Building a Community for All People by Jennifer Konikowski

Yeah, I think that's a good thing.

Speaker 1: All right, so as this says this is really how to make your group super accessible to people learning to code and why it's important to have user groups for minority groups in tech. All combined into one 25 minutes. If you want to follow along those slides, they're at jmconnie. com slash building community. So I'm Jennifer Konikowski, JMCani in most places at Jen Connie on Twitter. And I'm a software engineer at StitchFix and founder of PyLadies Boston, a Python user group for women and genderqueer individuals that has grown to over a thousand members. Since moving to Pittsburgh last April, I'm usually found at Girl Development's Code and Coff Coffee Monthly Meetups. So when I would go to user groups as a newer developer, it was very intimidating.

Speaker 1: People seemed to know each other and I wasn't sure who to ask for help. I also was usually surrounded by all or mostly men. And I wanted a smaller group where I could talk to other women who had similar goals to myself, which is why I ended up starting PyLadies Boston. I mean, and to make friends with awesome Python people. So why would I create an exclusive group? So this is a quote, which I'll read out. It turns out that communities exist for a variety of reasons. some of which have nothing to do with explaining themselves, a cause, a technology, or a gender to the rest of the world. And this is Selena Deckelman, who is one of the organizers of PyLadies Portland. She wrote this in response to the question, why are there so many women in tech groups?

Speaker 1: Groups can celebrate our similarities, but also ways in which we're different. And sometimes that similarity might be Python or Django, and sometimes it might be narrowed down even further to women who program in Python. So why narrow it down to begin with? Because often when you're the minority, you feel less confident because you're different, which makes you less likely to speak up. Part of this can be the feeling that you are representing your group when you speak and being overly concerned about saying something that would be considered unintelligent. Sage Sharp addressed this in the context of applying for jobs in their talk Hurting Cats with Django yesterday, and y'all should maybe go watch that as soon as it's posted if you didn't see it.

Speaker 1: So also different life experiences are exacerbated. And when everyone's life experiences are a bit different, um, or sorry, while everyone's life experiences are a bit different. When you're a different gender, sex, race, or orientation, the differences tend to be amplified. In conversation, it can sometimes feel like others aren't interested in your particular experiences or like you don't have anything in common. And this often has nothing to do with how others are behaving. It can often just be a feeling. And oftentimes Other people will assume you are just there with a friend or don't have the same level of knowledge that they do. This is especially true the more visibly you stand out in particular with women in men's spaces, and in particular

Speaker 1: very femme-presenting women. This leads to people speaking to you in a condescending way, even though this can often be completely unintentional. So that's what being different does. It makes you aware of your actions and that you might be imposing. It's so minor, but it adds up. This is by Alan Cheesa, who at the time of writing this was a project product manager at Kickstarter and one of the very few women in her department. In the post quoted, she talks about her coworkers, mostly young dads, inviting her out to lunch and working hard to include her, but she still felt out of place. Alright, so why bother focusing on beginners? So diverse teams are smarter, straight up. And we want to ensure that our communities are open to beginners because we need to expand and diversify.

Speaker 1: Women and minorities are more likely to learn to program later in life. And the more diverse our community is, the more diverse our teams will be So, Harvard Business Review wrote this amazing post, and one of their conclusions was that working with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance And who doesn't want a sharp brain? Everyone should be able to learn to program. Programming shouldn't just be limited to people who are privileged privileged enough to learn to code in grade school or be able to select computer science degree in college or go to college even. So we need to be open to helping people learn. No matter their age, gender, or background, if someone wants to join our community, we should be open to helping them learn.

Speaker 1: Having community to help learn should not only be open to people willing to pay thousands of dollars for a code school or a boot camp. Alright, so Now hopefully you get the why and hopefully you're sold on why it's important. So how can you do your best to make sure your group is open to beginners and how can you be an ally to marginalized people in your community? So first let's talk about user groups. Some of these will be easier to implement if you're starting a new group, but considering making but consider making changes if you are part of the leadership team for an existing group. Also, secret, if you aren't on the leadership team and see one of these ideas that you think would benefit your local group, reach out to the leadership team and volunteer

Speaker 1: because most groups would love more volunteers Alright, so one of the first things you can do is make sure you describe your group and events as beginner inclusive. Ideally, if they are big and are inclusive. If you're only having really high level talks, make it extremely clear. But here's an example. No problem too big or small, good for people of all levels. And just be very clear about your descriptions. Be clear what about what knowledge and skills are required. So people will often underestimate themselves, so keep this in mind when describing what's needed. So, example, basic Python required should have mostly completed a tutorial like Learn Python the hard way.

Speaker 1: Find out what your local community actually needs. You know, what kind of companies are around you? Do you have a lot of academics? Maybe you want to have some sci-fi tutorials. You know, this is very important because every community needs different things. In Boston, we had a large community of academics and scientists. So there was a huge desire for tutorials and code reviews. But with Boston Ruby women, so I'm actually a Rails developer, we had a lot of recent bootcamp grads, and so we spent more time talking about interviewing and finding jobs. You want to ask for feedback

Speaker 1: constantly. Like, don't want to annoy your members, but at least once a year. So like when I was running Pilates Boston, every year I had an anniversary party and asked everyone who attended for feedback on the past year. you know, what did they like, what did they not like, and for suggestions in the future. And the regular evaluation uh really helped us have new types of events that I wouldn't have thought of on my own and got rid of ones that I thought were great ideas that just totally bombed. So, and you also want to try a lot of different types. So, depending on your local community, some may work better for you than others. And here are some event types that I've had success with. Most obvious is presentation nights. But often there's an idea that you have to be an expert to give a presentation.

