Likes & Launch

caterpillarcowboy:

Whitney Hess is concerned about how “the vast majority of those who [are] on display are selling, not making.” 

My thoughts:

I think companies, especially startups, need to hire the best person they can find for the position. I think male or female should not make a difference. I think what will make a difference is having more women educated in Computer Science and Technical roles. I love what Girl Develop IT is doing to break down barriers for women who want to learn to code.

I do think more needs to be done at a younger level to really change the tech industry down the road. Computer Science Barbie is a start. I also love what the Wii, iPhone/iPod/iPad and NintendoDS have done. By putting more gender neutral technology in front of girls they’re getting more comfortable with technology from the start. (I know it’s a stereotype but I think most young girls would rather play a multi-player adventure game than a single player kills all game).

As a woman already started in my career, and the female co-founding half of gtrot, I like seeing other women in the field. There are so many women in tech that have made my experience easier and I’m pretty confident all of this discussion of ‘women in tech’ will make more women step out, more women get interested in the field and more fathers & mothers telling their daughters to at least consider technology as a career.

On another note, I think Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook and Marissa Mayer of Google are great women to look up to. What’s even better, Vogue’s piece this spring on Sandberg is putting female leadership on the pedestal to a huge audience. By making leading technical women mainstream –more will want to get in.

Thank you! Just by posting this I’ve learned about more startups, more women founders and more people I want to connect with.