Spread Your Words with “Code Like A Girl”
I love Medium.com — I love it because of big things, like a joyful writing experience and little things like the fact that the unit of content on Medium is a “story”.
Not an article, or a post or an item.
A story.
I think that’s a powerful decision. Our lives, our relationships, our ideas — they are all built by stories. That’s why we chose to start a Medium.com publication: Code Like a Girl. Dinah Davis and I wanted to help share and amplify stories, including your stories, about Women in Technology. Through this publication we publish our own articles, but the best part is we’re also able to connect with people like you. So let us help you spread your words — your stories — about Women in Technology.
Code Like A Girl
The Women in Tech crisis is something we’ve been talking about for years. This is not a problem that is going to solve itself — so as passionate professionals in the Tech Industry we asked ourselves the most important question you can ever ask yourself about any problem: “What can I do?”
Dinah founded Code Like A Girl, which is a project that celebrates and champions how we’re redefining society’s perceptions of women in technology. With this project, we’re reclaiming the insult “like a girl” and embracing this phrase as something to be proud of.
We’ve seen amazing new stories about what it means to be #LikeAGirl, starting with the powerful ad campaign by Always. We’ve seen the myth that throwing like a girl means throwing worse than boys busted (in fact, it just means throwing faster) and we know that fighting like a girl just means you’re a hellacious bad-ass.
But what this ad, and much of the conversation that it generated, doesn’t address is the issue of girls and women and technology as a career. That is exactly what #CodeLikeAGirl is all about.
Our Mission
From the beginning, Dinah was clear about the goals she intended for Code Like A Girl and how she intended to work toward them through openness and inclusion.
Here is the Code Like A Girl mission in Dinah’s own words:
For The Girls
My mission is to inspire you to choose a career in tech. I strive to show you the endless possibilities you can achieve in tech and connect you with women who have successfully done just that with their careers in tech.
For The Women
My mission is to empower you to choose careers in tech and help you thrive. I will raise awareness around issues relating to women in tech and help connect you with other women in tech.
For The Men
There are many men out there that want to support diversity and specifically women in technology. There are many fathers that want to make sure their daughters have all careers open to them. However, they don’t always know how. If you are one of those men, my mission is to help you do that!
Spreading The Word
Dinah and I have worked in software together and through that became great friends. Part of our professional and personal relationship has been supporting each other as authors and cheering each other on as we’ve each started using Medium.com. It was natural that Dinah charged forward with bringing Code Like A Girl to Medium by starting a publication.
When Dinah asked if I’d be interested in co-editing the Code Like A Girl publication it took me about 1 second to say “Yes!”. Since then we’ve had an amazing response to the articles we’ve published and we’re deeply grateful to the many authors who have graciously shared their work through Code Like A Girl, such as Karen Schulman Dupuis with From Cat Fights to Having it All, Erin Burrell with Why every woman should become a mentor and Shirley Miao with Burnout and Recovery at a Tech Internship:
The growing success of the Code Like a Girl publication is very exciting. Together, with our authors, we’re supporting and amplifying the conversation about the changing perception of Women In Technology.
What we really need now is to to hear all about your story.
Your Voice. Your Story.
We want to hear from you. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as an author. Maybe you’re not sure what to write. Maybe you’re bursting with ideas and can’t wait to get started. No matter where you are on this spectrum, we want hear from you.
The stories we’re telling with Code Like A Girl are awesome because they share just a few things:
- They are authentic and real
- Share a single focused idea or experience about Women in Technology
- Support and collaboration with the Code Like a Girl community
That’s it! And Dinah and I want to share your awesome stories too.
That means we want to hear all about your ideas and help you choose which one to write about. We are happy to provide support and coaching throughout the writing process and we want to collaborate with you on your article. Medium.com makes this a beautiful and really fun experience.
If you’ve never written anything on Medium.com, or anywhere else, we are ready to hear from you about your idea for a story. Part of the problem we’re trying to solve is not enough voices, not enough stories about and from Women in Technology.
That’s a problem you can help solve by spreading the word through Code Like A Girl.
What To Write?
There are three kinds of articles that we publish:
Women In Technology: We publish stories that directly address diversity and the challenges women face in the tech industry, especially getting more young girls active in STEM activities. We welcome female and male contributors for this content. This is the primary focus of the Code Like A Girl publication.
Women writing about the Tech Industry: We also publish stories that are about the Tech Industry in general. These stories aren’t intended to address gender diversity through their content, but rather amplify female voices in the conversation about the tech industry.
Women writing technical articles: And we publish stories that cover technical content. These stories are also not intended to address gender diversity through content, but rather we want to amplify female voices contributing technical knowledge and commentary.
What’s Your Story?
Everyone has a story. Everyone has thousands of stories and we want to hear your stories about girls and women in technology.
I’m sure you’ve heard a story that made a difference in what you think or feel about diversity . What is the story that you want to share?
Dinah and I can’t wait to hear your idea. If you haven’t done this sort of writing before, we remember how hard it can be to get started — and we’re excited to help and support you on that journey. If you’re an experienced pro, we want to work with you to connect your story with our community and create a new joyful experience. No matter if you’ve never written an article or you’re a veteran author, we want to connect with you so we can spread your words — your stories — about Women in Technology.
Medium.com is all about the power of stories and community. We want your story to become part of the Code Like a Girl story. We started this publication because we care about Women in Technology and asked the question “What Can I Do?”.
If Women in Technology is an issue you care about and you’ve been asking yourself “What Can I Do?”, we invite you to spread your words through Code Like A Girl.
Contact Code Like A Girl at info@codelikeagirl.io.
