practical advice for
establishing your
engineering career
Liz Abinante
@feministy
Slide 2
Slide 2 text
hello!
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
i don’t know everything.
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
i don’t know
a lot.
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
here is what i do
know…
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
this shit is really, really
hard.
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
the same advice doesn’t
work for everyone.
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
do the things that make
the most sense for you.
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
my story
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
age 7
typing
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
age 12
building websites
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
age 15
blogging & designing
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
age 19
profit… kinda
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
age 26
building web apps
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
OMG THE
INTERNET
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
age 26
first engineering job
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
my first year
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
5 conference talks
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
1 conference panel
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
mentor lots of new
developers
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
organize & attend ~40
meetups
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
education leader
gdi chicago
Slide 23
Slide 23 text
rails girls summer of code
coach
Slide 24
Slide 24 text
learn 3 javascript
frameworks
Slide 25
Slide 25 text
make ~2,000 commits
Slide 26
Slide 26 text
OMG TOO MUCH
WANT TO DIE :(
Slide 27
Slide 27 text
1 burn out
Slide 28
Slide 28 text
seriously.
don’t do this.
Slide 29
Slide 29 text
i did all of this because
people told me i had to if
i wanted to grow my
career.
Slide 30
Slide 30 text
their advice
Slide 31
Slide 31 text
speak at conferences!
Slide 32
Slide 32 text
speak at conferences!
introvert? oh, that’s easy!
just come out of your shell!
Slide 33
Slide 33 text
contribute to open source!
Slide 34
Slide 34 text
contribute to open source!
be excellent to each other!
all contributions welcome!
(but we will judge the shit out of you)
(and possibly harass you)
ethics of free labor be damned!
Slide 35
Slide 35 text
be public!
use twitter!
Slide 36
Slide 36 text
trigger warning
Slide 37
Slide 37 text
be public!
use twitter!
twitter is great…
if you ignore the
mansplaining
harassment
doxxing
stalking
rape & death threats
trigger warnings
racism
sexism
TERFs
transphobia
Slide 38
Slide 38 text
write blog posts!
Slide 39
Slide 39 text
write blog posts!
don’t feed the trolls!
NEVER READ THE COMMENTS!
Slide 40
Slide 40 text
answer questions on stack
overflow!
Slide 41
Slide 41 text
answer questions on stack
overflow!
we promise it’s a ~safe space~
Slide 42
Slide 42 text
attend every meetup!
Slide 43
Slide 43 text
attend every meetup!
we promise it’s a ~safe space~
we have a code of conduct
and NEVER ENFORCED IT because we are all excellent to each other!
Slide 44
Slide 44 text
introduce yourself to
everyone at all of the
meetups you attend!
Slide 45
Slide 45 text
introduce yourself to
everyone at all of the
meetups you attend!
even if we’re staring at your ass
we promise it’s a respectful stare!
Slide 46
Slide 46 text
learn a new programming
language!
Slide 47
Slide 47 text
learn a new programming
language!
prove you’re a REAL ENGINEER
network
work with your friends
whenever you can, and invite
new people to join
Slide 134
Slide 134 text
network
introduce new friends to
your social circle
Slide 135
Slide 135 text
network
start a small, informal hack
night, discussion, or forum
Slide 136
Slide 136 text
network
contribute to a friend-of-a-
friend’s project
Slide 137
Slide 137 text
network
create irc or slack channels
and invite all your cool new
friends
Slide 138
Slide 138 text
network
nepotism
Slide 139
Slide 139 text
“If you and your friends are in the
same field and you can collaborate
with each other, do this without
shame. Men invented nepotism and
practically live by it. It’s ok for
women to do it too.”
- Roxane Gay, “Bad Feminist”