Blog Of The Day: 5 Ways Women in Tech Can Beat the Odds

These are tough times for women in technology. Female workers are flooding out of tech company jobs, a phenomenon blamed in part on the industry’s patterns of sexism.

A recent Center for Talent Innovation study found that women in science, engineering, and technology are 45% more likely than male peers to leave their industries. Many cite a feeling of being stalled in their careers and excluded from their workplace’s culture; a whopping half say their coworkers believe men have a genetic advantage in math and science. And 44% agreed with the statement, “A female at my company would never get a top position no matter how able or high-performing.”

Despite the odds against women in technology, both research and anecdotal evidence suggest there are approaches female techies can use to rise up. Here are five of them:

1. Be Assertive, Not Aggressive

The researchers found that when a “masculine” woman also exhibits social grace and self-awareness, she gets more promotions than other women and men. So while both men and women should of course keep it classy when they stand up for themselves, women have even more to gain by doing so.

2. Dream BiG

A common mistake that female entrepreneurs make, says Women Who CodeCEO Alaina Percival, is getting too hung up on the plausibility of their ideas.

3. Don’t Promise—Surprise

The solution, according to study authors Ayelet Gneezy of U.C. San Diego and Nicholas Epley of University of Chicago: When you really want to impress, hold back on making any promises and just surprise people with your finished product.

4. Brag Better

It is often said that women in technology need to be better at “selling themselves” to compete with male peers, who typically find it easier to trumpet accomplishments. Women are culturally expected to still come off as especially humble.That makes it hard to overcome the embarrassment associated with bragging.” We stay quiet and hope that if we work hard and have lots of output, we will get promoted.

The problem is that staying silent about your accomplishments often means you’ll get passed over, as others are rewarded with more responsibility and higher salaries. One way to overcome your discomfort with bragging is to do it in writing. You could send your boss an email, for example, documenting your team’s successes for the year, making it clear that you played a leading role.

5. Find Sponsors, Allies, and Resources

Many accomplished women in tech cite mentors and “women-helping-women” channels as key factors in their success. But getting ahead takes more than a little networking or advice. Having good relationships with your colleagues in general and garnering support from higher-ups makes a huge difference.

 

Blog Of The Day: 10 Famous Websites Built With Python

Owing to its user-friendliness, Python has been used to create some of the most popular websites in the world of internet such as:

1. Google

One of the most popular search engines in the world has been built using Python. Python allows Google to switch the traffic and figure out the requirements of search.

2. YouTube

Python has been the driving force behind YouTube, a website used by millions for downloading and uploading videos of all hues and sizes.  The website has been coded in a way which makes it easier and extremely interactive for the user.

3. Quora

It’s a portal where you get your answers. You can post a question and you can get an answer from any part of the world.  Quora’s language programming has been developed using Python’s framework.

4. Dropbox

Many of our choices to store our data are going online. We create a document, we save it, and we share it. All of this is done online using Dropbox. It is an ideal way to preserve your documents online. This file hosting service has also been created using Python.

5. Yahoo!

Google’s biggest competitor in the search engine criteria. Yahoo and many of its subsidiaries, including Yahoo Maps, have been designed using Python.

6. Reddit

Reddit, popularly called internet’s front page has also been developed using Python. It is a place where you can find a lot of information and entertainment across thousands of categories. The website focuses on user-generated content. Many of the website’s features are dependent on Python for their functionality.

7. Instagram

Uploading and sharing photos has never been this exciting. Instagram has revolutionized the way pictures and videos are shared. The popular picture sharing website also relies heavily on Python for many of its functionalities, including the video sharing service.

8.  Spotify

Stream countless songs and music videos with Spotify. You just can’t get enough of your favorite musicians, singers, and composers. This popular website has also been created using Python. Spotify focuses on speed and Python complements that mindset really well.

9. Survey Monkey

When you think of conducting online surveys, Survey Monkey is the first name that comes to your mind. The cloud-based Software as a Service company founded by Ryan Finley in 1999 has also been created using Python.  The website, in its entirety, has been created using Python. It is easy to use and extremely interactive, all because of the Python.

10. Bitly

Bitly, the popular link management platform created by Peter Stern in 2008 shortens close to 600 million links annually. This website also owes greatly to Python as it came into existence because of Python.

Looking at the websites that have been developed using Python, it certainly won’t be an overstatement to say that Python is the driving force behind some of the biggest and the most popular websites across the globe. Looking at the success of Python as an ideal way of creating websites, aspiring programmers and web developers across the world, are giving themselves a chance to join the bandwagon of web developers by getting to learn this user-friendly programming language.

Blog Of The Day: Why Choose Python as your Programming Language?

A Little Overview:

The global programming landscape is growing by leaps and bounds. With skilled programmers and web developers making six figures yearly, it certainly won’t be a hyperbole to say that web development is an evergreen line of work. People need websites, and if you know how to make them, you will never be out of work. In this blog post, we will focus on Python.

Python, since coming into existence in 1991, has taken giant strides in the world of programming. Built by a Dutch programmer named Guido Van Rossum, Python is an advanced programming language that emphasizes immensely on the concept of code readability. It follows a syntax that allows programmers to build a framework using fewer lines of code.

A striking feature that makes Python a preferred language for programmers to build websites is the language’s dynamic type system and automatic memory management. The fact that it also supports multiple paradigms of programming, including Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), functional, imperative, and procedural, makes it a highly versatile programming language.

So why not make Python our main language to learn?

