Hilary Stohs-Krause gave a talk about what she learned in her first year as a full-time programmer. Some of her key points included: 1) programmers are not the most important people in tech and collaborative work is better than competitive work, 2) programmers should avoid only considering themselves and their own perspectives when designing for users, and 3) no programmer knows everything and it's important to ask for help when stuck and to track your own growth. She encouraged attendees to speak up about how to improve office culture and not tolerate poor treatment.

1. What I learned my
first year as a full-time
programmer

2. Hello! I’m Hilary Stohs-Krause.
Software developer at Ten Forward Consulting
Puns, tech and feminism at @hilarysk

3. ~5 years ago
@hilarysk
I started my first programming internship.
Today
I’m co-owner of and second-most-senior dev
at the same company.

4. @hilarysk

5. So why am I giving
this talk?
@hilarysk

6. @hilarysk

7. Before we get started
@hilarysk
Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought to yourself ...
★ Everyone knows more than me
★ This is just too hard; I’ll never get it
★ The others in my office seem to pick things up faster
than I do
★ Maybe getting a job in tech was a bad idea

8. Did your raise your hand at least once?
@hilarysk
Congratulations!

9. Let’s try to make it better.
@hilarysk

10. TODAY’s Agenda
1. Programmers != the most important people in tech
2. We are not our users
3. You will never know everything
4. If you like wearing dresses to work, go for it (even if
everyone’s in T-shirts)
5. Q&A
@hilarysk

11. Programmers != the most important people in tech.
1.

13. They’re bad for business.
✖ Overconfident
✖ More likely to break
rules
✖ More productive, but
lower quality work
✖ Negative behavior is
infectious
Forget rockstar-ninja-10x coders1
What actually brings success?
★ Don’t go rogue
★ Slow and steady
★ Collaborative, not
competitive
@hilarysk

14. “... converting [a superstar worker] to an
average worker enhances performance to a
much greater extent than replacing an
average worker with a superstar worker.1
”
@hilarysk

16. ★ Quality Assurance
Analysts
★ DevOps
★ Data Architects
★ Product Managers
No Programmer Is An Island
@hilarysk
★ Project Managers
★ Tech Leads
★ Visual / UX Designers
★ Salespeople
★ Other Programmers

18. Learn where you are
★ Who writes the clearest documentation?
★ Who leaves the best feedback on PRs?
★ Who finds the most bugs during testing?
★ Who can tell you more about your project’s core market
or demographics?
★ Who can illuminate decisions behind the design
process?
@hilarysk

20. Ways to contribute
★ Research potential frameworks or packages / libraries
★ Pair on code reviews
★ Improve the test suite
★ Add to documentation
★ Assist with QA
@hilarysk

21. We are not our users.
2.

22. Who here ...
… has a name with a hyphen,
apostrophe or accent mark?
22

23. @hilarysk

24. Who here ...
… is a woman?

25. 2
@hilarysk

26. Who here ...
… is not white?

27. 3
@hilarysk

28. How do we combat homogeneity?
★ Diverse staff
★ User testing
★ Cross-cultural checklists
★ Device labs & virtual machines
★ Accessibility testing
★ Localization
@hilarysk

29. You will never know everything.
3.

31. How to clear your head
★ Reframe your feelings5
★ Go for a walk7
★ Switch to paper8
★ Clean (or rearrange) your desk
★ Help someone else6
@hilarysk

33. How to ask for help4
1. What are you trying to do?
2. What have you already tried?
3. What else might work that you haven’t tried?
4. How, exactly, would you like the other person to help
you?
https://tinyurl.com/railsconf-ask-help
@hilarysk

34. 34

35. Track (and celebrate!) your growth
★ Keep a journal
★ Document successes on company or personal blog
★ Tutor or mentor
★ Speak at a local meetup
@hilarysk

36. If you like wearing dresses to work,
go for it (even if everyone’s in t-shirts)
4.

37. My personal office style
@hilarysk

39. @hilarysk
Your voice matters.

41. Anything you think could be better with ...
★ Office culture or environment?
★ Development process?
★ Documentation?
★ Bonding activities?
★ Workspace arrangement?
★ Company swag?
@hilarysk

42. @hilarysk
Make it easy to say “Yes”
(Or hard to say “No”)

44. Don’t put up with bullshit.
★ 600,000 tech job vacancies in UK as of 20189
★ Work remotely
★ Every company is a tech company
★ Avoid tokenism, but use your advantages
@hilarysk

45. @hilarysk

46. Citations
1. “Toxic Workers” (Harvard Business School)
2. “It’s Not You, It’s It: Voice Recognition Doesn’t Recognize Women” (Time)
3. “Amazon’s Face Recognition Disproportionately Matched Congressional Members
of Color With Mugshots” (The Root)
4. “A guide for junior devs: How to ask for help in 5 steps” (Ten Forward Consulting)
5. “How to Strategically Manage Frustration at Work” (Glassdoor)
6. “7 Science-Backed Methods To Get You Out Of Your Head” (Forbes)
7. “Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking”
(American Psychological Association)
8. “A Learning Secret: Don't Take Notes with a Laptop” (Scientific American)
9. “600,000 tech job vacancies costing UK economy £63 billion a year” (The Edge
Foundation
@hilarysk

47. What questions do
you have?
47

48. Thanks!
You can find me at:
@hilarysk
hilarysk@tenforward.consulting
http://tinyurl.com/PHPUK20-slides