Tech in Motion: Stories of Women in Tech Part 1

Two recruiting outfits in the area, Jobspring Partners Philadelphia and Workbridge Philadelphia, hosted a fun evening for techies last night. Held at the Quorum Center at 3711 Market St in West Philly, the Tech in Motion speaker series was the first of 2 parts. 5 area women of varying age, experience and backgrounds, gave the audience a quick-view of their career paths in the tech industry. You can check out details and reviews at the Tech in Motion: The Stories of Women in Tech Meetup page.

Speakers:

• Jessica Ivins
• Jumoke Dada
• Melissa Morris Ivone
• Sue Grinius-Hill
• Elise Wei

Some interesting takeaways (for me) from the speakers:

1. Most of the five women had some start or connection with the education industry in some manner. 
2. The ladies discovered tech accidentally in college or learned about it later.
3. Business and tech are intertwined and have a lot of things in common, so the jump between coding and project managing isn’t too long.
4. None of the ladies even mentioned run-ins with sexism or discrimination against their gender until explicitly asked by an audience member.
5. Salary negotiation is a skill women must learn and use. Now.

Some possibilities for growth:

1. Have a hashtag. I realize there are Tech in Motion events all over the country, but we tweeters in the audience were at a loss without a hashtag. I suggest #[Event initials][airport code][year] e.g, #TiMPHL13
2. A fruit bowl of some sort or something gluten free. My gf friends there and I had nothing to eat.
3. A reserved round table at the bar downstairs.
4. Ending earlier to encourage more people to join each other at said table at bar downstairs.
5. Reading out introductions to the speakers, instead of just saying their names. (You can have the speakers themselves write a two line bio).

All in all, it was a fun night. I had to do a lot of weird family maneuvering to make it, but in the end it worked out. I’m happy the event didn’t start the speakers earlier because I just can’t get downtown by 6 pm most weeknights.

Thanks, JobSpring and Workbridge, especially Nichole Liccio and Melissa Koenig for organizing. Nice to see people-I-only-know-on-Twitter like LeeAnn Kinney and others that are waaaay cooler than me like Lisa Yoder who runs a philly street fashion blog called streetstories.us. Women in Tech conference attendees were present but I also saw a lot of strange faces, which is always a good sign that the Women in Tech community in Philadelphia is growing.

Here’s my Storify of collected pics and tweets from some attendees.