Advantages Of Choosing Python Over Any Other Programming Language

  • Extensible in C and C++
  • Dynamic
  • Ease of learning and support
  • Data structures are user-friendly
  • Third party operating modules are present

Blog of the Day: 5 Reasons Why Learning Coding is Important

Technology is everywhere in today’s society. With a push to integrate technology into both our personal and professional lives, a need for software that fulfills all of the many requirements has been created. Unfortunately, there is a misconception that you have to be good at math to be able to learn to build software.

1. Improving your digital literacy is important

Digital literacy is your ability to manage information successfully, using technology. Learning to code means that you are automatically going to become more in tune with your computer. You will explore more tools and applications than you would use on a daily basis as an average home user, and that will translate to an improvement in your digital literacy. This not only will improve your own usage of your day to day technology, but it means that when you are exposed to new tech, you will be more eager to adopt it and experiment with it.

2. If you can learn another language, you can learn to code

Scientific studies have been done in both Germany and the United States which have proven that the same areas of the brain that we use to process other written and spoken languages, such as Spanish or Korean, are the same parts of the brain which we use for understanding coding. The term ‘programming languages’ makes sense, in this context. These are languages that we use to communicate, however instead of communicating between two people, we are communicating between a person and a device. The programming language that we use is our way of telling the computer what it is that we want it to do.

3. It is a skill that will always be relevant

Understanding the intricacies of how software works means that the ever-increasing demand in every industry can be served by the knowledge acquired. There will always be a need for developers, because our need for apps and software is steadily growing. Regardless of what background you have, the ability to contribute to software means that you are always employable, always able to create and advance technology and always able to be on the cutting edge of innovation.

4. It makes you a creator of the Internet, not just a consumer

If you have ever felt that you were at the mercy of the software on your computer, then learning to code is the easiest and quickest way to rid yourself of that negative perception. Not only does knowing how to code mean that you are able to solve your own problems and craft solutions to your standards and needs, but it also means that you now have the ability to craft solutions for other people.

5. It opens up a world of possibilities

Whether it is for personal growth and development, career advancement, career change, or just a desire to improve digital literacy, knowledge of how software works and the ability to contribute to developing new software means that there is no limit to the impact that you can have

Blog of the Day: Women In Tech – Tarah Wheeler

Working in cybersecurity is a calling, not a profession. At least, this is what Tarah Wheeler believes! Tarah realized that there was a lack of information between the consumer and the product makers about the potential for security breaches. She has dedicated her life to filling this knowledge gap.

Each day, she wakes up and takes on the responsibility of protecting the security of her users. Her company protects nearly 16 billion online interactions from being hacked or manipulated daily.

Currently, Tarah serves as the Principal Security Advisor and CEO at Red Queen Technologies, and writes books and articles about cybersecurity. Previously, Tarah worked at Microsoft Game Studios and founded Infosec Unlock, an initiative to recruit diverse speakers into the information security industry.

Watch the video below to hear Tarah advocate for more secure business practices, products, and consumer habits!

Announcement!

The GWC City Tech club is officially starting on November 20th, 2018. If you are a facilitator or student and haven’t made up your schedule yet please email at the emails given below. If you haven’t registered as a student or facilitator on the GWC website please do so.

Facilitator: Ayesha.javed@mail.citytech.cuny.edu

Professor: fzia@citytech.cuny.edu

Blog of the Day: Women In Tech – Ada LoveLace

Ada Lovelace was one of the first computer programmers, in the mid 1800s. But you might be asking yourself – weren’t computers invented in the 1900s?! Even though electronic computers were not available during Ada’s lifetime, she helped pioneer the first modern computer science concepts.

As a child, Ada showed exceptional talent in mathematics and science. Eventually, her mentor Charles Babbage asked her to translate an article on his invention called the analytical engine, one of the first calculators. In her translation, she added her own commentary on the machine, which became some of the first computer instructions and concepts in history. Her instructions included many of the same ideas we use today – like variables and looping!

In the video below, learn more about how Ada began the computer science revolution as one of the first computer scientists!

Blog of the Day: Women In Tech – Bissan Al-Lazikani

Did you know that almost 40% of the world’s population will develop cancer during their lifetime? While this number is daunting, the cancer research community has faith in the intersection of cancer biology, mathematics, machine learning, and data analytics to find treatments and eventually a cure for this stubborn disease.

Dr. Bissan Al-Lazikani heads the Institute of Cancer Research as the lead Data Scientist. She collects data from patients undergoing cancer diagnosis and recovery and manipulates the data sets to discover patterns. As a result of her efforts, her team has the world’s largest cancer disease information database.

In the video below, Dr. Al-Lazikani discusses the importance of computer science and data collection for the discovery of new medical treatments, especially for cancer.

CityTech GWC Website @ Weebly

We will be using the website listed below, to upload all GWC projects and details. Girls would work on this website to further improve it:

https://gwcclubny5550.weebly.com/

Blog of the Day: Women In Tech – Miral Kotb

How cool is to mix up your hobbies with your career path especially if it includes the use of technology? There is so much we can take from technology and incorporate it into our lifes. Just like that we have Miral Kotb, who used technology with dance!

Miral’s dream was to become a professional dancer, but she also loved coding. As a student, these two professional paths seemed entirely separate to her. However, Miral did not settle for the status quo. After working as a software engineer at Bloomberg, she realized that the two seemingly separate worlds of dance and code could come together to create something magical. Eventually, iLuminate was born.

In 2009, Miral Kotb founded iLuminate, a dance group that uses wireless lighting programs to create explosive and colorful performances, and she serves as its CEO today. Since iLuminate’s debut on America’s Got Talent in 2011, the group has traveled across the world performing with The Black Eyed Peas and David Guetta, as well as starring in an Off-Broadway show and The X Factor.

In the video below, learn more about Miral’s discovery of combining dance and code and how she brings together her passions with iLuminate!

Below is a link of portraying some work of Miral: