Computer Science

Winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Women in Business and the NYC Big Book Award for Nonfiction Audiobooks. Featuring eighty interviews with women in tech, discover the opportunities they see, the challenges they face-and exactly why women in STEM are here to stay. Women belong in tech. They work in both technical and nontechnical roles. They have different backgrounds, education, and ambitions-not just moonshot product visions or CEO aspirations. They have successful careers, right alongside fulfilling outside lives and families. Despite what the oftentimes disheartening data might lead us to believe, their success stories are complex, diverse, and achievable. Alana Karen is a recognized authority on women in tech who regularly speaks at conferences and summits on leadership, DEI, and talent in technology. She is an award-winning leader who has spent over two decades in tech, including supporting billions of queries a day in her Google career. Through her work, Alana has met hundreds of women working in tech careers-and learned a lot about the realities of STEM jobs and breaking into tech. Pairing research and data with over eighty first-hand accounts, Alana takes what we think we know and systematically replaces it with what it's honestly like to join, lead, and thrive in today's top technology companies. With intimate stories, insight, and advice, this book answers questions like: How did they navigate the "likability problem" and bro culture?What skills were most critical to their success?How did they overcome obstacles like dealing with harassment?What benefits--like flexibility and financial independence--drew them to their career?How would they advise others going forward? A great career book for college students, this is the perfect graduation gift book for students interested in subjects like computer science, information technology, and coding. The welcomed support in these stories will energize longtime tech innovators and entry-level workers alike. An invaluable resource for leaders looking to improve DEI in the workplace, it demystifies what women need to succeed and stay. Women belong in tech-and we need to truly look at their stories so we can find the best ways to support each other and the generations of talent to come.

Despite decades of investment in women in STEM, and more technical women entering the workplace than ever before, the number of women in senior technical roles remains disappointing. How do we crack the code? Aiming to inspire and empower, Beating the Odds highlights real-life success stories of technical women who made it. This book explores critical turning points that make or break careers and provides tools for putting insight into action -- both for women and organizations supporting them. Beating the Odds shares the challenges and triumphs of women in STEM and the often frustrating barriers they face in the workplace. Barriers that those of us -- women and men -- who support their advancement are all too familiar with. These are the experiences, in their own words, of female engineers and scientists who beat the odds to advance to director, vice president, or C-level engineering, technical, and scientific positions. Beating the Odds puts you in the shoes of women who have risen to success in the STEM field. And, it shares strategies we've found to help technical women overcome these barriers, beat the odds, and find personal and professional success.

Is computing just for men? Are men and women suited to different careers? This collection of global perspectives challenges these commonly held western views, perpetuated as explanations for women's low participation in computing. By providing an insider look at how different cultures worldwide impact the experiences of women in computing, the book introduces readers to theories and evidence that support the need to turn to environmental factors, rather than innate potential, to understand what determines women's participation in this growing field. This wakeup call to examine the obstacles and catalysts within various cultures and environments will help those interested in improving the situation understand where they might look to make changes that could impact women's participation in their classrooms, companies, and administrations. Computer scientists, STEM educators, students of all disciplines, professionals in the tech industry, leaders in gender equity, anthropologists, and policy makers will all benefit from reading this book.

Conscious and unconscious bias, societal pressures, and discomfort with women's ambition are issues that women are confronted with in any male-dominated setting, and tech is no exception. Statistically, women are a disproportionately small percentage of the technology industry. How did we get here, what is changing, and what can future generations of women in STEM expect? In Crushing the IT Gender Bias, author Kellyn Pot'Vin-Gorman applies her two decades of experience in tech to these meaningful questions, plus many more. As a mentor and sponsor of women in the database and development communities, Pot'Vin-Gorman uses experience, visualizations of hard data, and industry interviews to describe the many challenges that women face in STEM. She then shows you how to inoculate against them. Small, positive changes like these are similar to a vaccine: they build individual immunity and thus create herd immunity to protect the most vulnerable. This shift is accomplished through increased representation of--and direct exposure to--successful role models in the industry. You'll get practical advice related to hiring practices, salary negotiations, and barriers to collaboration. After witnessing multiple female peers depart the tech world, Pot'Vin-Gorman has written Crushing the IT Gender Bias to make her voice heard and to start this necessary conversation productively so that women can thrive. Additionally, this book is for male professionals who desire to grow in their understanding and eliminate bias in their environments. Do not be content with mere survival. Read this book, practice the techniques, and, most importantly, learn how to pay it forward. By arming yourself with knowledge and facing bias head-on, you can be the meaningful change that you want to see in the tech industry. Who This Book Is For Women in any area of technology with a desire to make and lead positive change by eliminating conscious and unconscious bias along with strategically confronting the many issues facing women in a field dominated by cultural bias. The book appeals to those just starting a career through to seasoned professionals, and even to those entering the management tier. This book also welcomes men with a desire to grow in their understanding and eliminate bias in the world around them.

