Archive for July, 2009
Permission for a holiday away from your goals
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
I’ve done a lot in the past year, career wise… No one could possibly accuse me of slacking.
I went through weeks at a time when I worked from the time I got home until the time I went to bed. Dinner was chosen for its quickness of preparation and subsequent quick cleanup; minutes could not be wasted.
It was worth it though: I have never grown so much skill and amassed such a collection of projects that I’m pretty proud of, as I have in the past year. This constant “home work” has been great for my career too: bview is now a site I’m proud to say I’ve worked on (even though it’s not perfect and still needs work… it’s a big site, after all!), and I can easily wack out new designs and code them up quickly. A year ago, I was okay. With all this extra side projects, I’m pretty good now.
But I’m tired of working every evening.
I know I should be working on graffed and theboxcat and finishing my redesign of safetygoat, making a new mould of safetygoat, and getting started on the multitudes of other projects I keep thinking about.
But, I finally admitted to myself that I need a break. I want my evenings back.
I want to read my Terry Pratchett books over and over. I want to watch countless episodes of CSI and My Name is Earl. I don’t want to spend time writing code, designing websites, networking, drawing, doing ANYTHING productive or work on ANYTHING that will make me better.
I feel guilty feeling this way.
But you know what, just like a holiday away from your job, I think it’s important to step away from your passions and the things you really enjoy, so that you can come back to them fresh. That way, you don’t come to resent your projects, and you do them properly.
Until next week, safetygoat’ll be off after-work holidays and back at it. See you then!
safetygoat is on holidays!
Rant about the “tech girl”
Monday, July 13th, 2009
I just watched this talk from Adriana Gascoigne, who is the creator of Girls in Tech. She’s very charismatic and a good speaker, but I think the facts that she presented were the wrong ones. I knew what she was fundamentally trying to say, but her figures didn’t say it, and talking to a predominantly (tech) male audience, they didn’t mean anything. She forgot that…
The disparity between the sexes is old news.
I’m really torn between those that are saying, “Women in tech aren’t getting the recognition, there’s only 8 women that are hear of fortune 500 companies… blah blah” and the other side that says, “Sorry, but there just aren’t as many women in tech, and proportionately the same amount that are doing anything really amazing.” I don’t want to hear mediocre women speaking about mediocre things. I want experts, same as everyone else.
It’s something brought up so often, but I still find myself wondering about it. We’ve beaten this topic to death, but why do we keep bringing it up? Because we’re still lonely, us girls in tech.
We’re just oh so lonely. And, frankly, it’s kinda embarrassing.
Where are you, ladies?
The question is, why aren’t there many women in tech?
While I consider myself a designer first, I do spend 80% of my life coding these days, so I guess I’m a tech girl, and my two closest tech girl friends here in London are probably the most fierce, competitive, self-starting, and definitely intelligent ladies, but also developers. No one would call any of us timid. Is this lack of traditional “girliness” a requirement for these lonely female developers? First thought, maybe, but that’s not it, I’m sure of it.
Me and my nerds, nerding it up at the firefox 3 launch party
Something scary about being surrounded by men?
Fact: if you’re in tech, you’re going to be surrounded by guys. Is that why there aren’t more girls in tech?
No, because the guys in tech are very open to having girls around. They WANT there to be more talented girls in tech (well, most of them… there’s always a few haters).
Most teams don’t want to be all sausage, and often a sole girl will have a bit of an advantage over an interview with a similarily qualified male competitor. (note: I hate the idea of a girl getting a job just because she’s a girl– I am very hard on my female techs: they better be at least as good as their competitors. None of this, “Oh, we need to get the male/female ratio right” bullshit.)
But it’s ALL men. My work is 5 guys and me. My graphic design course in highschool (to learn photoshop/illustrator) was 22 guys, and 2 girls, and most other start-up tech teams I’ve met have been predominantly male (with a token female every once and a while). If, as a girl in tech, you’d like a bit of female companionship, you’re going to be well out of luck. If you’re not a confident lady, it’s not easy being amongst all men, no matter how nice everyone on the team is.
At barcamplondon... spot the girl, almost like a where's waldo!
Why haven’t more girls gone into tech?
I’m really not sure, but I think it has a lot to do with nerdiness.
There doesn’t seem to be the same high level of awkward girl nerds around as there is for guys (not saying that all tech are awkward, but we definitely are nerds!). And to be really good, you have got to be a full on, hardcore nerd since you were 12 years old.
My friend Margaret, a java developer, told me that she used to fix the computer for the teacher when she was in primary school. She was excellent at math. I was always in the top of my math classes in primary school and high school. I spent HOURS on our Mac LC3, reorganizing, designing, learning new applications, creating clubs, designing newsletters.
I asked a few of my dev guy friends what they wanted to be when they grew up, and many have said, “I’ve always wanted to do something with computers.”
Everyone around is touting about becoming an expert taking 10,000 hours. Coincidence that these guys have been honing their skills in every possible moment of spare time since they were pre-pubescent? I doubt it.
These guys, and the token female nerd, definitely have an advantage over those people that only decide to do computers in university. Growing up, none of my girl friends liked computers that much. Why? Because they were nerdy, possibly. I know I did, but then again, I was a huge nerd. Complete with glasses and a mushroom haircut.
Guess which one is me!
Computers are a lot cooler than they have been in the past, so maybe this will start changing. I hope so, because then I will be on the cutting edge of cool.
