroom experience is one we will be pondering for the next decade as the trend towards traditional colleges and universities going online continues, but what about people who have graduated? Since my last post, Women 2.0 has developed an extensive list of areas to advance your knowledge entitled: How to Become a Femgineer? In the comment section a couple of women posted more alternatives. Another resource I hear often is Lynda.com which was started by a woman. Many organization who pay for their employees ongoing training use Lynda.com and their class list is quite extensive but they do have a membership fee. If you can't find what you are looking for at no charge, this might be an option for you. What are your thoughts? How important and how much time do you spend staying relevant? -Deanna Kosaraju |
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