by, for, and about women in science, technology, engineering, & math

The Sunlight Foundation is hiring a Python/Django coder in Boston! Maybe this will be a good fit for an alumna of the Boston Python Workshop?

View the full job posting at Sunlight’s website.

• In the New York Times, four top women scientists — a physicist, a neuroscientist, a geneticist, and a cryptographer — are interviewed about the challenges they face (both the general challenges of advanced research and the specific challenges they face as women and mothers) and the strategies they’ve used in rising to the top of their respective fields.
• The DevChix blog has started a series of Q&As on its members, beginning with programmers Nola Stowe and aimee daniels.
• BetaBeat profiles 25 women with prominent roles in the New York City tech scene — and it doesn’t just include “women near tech”, as in so many similar sets of profiles, but features several coders and engineers along with businesswomen and entrepreneurs.
• A neat article at the Atlantic about Project Euler’s approach to teaching programming
• Women in business blog The Glass Hammer posts about stereotype threat; a consensus is fast emerging that this phenomenon — as the article says, “the fear of proving a negative stereotype true actually causes someone to underperform” — is one of the biggest factors keeping women underrepresented in STEM (along with the vicious cycle it forms with the shortage of role models in these fields)
• Under the Microscope has a piece about “STEMebrities” — female scientists, teachers, or fictional characters who provide geeky inspiration and serve as role models for young women and girls
• Two awards from the Anita Borg Institute accepting applications:
  • Applications for the Anita Borg Pass-it-On Awards — small grants for individual technical women to pursue projects or studies — are open until July
  • The Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award is accepting applications through October for a U.S. company
• Location-specific events in Los Angeles and Columbus:
  • In Los Angeles, there are several upcoming Python Ladies events
  • GirlDevelopIt in Columbus is looking for mentors in programming and web development

The second Boston Python Workshop filled up in less than 24 hours, awesome!

We are back with a new event, the Python Project Night: http://meetup.bostonpython.com/events/17802791/, 5:30pm – 9:30pm on Friday, May 20th at Microsoft NERD.

Come work on Python projects, get programming help, help others, and hang out. Bring your own project or work on one of the suggested projects.

The event is open to everyone of all programming experience levels, but there’s an emphasis on resources and support for beginning Python programmers. Staff from the Boston Python Workshop — a programming event for women and their friends organized by women in the Boston open source community — will be there to help work through intro material and practice projects.

A lot of great women from the Boston programming, open source, and tech communities will be there, and it’s a supportive, no-assholes-allowed environment for new programmers (and for everyone).

I hope to see some of you there!

Boston women interested in learning Python, you are invited to the second Boston Python Workshop: a project-driven introduction to Python for women and their friends. It’s a 1.5 day workshop running the evening of Friday, May 13th and all day Saturday, May 14th at HubSpot in Cambridge. It is free and organized by volunteers from the programming and open source communities in the Boston area.

This workshop is for women and their friends who have no or limited programming experience. The event is welcoming and respectful of trans women. Men are welcome as guests of women who are attending.

• See the Boston Python Meetup for the full event description and to RSVP.
• See the Workshop wiki for more information on laptop setup, lecture material, and the projects, as well as workshop logistics including parking and childcare.

Our goal is to provide a comfortable environment in which women can develop their programming skills with confidence. I hope to see some of you there!