The conversation around imposter syndrome often incorrectly places the burden of fixing systemic issues onto individual women.
A personal interview story illustrates how obscure technical trivia is used to gatekeep, reinforcing the harmful stereotype of a "geek" engineer.
Great software engineering is creative problem-solving that requires valuing communication, collaboration, and planning skills equally with coding ability.
A limited view of engineering talent contributes to the diversity deficit and drives experienced women out of technical roles into other fields.
Contrasting an idealized workflow with a realistic one shows how projects fail due to poor requirement gathering and a lack of communication, not technical incompetence.
Effective software development involves a full cycle of problem definition, idea generation, evaluation, planning, and stakeholder buy-in, not just implementation.
The Basadur profile identifies four styles of problem-solving—generator, conceptualizer, optimizer, and implementer—that are all crucial for team success.
While different problem-solving styles like generators and optimizers can create friction, combining their strengths leads to more robust and well-thought-out solutions.
Technical ability should be recognized across all problem-solving styles, such as the ability to generate novel solutions like inventing GraphQL without prior knowledge.
A guided Miro board activity helps participants identify their own preferred problem-solving archetype within the four-quadrant model.
Participants use a Miro board to share what motivates them in tech and identify valuable strengths that are often overlooked in the industry.
A review of the collaborative board reveals key undervalued skills like empathy and "glue work" and common frustrations with ego and bro culture.
An HR representative shares how their company supports women through internal networking communities and dedicated events like a "women's week."
57:08Eleanor Rumsey
59:00Ixchel Ruiz
30:34Brenda Romero
21:13Anna John
54:36Evelyn Forstner
30:38Anna Leushchenko
58:44Joana Simoes
52:36Jo Franchetti
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Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.
IMC Inc
Chicago, United States of America
Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC
Irving, United States of America
