I teach both at a university and at an online code school. My university classes have been in person until this term when the Covid-19 pandemic shut us all in. I’ve tried to keep a very open dialog with my students about how they are feeling and what personal struggles they are having as well as filling them in on how I’m doing and what I’m dealing with. My philosophy is, saying these things out loud helps us all in so many ways. Here are a few…

Giving your struggles a name:

• Lets others know they aren’t alone
• Makes your…

Let’s do a little exercise in imagining what we will accomplish in our lifetimes. Take a few minutes out of your day and write about yourself in the future. Write this for you and no one else. Don’t share it with anyone. This is your gift to yourself.

Write the Script for Your Lifetime Achievement Award

Imagine that you are about to receive a lifetime achievement award. Write the script they will read before you receive the award. Write it in the third person, from an admirer’s perspective. Don’t listen to your awful inner critic who is regularly a complete…

Women programmers are almost as rare as unicorns. Take a peek into any developer meeting and you’ll most likely find one or two women surrounded by room full of men. It’s a subject that has been passionately investigated by many institutions and organizations, but simply shedding light on the problem hasn’t seemed to have made a difference. The alarmingly low number of women in software development has been well documented. An internet search for “women in tech” generates a lengthy list of articles investigating well known issues such as a hostile “brogrammer” work environment for women, or pay disparities and…