Presented at SWE 2021 as part of advocating and mentoring for women. Video: https://youtu.be/npHOBskzoOw

1. 1
Michael’s Bio
→ Education: Bachelor/Master of Science MechE, some OMSCS@GaTech
→ Professional:
 12 years working semi-blue collar (no degree): taxi, mfg, restaurants
 20 years working in innovation, scientific computing, thermal/structural analyst, process
technology dev, algorithm development, research scientist
→ Innovation:
 Since 5th grade wanted to be a “mad scientist”, been trying ever since
 Helped 3 friends make $1M+ startups, nothing to show for it
 Outstanding work at Fortune 500’s and little to show for it
 Senior design in 2007 is foundation for a fruit-company watch
→ Hobbies/Interests:
 Mentoring young people in technical areas (First Robotics, Science Fair)
 Empowering folks in life
 Role Playing: D&D 5e, LitRPG (qitm, artificial jelly, last physicist…) https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-m-176aa71/
https://mathbaby.blogspot.com/2008/
https://stats.stackexchange.com/users/22452/engrstudent

2. Future facing
→ My who
A. Moriah (mini)
B. Mikayla (micro)
C. Alexis (nano)
D. Annaliese (pico)
→ My how
 Sometimes you have to be
the difference you want to see
 Iterated game theory:
If everyone gets it, then everyone gets it
(including my kiddos)
D
A
B
C

3. My biological Mother
→ Gloria Virginia Hansen (Munroe)
→ Single mom
→ Raised 6 kids
→ Survivor
→ She fought for me
She knows what love is.
The courage of her convictions made me.
a.k.a. Wonder Woman

4. My foster mother
→ Suzanne S Dye
→ Adoptive mom to 3
→ Eye for the outsider
→ Foster to hundreds
→ She approached, asked, acted
She knows what love is.
Her un-inanttentive, kind action made me
a.k.a. Jean Gray
Youtube vJG698U2Mvo

5. The experience
→ Thyroid Cancer
 2.3% of cancer cases
 90% survival* rate
→ You don’t know it till you live it
→ Once you lived it a little, you start
to “hear the choppers”
xkcd: lanes, seven years

6. Some methods
→ Give them a good start
 Wage gap, Out the gate storming by age 25
→ Career Spinup
 Start at BLS.gov given career and area
 The first one to say a number … (chomp-game)
 Know actual negotiation, hard-core, road-test it (book, practice)
 De-hacking glass-door/s (ceilings)
 Behavioral Interview classes (20 questions)
→ Keep it going
→ How to build quorum of mentors (multi – level/org/discipline/company)
→ How to prep for and manage for the annual-review
→ Annual cadence, and the perpetual review of job descriptions
→ (You) check back in every ~3 months, and be there a few years
→ How to endure the hard times (i.e. stratified diversity,…)

7. Application Examples (names redacted)
→ False trolley problem (virgin/mother/sage)
→ Invest early: Science Fair vs. First Robotics
→ Invest middle: reproduce myself
→ Invest mature: strong leverage wisdom, resources
→ One at time
→ Grand awards judge (systematic bias) and Singapore math girl?
→ Coaching an all-star: equipping, and letting her choose
→ Proactive listening then sharing broadly
→ “How to recognize” questions then sharing how to recognize with larger org
→ Asking VP, pushy vs. leadership, then sharing broadly
→ Picking fights with goliath’s
→ My daughter has no future here?? You “won” diversity?!
→ No female directors? What about her?
→ Other useful tools: Evolution of trust, karate, horseback, … concurrent

8. And finally