Artificial Intelligence

Metal Toad Hosts Women Who Hack

On Sunday, we welcomed Women Who Hack, a monthly gathering "for women who want to hack on projects with or around other women.


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On Sunday, we welcomed Women Who Hack, a monthly gathering "for women who want to hack on projects with or around other women. All types of projects (software and hardware), languages, platforms and experience levels are welcome."

I've been attending this event off and on for the past six months and it's always a great group of women with all levels of knowledge, doing interesting things. I was excited to welcome them to my home turf.

A total of fourteen women showed up, ranging in age from thirteen to, well, older than that. There were experienced coders and women looking to learn and break into the tech field. Once critical mass is reached, we generally do introductions and share what we're working on so that people working on similar projects can collaborate if they wish.

The projects included everything from Android development, (avoiding) Scala homework, Python, Ruby and Drupal. The atmosphere ebbs and flows from quiet productivity to occasional derailing into looking at cat photos. (Honestly, what web focused activity *doesn't* derail into looking at cat photos at some point?).

More experienced programmers pair up with others looking for code reviews.

Development was fueled by pizza (vegan, gluten free, and meat-centric in true Portland style), coffee and a vegan chocolate cake that I baked for the occasion which was a hit with the vegans and non-vegans alike.

If you're a woman and you like to code or want to learn, checkout the Women Who Hack site for details on upcoming meetings and information on joining the mailing list. The day of the meeting can vary from month to month, but you can also watch Calagator for upcoming meetings. Kudos to Christie Koehler and Stumptown Syndicate for founding this event and keeping it going. The venue changes periodically as well.

As the only female developer at Metal Toad (so far...we're hiring!), it was great to have a dynamic group of technical women gathered around the conference table. The event was a great success and Women Who Hack is welcome back to the Toad anytime.

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