This book offers a critical analysis of the contemporary and global tech culture and exposes the gender bias of masculine tech ideology and stereotypes.  Is the place of 'women in tech' immovable from masculine leadership practices? And what are the cultural, social, personal and economic consequences of gender as a point of difference in the context of work in the tech sector?  Mariann Hardey examines the rise of entrepreneurial work and leadership, the contemporary urban setting of global tech work, and specifically women's place in tech clusters. The book engages with attempts by women to establish and then sustain their professional status and long-term careers, despite predatory social media trolling and inappropriate sexualized behaviour. Based on a series of commentaries from research undertaken by the author about workers located within 'tech cities' in the UK, USA and East Asia regions, the work exposes the serious problem of women's position in the industry. While this study continues to be critical of the conceits of masculine tech ideology, prejudices and stereotypes, the work contributes to recent calls to help find solutions and ways forward.

This book is fluent and systematic. The authors work through the fears and ambitions of young people new to STEM careers in the professional environment. Often, there is a lack of mentors, which leaves a young STEM practitioner exposed and doubting their own abilities. This book encourages young professionals and women in STEM careers to know that they are not alone and provides insight into their ability to deal with the stress of developing into a successful professional. Features Presents a method or vehicle to fast track young professionals and women in STEM Includes key issues that they should be aware of as they grow and develop in their education and field Describes how STEM career women are owners of their own path and provides an understanding of engineering and the business of consulting Conveys how young professionals and women in STEM can be aware of their own productivity and enjoy what they do and the career path they have selected This book is ideal for those new to the engineering, science, and consulting fields, including students in science and engineering education, administrators, libraries, those involved in leadership, organization behavior, human resources, STEM, and other areas as well.

Why is being a computer "geek" still perceived to be a masculine occupation? Why do men continue to greatly outnumber women in the high-technology industry? Since 2014, a growing number of employment discrimination lawsuits has called attention to a persistent pattern of gender discrimination in the tech world. Much has been written about the industry's failure to adequately address gender and racial inequalities, yet rarely have we gotten an intimate look inside these companies. In Geek Girls, France Winddance Twine provides the first book by a sociologist that "lifts the Silicon veil" to provide firsthand accounts of inequality and opportunity in the tech ecosystem. This work draws on close to a hundred interviews with male and female technology workers of diverse racial, ethnic, and educational backgrounds who are currently employed at tech firms such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter, and at various start-ups in the San Francisco Bay area.

"A hero's tale of what's possible when we unlock our potential, continue the search for knowledge, and draw on our lived experiences to guide us through the darkest moments."--Stacey Abrams From a Black, gay woman who broke into the boys' club of Silicon Valley comes an empowering guide to finding your voice, working your way into any room you want to be in, and achieving your own dreams. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FORTUNE In 2015, Arlan Hamilton was on food stamps and sleeping on the floor of the San Francisco airport, with nothing but an old laptop and a dream of breaking into the venture capital business. She couldn't understand why people starting companies all looked the same (White and male), and she wanted the chance to invest in the ideas and people who didn't conform to this image of how a founder is supposed to look. Hamilton had no contacts or network in Silicon Valley, no background in finance--not even a college degree. What she did have was fierce determination and the will to succeed. As much as we wish it weren't so, we still live in a world where being underrepresented often means being underestimated. But as someone who makes her living investing in high-potential founders who also happen to be female, LGBTQ, or people of color, Hamilton understands that being undervalued simply means that a big upside exists. Because even if you have to work twice as hard to get to the starting line, she says, once you are on a level playing field, you will sprint ahead.  Despite what society would have you believe, Hamilton argues, a privileged background, an influential network, and a fancy college degree are not prerequisites for success. Here she shares the hard-won wisdom she's picked up on her remarkable journey from food-stamp recipient to venture capitalist, with lessons like "The Best Music Comes from the Worst Breakups," "Let Someone Shorter Stand in Front of You," "The Dangers of Hustle Porn," and "Don't Let Anyone Drink Your Diet Coke." Along the way, she inspires us all to defy other people's expectations and to become the role models we've been looking for. Praise for It's About Damn Time "Reading Arlan Hamilton's It's About Damn Time is like having a conversation with that frank, bawdy friend who somehow always manages to make you laugh, get a little emo, and, ultimately, think about ­­the world in a different way. . . . The book is warm, witty, and unflinching in its critique of the fake meritocracy that permeates Silicon Valley."--Shondaland

It is no secret that the technical world is a male-dominated space. From the cultural belief that Computer Science is a "subject for boys," to the assumptions and discrimination women experience in the field, it can be challenging for women at every stage to thrive in tech careers.

