The Code Manifesto: Empowering Our Community

THE CODE MANIFESTO
Empowering our community
CODEMANIFESTO.COM @codemanifesto

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WHOAMI
Kayla Daniels

@kayladnls

PHP Developer

Mommy

Foodie


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WHAT TO EXPECT?
• Community, equality, diversity, respect.

• What’s the problem?

• Why does it matter?

• What can I do?

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WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

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— Kayla Daniels, Laracon NY, 2014
“The industry I work in is not the industry I want to
work in.”

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IN A NUTSHELL
Our industry is grossly lacking in diversity.

!
The minority members in our communities

are often ﬁltered out through disrespect

or overt aggression.

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IT’S TWO FOLD.
• Pipeline

• Culture
Lacking
Diversity
Being
Filtered
Out

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PIPELINE

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“Figures from the Computing Research
Association Taulbee Survey indicate that less than
12% of Computer Science bachelor's
degrees were awarded to women at US PhD-
granting institutions in 2010-11.”

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TWITTER

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FACEBOOK

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GOOGLE

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APPLE

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LINKED IN

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YAHOO

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BUT, ARE THESE THE PROBLEMS,
OR THE SYMPTOMS?

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LET’S GO FARTHER BACK
LEGOS!
HOW FAR BACK?

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Legos and other building blocks help build spatial
reasoning and problem solving skills.

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We are conditioning our youth, from a very
young age, in ways that most of us don’t realize.

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CULTURE
21

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TWO KINDS OF
DISCRIMINATION

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• Disgusting, deplorable, dangerous.

• Usually easy to spot.

• Death threats, rape threats, hate speech.

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• Insidious, ingrained

• Nearly impossible to spot

• Also, difﬁcult to explain

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THINGS YOU HEAR AS

A GIRL DEVELOPER

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“You’re a developer?!

And a Girl?!

You’re a unicorn!!”

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“You’re the ﬁrst woman I’ve worked with.

I’m impressed by how

competent you are”

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“You’re a pretty good coder,
for a girl.”

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“Girl’s don’t like to solve problems.”

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“Girls make great front end
developers, because they like to make
things pretty.”

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WHY DOES IT MATTER?

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WHAT DO YOU DO FOR

A LIVING?

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WHAT WE DO, IS MAGIC.

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YEAH, MAGIC.

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• Our jobs offer more ﬂexibility than most.

• Very good pay.

• High demand.
HOW PRIVILEGED ARE WE?

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WHAT ARE WE GOING TO
TELL OUR KIDS?

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INVISIBLE MINORITIES

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I SUFFER FROM DEPRESSION AND
BI-POLAR DISORDER.
#hackTheStigma

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YOU DON’T KNOW THE STRUGGLE SOMEONE

HAD TO GO THROUGH, TO GET

WHERE THEY ARE.

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IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
• The feeling that you’re faking it.

• Any successes you have had are due to luck.

• You don’t really know what you’re doing.

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IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
• Studies show this is more prevalent and more
intense in women and persons of color.

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“WORTH IT” SCALE
PROS CONS
Magic!
Passion!
Learning!
Problem solving!
Disrespect
Exhaustion
Harassment
Self Doubt

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WOMEN LEAVE OUR INDUSTRY AT

NEARLY TWO TIMES
THE RATE OF MEN.

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WHAT CAN WE DO TO FIX IT?

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THIS IS NOT A WOMAN
PROBLEM.

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THIS IS NOT A MINORITY
PROBLEM.

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THIS IS NOT A MAN
PROBLEM.

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THIS IS AN EVERYONE
PROBLEM.

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WE ALL SUFFER FROM IT.

WE CAN ALL HELP FIX IT.

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ANTI-SOLUTIONS
• A lot like anti-patterns.

• Look or sound good.

• Don’t actually solve the problem.

• Might cause more harm than good.

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• Shiny Unicorn Syndrome

• Kiddie Gloves

• “Girl-ify” Programming.

• Quotas are bad, mmkay?
ANTI-SOLUTIONS

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YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A
MINORITY TO EMPOWER
MINORITIES.

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• Advocacy, empowerment, encouragement.

• Achieve these things through earnest
engagement, not condescension.

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THE CODE MANIFESTO

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THE CODE MANIFESTO
• Values, not actions.

• Seven values

• Two major themes: Respect, Giving back.

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DISCRIMINATION LIMITS US
#1

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• Immediately disqualifying more than half of the
population is nothing short of insane.

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This includes discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, age, nationality and any
other arbitrary exclusion of a group of people.

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BOUNDARIES HONOR US
#2

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• Boundaries are healthy, and everyone’s are
different.

• Remember that, and if brought to your
attention, heed it.

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WE ARE OUR BIGGEST ASSET
#3

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• None of us were born masters of our trade.
Each of us has been helped along the way.
Return that favor, when and where you can.

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• Write a blog

• Answer a question

• Make a screen cast

• Give a talk

• Write an open source package.

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WE ARE RESOURCES FOR THE
FUTURE
#4

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• Be mindful that you are the role models of
tomorrow.

• Make yourself a resource to help those that
come after you.

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RESPECT DEFINES US.
#5

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• Treat others as you wish to be treated.

• Make your discussions, criticisms and debates
from a position of respectfulness.

• Ask yourself, is it true? Is it necessary? Is it
constructive?

• Anything less is untolerated.

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REACTIONS REQUIRE GRACE
#6

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OKAY
• Curiosity

• Passion

• Love for what you do

• Taylor Otwell Fandom
—(thank you, @cityzenllc)

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NOT OKAY
• Hate

• Anger

• BURN IT WITH FIRE

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• Some mistakes are just mistakes.

• We all need to be able to make mistakes.

• Hatred rarely inspires growth.

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#7
OPINIONS ARE JUST THAT:
OPINIONS

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• Contributed by @artisangoose

• “…encourages an environment where people
understand that every person is different, in
more ways than one.”

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SUPPORTING THE CODE
MANIFESTO ISN’T ENOUGH.

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LIVE IT. REMEMBER IT.

KEEP IT TOP OF MIND.

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The Code Manifesto: Empowering Our Community

The Code Manifesto: Empowering Our Community

Kayla Daniels

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