It’s a man’s world
I love computers. I love design. I love learning new stuff. But, as much as we don’t want to admit it, I’m a girl in a guy’s world. It was not built for me, and because it was built by enthusiasm, and continues to move fast, it’s still predominantly built by guys. Should that matter? No. Does it make a difference? Sure. A great rugby player who joins in a soccer match will have to adjust to a very different game, same as a guy who becomes a stay at home dad. It’s not his world. I don’t mind: I think they’ve built it very well, but maybe that’s a barrier to some of these girls getting their feet wet.
Women are supposed to be fantastic at languages, and while we’re on the sexual stereotypes, they’re also great communicators. What is a computer built on? A language. In my high school, the girls were equally good at math and science as the guys. Where’s the barrier to going into computers?
Side note: I hate the “girl in tech” winers
I really hate them. Just because you’re a girl in tech doesn’t mean you should get recognition. Just because you’re the only one you know doesn’t mean you should get some award. Sure, it’s difficult not having the same-sex companionship and community, but I’m tired of seeing mediocre design and dev girls wondering why they’re not rock stars. Or, the mediocre dev girls that become rockstars because everyone feels like they have this obligation to have equal opportunity. I don’t want to hear about your mediocrity.
And as much as the guys want some eye candy around, I’m sick of mediocre devs/design girls becoming popular just because they’re gorgeous.
Okay, maybe I’m just jealous.
But, I love being a girl in tech
First and foremost, I love all the guys I’ve worked with. They have been so supportive, encouraging, and, while sometimes harsh, have always done it in a way that makes me continually improve. I think being a girl on the team, and especially since I’m an outgoing one, adds a good balance and fun that they wouldn’t have without me. Of course, they may think differently….(but I’m sure they’re too scared of me to tell me! hahaha!).
Joining the team
I’ve joined some women in tech groups (there are LOADS of them, for design and for dev). So far, I haven’t seen them making much progress in getting publicity. Maybe that will change, but right now, it’s pretty much a love-in for ladies scratching their heads wondering why they’re not getting results. Hopefully my membership will become more useful as the number of talented ladies increases. If any of us does become famous, I just hope it’s not just because we’re a girl though.
Is it a bad thing to use your lady status?
Sometimes I really wish I weren’t judged on being a girl. But you know what, I am one. Saying ‘people shouldn’t judge’ is a complete cop-out that takes reality and chooses to ignore it. Sometimes being a girl is a disadvantage, but I also believe that you use everything in your arsenal to your advantage. Standing out is the only way to get ahead, and I plan on doing it morally but smartly. I’m a decent designer, but definitely not the best, and definitely not within the top 1% (maybe top 5%… there are a lot of crappy designers out there!). In the world of women though, I’m pretty darn good. In the whole field, I wouldn’t be noticed as easily if I were a guy. This doesn’t mean I think I deserve this extra publicity, but I’m going to take it. You know what, I’m going to take every advantage that I can. And when I launch an app that I have lovingly crafted, that I get 3% more traffic because I’m a girl in tech, well, I’ll take the gender divide to my advantage, thank you!
Someone wants to give me a little bit extra because I’m a girl? Is that bad? I don’t think so, because I’m definitely not coasting on it, and in all honesty, it’s really not giving me that much extra. No one could say that I’m not hungry to get better, to create constantly, and it’d be difficult to hold people’s attention without substance.
And you know what, if I get really good (which I plan on doing), I will definitely become a mentor. I wish there had been a lady around to mentor me. We ladies like to have mentors.
Then maybe we can stop talking about this, and just get on with it!
Graffed: a tool for tracking body measurements
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
The best apps, I think, are built by the people that really want to use it.
I always thought that the scales weren’t the best way to record losing weight and gaining muscle. I wanted to lose weight in my stomach, but I wanted to gain muscle too. I’m not really overweight, just the wrong shape.
A few sites would let you record measurements, but I wanted to see the measurements on an actual body as well.
So, with the help and expertise of Dan Wichett as developer, we created graffed!
What is it?
It’s basically a simple tool to track body measurements over time. You can compare any date to your goal body shape.
Why?
Honestly, I’ve loved recording my body measurements since I was about 16 or so. I haven’t got any eating disorders or anything, I just liked having a record of how my body changed as I did more exercise (and unfortunately, how cruel these past 10 years of beer and laziness has done to me!). It was fun making the charts, but there was something sloppy about doing it by hand. After all, I’m a web designer– surely I could come up with a better way to do this!
The process
I went through many many iterations of the design and the functionality, and then just hacked it all back so that the app only did the one thing: record body measurements. I also spent a few weeks working on the branding. I’ll probably go through a bit more on those processes later. Coming up with a good name, and making it memorable were very important to me!
The biggest job was to get the bodies working smoothly, and this was done in flex, and done manually. Occasionally I thought my head would explode from the math. This process is far from done, but in “Getting Real” style, it was time to get people starting using the app, so that I can get the usability absolutely perfect. Maybe we’ll even discover a better way to do it!
Let me know what you think!
We’re still putting the finishing polish on things (I hate the concept of beta, especially when companies stay in it for YEARS, but we really are in beta here)– some things still aren’t working as smoothly as I’d like, but it’s time for you to tell me how you’re using it, and what you like and mostly what doesn’t quite work how you’d expect!
For the next few weeks, we’re letting people upgrade for free, so I’d be especially keen to hear how you think all that is working. Thanks in advance for your feedback! Go to graffed!