Nevertheless, some high-performing women persist and succeed as leaders in tech despite the gender biases pitted against them. Pratima Rao Gluckman-a female leader in tech herself-embarked on a project to collect stories of the leadership journeys of such women. She wanted to know the details of these women's stories, and how they accomplished their achievements. What influenced them during their childhoods? Who were their mentors? What successes and failures did they experience? What magical ingredients helped them thrive in a male-dominated industry?

This open access book explores what makes women decide to pursue a career in male-dominated fields such as information technology (IT). It reveals how women experience gendered stereotypes but also how they bypass, negotiate, and challenge such stereotypes, reconstructing gender-technology relations in the process. Using the example of Norway to illuminate this challenge in Western countries, the book includes a discussion of the "gender equality paradox", where gender equality exists in parallel with gender segregation in fields such as IT. The discussion illustrates how the norm of gender equality in some cases hinders rather than promotes efforts to increase women's participation in technology-related roles.

For over 40 years, the tech industry has been working to attract more women. Yet, women continue to be underrepresented in technology jobs compared to other professions. Worse, once hired, women leave the field mid-career twice as often as men. In 2013, Karen Holtzblatt launched The Women in Tech Retention Project at WITops.org, dedicated to understanding what helps women in tech thrive. In 2014, Nicola Marsden joined the effort, bringing her extensive knowledge and research on gender and bias for women in tech. Together with worldwide volunteers, this research identified what helps women thrive and practical interventions to improve women's experience at work. In this book, we share women's stories, our research, relevant literature, and our perspective on making change to help retain women. All the research and solutions we share are based on deep research and user-centered ideation techniques. Part I describes the @Work Experience Framework and the six key factors that help women thrive: a dynamic valuing team; stimulating projects; the push into challenges with support; local role models; nonjudgmental flexibility to manage home/work balance; and developing personal power. Employees thinking of leaving their job have significantly lower scores on these factors showing their importance for retention. Part II describes tested interventions that redesign work practices to better support women, diverse teams, and all team members. We chose these interventions guided by data from over 1,000 people from multiple genders, ethnicities, family situations, and countries. Interventions target key processes in tech: onboarding new hires; group critique meetings; and Scrum. Interventions also address managing interpersonal dynamics to increase valuing and decrease devaluing behaviors and techniques for teams to define, monitor, and continuously improve their culture. We conclude by describing our principles for redesigning processes with an eye toward issues important to women and diverse teams.

Journalist Leander Kahney reveals how CEO Tim Cook has led Apple to astronomical success after the death of Steve Jobs in 2011. The death of Steve Jobs left a gaping void at one of the most innovative companies of all time. Jobs wasn't merely Apple's iconic founder and CEO; he was the living embodiment of a global megabrand. It was hard to imagine that anyone could fill his shoes--especially not Tim Cook, the intensely private executive who many thought of as Apple's "operations drone." But seven years later, as journalist Leander Kahney reveals in this definitive book, things at Apple couldn't be better. Its stock has nearly tripled, making it the world's first trillion dollar company. Under Cook's principled leadership, Apple is pushing hard into renewable energy, labor and environmentally-friendly supply chains, user privacy, and highly-recyclable products. From the massive growth of the iPhone to lesser-known victories like the Apple Watch, Cook is leading Apple to a new era of success. Drawing on access with several Apple insiders, Kahney tells the inspiring story of how one man attempted to replace someone irreplaceable, and--through strong, humane leadership, supply chain savvy, and a commitment to his values--succeeded more than anyone had thought possible.

Highly Commended International Business Book from the 2021 Business Book Awards Nonfiction Book Awards Silver Winner from the Nonfiction Authors Association Winner of CompTIA's 2020 Diversity Technology Leader Spotlight Award Winner of a Technology Rising Star Award from the 2020 Women of Color in STEM Conference Break through barriers to achieve a rewarding future in tech Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators will help you overcome the obstacles that often prevent women of color from pursuing and staying in tech careers. Contrary to popular belief, tech careers are diverse and fun--and they go far beyond just coding. This book will show you that today's tech careers are incredibly dynamic, and you'll learn how your soft skills--communication, public speaking, networking--can help you succeed in tech. This book will guide you through the process of cultivating strong relationships and building a network that will get you were you want to be. You'll learn to identify a strong, knowledgeable support network that you can rely on for guidance or mentorship. This step is crucial in getting young women of color into tech careers and keeping them there. Build your professional network to get the guidance you need Find a mentor who understands your goals and your struggles Overcome negativity and stay motivated through difficult times Identify and develop the soft skills that you need to get ahead in tech Read this book to help bring to life your vision of a future in tech. With practical advice and inspiring stories, you'll develop the right tools and the right mindset. Whether you're just considering going into tech or you want to take your current career to the next level, Women of Color in Tech will show you how to uncover the resources you need to succeed.