Practical Advice for Establishing Your Engineering Career

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practical advice for establishing your engineering career Liz Abinante @feministy

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preface

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this shit is really, really hard.

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the same advice doesn’t work for everyone.

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do the things that make the most sense for you.

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my story

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age 7 typing

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age 12 building websites

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age 15 blogging & designing

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age 19 proﬁt… kinda

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age 26 building web apps

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OMG THE INTERNET

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age 26 ﬁrst engineering job

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my ﬁrst year

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5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups

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5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups

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5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups

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5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups

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girl develop it chicago education leader

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rails girls summer of code coach

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learn 3 javascript frameworks

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make ~2,000 commits

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OMG TOO MUCH WANT TO DIE :(

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1 burn out literally me

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seriously. don’t do this.

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i did all of this because people told me i had to if i wanted to grow my career.

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their advice

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speak at conferences!

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contribute to open source!

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be public! use twitter!

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write blog posts!

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answer questions on stack overﬂow!

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attend every meetup!

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introduce yourself to everyone at all of the meetups you attend!

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learn a new programming language!

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volunteer!

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do ALLTHETHINGS!

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do ALLTHETHINGS! WHAT BURNOUT????

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their advice is a mine ﬁeld.

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their advice requires you to take risks.

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who are they?

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people with privilege who feel safe being public.

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people with and without privilege ﬁghting the ﬁght.

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people who actually like doing these things.

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you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel

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you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel unsafe

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you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel overworked

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you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel unhappy

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you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel unappreciated

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you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel inadequate

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you can follow this advice if it sounds good to you.

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it is not bad advice.

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in fact, i will give you some of the same advice.

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it simply doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s not the only path to career growth.

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my advice

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two principles

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two principles consume

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two principles consume share

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four axes

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four axes code

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four axes code knowledge

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four axes code knowledge experience

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four axes code knowledge experience network

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the things you choose to do depend a lot on the path you want your career to take

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growing on diﬀerent axes will shape your career in diﬀerent ways

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consume

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consume consuming takes time, the amount is up to you

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consume you don’t have to consume everything

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consume you don’t have to learn from toxic sources

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consume you can consume at your own speed

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consume you can consume things relevant to what you do, or completely diﬀerent

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consume you can consume in many diﬀerent ways

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consume you don’t have to be present physically to take advantage of a resource

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consume you can consume online

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consume you can consume in person

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consume you can consume alone, in a quiet dark corner with a cute ﬂuﬀy puppy

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code read the source code for everything you use

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code lurk in pull requests for things you’re interested in

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code review solutions to popular coding problems

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code compare solutions for coding problems across diﬀerent languages

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knowledge watch recorded conference talks and panels

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knowledge subscribe to technical mailing lists

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knowledge read technical blogs or books by people you like

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knowledge attend conferences, meetups, and trainings

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knowledge listen to podcasts

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experience read things by people who have come before you

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experience ask for help

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experience ask for advice

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network ask for introductions

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network turn a friend into an acquaintance

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network use resources created by friends-of-friends

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network join irc or slack channels

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share you don't have to share with anyone you don't personally know or trust

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share you don't have to share everything you do

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share you can say no to sharing

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share you don't have to be a public ﬁgure, on the internet or in person

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share you can share anonymously

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share sharing anonymously will still help you grow your career

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share sharing isn’t just to get your stuﬀ out there so you can be seen or recognized

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share sharing is also about practicing how you present yourself, your work, and your achievements to others

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share sharing will help you practice talking about your achievements when it comes time for a review at work or a new job interview

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share sharing will help you catalog your professional history and growth

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share sharing will help you ﬁnd trends in your own work

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share sharing will help you ﬁnd your strengths and weaknesses

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code publish what you can, not just what you think is “good enough”

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code pair up on projects with friends, remote or in person

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code play with things that interest you

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code revisit, refactor, and review your old code

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code document your refactoring

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knowledge write down or explain your technical decisions, processes, and ideas

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knowledge informal lunch and learns with friends and colleagues

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knowledge share ideas and work through challenges over email and irc

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knowledge conference talks, lightning talks, panels

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knowledge teach workshops

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knowledge teach a friend

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experience share your story

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experience share your mistakes

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experience mentor people you know

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network work with your friends whenever you can, and invite new people to join

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network introduce new friends to your social circle

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network start a small, informal hack night, discussion, or forum

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network contribute to a friend-of-a- friend’s project

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network create irc or slack channels and invite all your cool new friends

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ﬁnal tips

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take what works, throw out what doesn’t

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take breaks and don’t push yourself too hard

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try a new thing sometimes

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set goals

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measure progress

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reevaluate goals

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questions? slides: speakerdeck.com/feministy blog: lizabinante.com (resources, links, etc) email: me@liz.codes twitter: feministy irc: feministy