Speaker 1: So make it clear when asking for presentations that you're open to presentations about beginner projects as well. Enlightening talks are a great way to get people to do their first public talk. And one of the ways that I've encouraged people is to say that while it should maybe be related Related. If you have a hobby that you want to share with everyone, we'd love to hear a lightning talk on it. So one of the members of PyLadies ended up doing her very first presentation ever on bird watching, and it was a huge hit. And her next talk was technical. So, tutorials were very successful for us, and this is one of the things that's often harder for much larger user groups, but I sort of want to push you to consider it.

Speaker 1: Because they give inexperienced, they give experienced people a chance to share their knowledge in a meaningful way, and more inexperienced people a chance to learn a new skill or toolset. However, with tutorials, it's key to allow for extra time in the beginning or before the event to get set up, even if you give really clear instructions and ask people to set up prior. They'll still need extra time because people won't do it. So one of the things we started doing that was really fun and in a way I wasn't expecting was mob programming. And so the whole group looks at the same problem and tries to solve it together. Occasionally this is done in offices, but I actually found that it's fun to do as a group. So we started running events that were a combination of mob programming and code reviews.

Speaker 1: So everyone can participate. So even with limited programming knowledge, you can get an idea of what kinds of problems other people are facing. And granted oftentime if you're the organizer you might end up having to put some of your code up because people will be too nervous, but then after you get your code torn to shreds, someone else will be like, oh, well, that's not that bad You know, okay. So you also want to consider hosting separate beginner-focused events. So these events will draw people who are still too intimidated to go to the main meetings. So we even for just pie ladies, we had women show up to beginner events that would never go to the main group, even though the main group was still focused on beginners, but they were still working through the tutorial and weren't sure that they would feel

Speaker 1: that they were ready to go to the larger group. So you can host events like study groups, which can help people teach each other. So we tried to have study groups every week and have a mentor each time. Which is a little aggressive and definitely very hard to do. So I don't want to say you have to do that. But we've also encouraged our members to start study groups in their neighborhoods as well and have had a ton of success with that I've used these to target people who are just starting to learn to code. And if you're trying to provide mentors at study groups. It can be a challenge, but one way to sell it to your more experienced members is that it's a way to both share their knowledge and improve their understanding of the fundamentals.

Speaker 1: I have one woman who comes every week and she always challenges me and makes me go deeper into the language than I had before. And definitely one of the things I really miss about living in Boston. And we also had mentor sessions, which were similar to study groups but more focused on career growth. So they were targeting people who knew how to code, but were looking to enter the industry. And job hunting as a junior is extremely discouraging. And so it really helped to have regular meetings with someone who tells you that you can do it And also by getting to know a larger amount of junior developers, it makes it easier for you to find great developers who just haven't been given a chance chance yet. So frequently it's harder to get to know people in the larger group setting and having a smaller subset like a mentor session

Speaker 1: can help your more experienced members get to know the individuals who are just getting started. So when really this is a thing that every group should do, and it's really easy if you're using Meetup. Send an email to everyone who joins with a message that emphasizes that everyone is welcome. no matter what their level of experience is and let them know what they can expect to happen at your event. So with Meetup you write it once and just have it send automatically. It's fantastic. If you can have someone to greet people when they walk in, ideally it's one of the organizers or someone who's there regularly. And this individual should do their best to get to know people who have just joined.

Speaker 1: It will give all newcomers a friendly face each time they return and someone who is familiar with their level. So with PyLadies, this was basically me because even when we got larger it was never too large so and I was there every single month. So But people saw me and were familiar and felt a little bit I could tell like the second month they came, they felt much b much more secure because they were like, oh, I know someone. This is fine. Consider like if you're a larger group having an event that's just for a marginalized group. So it does require you to have a member of that marginalized group who's interested in hosting it.

Speaker 1: So one way to do this is to host an event like an All the Nerdy Ladies. Um my friend Pamela Vickers started doing All the Nerdy Ladies in Atlanta as a way to get people from all these different like women in tech groups together and you could easily um talk to maybe some other user groups and be like, hey, like, you know, let let's work together, you know, get the women from our group together. And it can help encourage women to attend the larger meetups as well and get feedback as to why they weren't coming to the main meetups in the first place. So for presentation nights, you want to ensure that there are regular talks that are suitable for beginners. It doesn't have to be like every single time, but usually maybe you have like

Speaker 1: two to three presentations. Have one of those be a little bit more entry level. And they don't have to be, you know, how to write a for loop, but more here's a problem, this is how I solved it, and with less of an emphasis on like deep dives into the language. Organizers I spoke to said they got large influxes of new signups for nights when they had multiple multiple speakers from a variety of fields. And so a few suggestions for project nights. Have a couple of beginner tables that are clearly marked. and preferably have a few experienced programmers to staff them and help new people work through issues. So As soon as someone comes in, you know, the greeter

Speaker 1: should be able to point out that table if the person asks about it, or be able to ask people as they come in if they're interested. You also, if possible, I know some are very extremely large, but if it's slightly smaller, do introductions at the beginning. Like I'm talking literally like even if it's 30 people, go for it. Because if you have everyone introduce themselves and mention what they're working on, you can ask experienced people to raise their hands if they're willing to be available to help throughout the night It can be time consuming, but it will help build community and create opportunities for people to collaborate. So speaking of that, uh reassure people that it's okay if they are not working on a project and you can have people raise their hands at the beginning if they're looking to collaborate.

Speaker 1: So let's talk about teaching people how to code really quick. This is the scary thing. Um so some do's and don'ts of teaching programming because there's no one way one best way for teaching people how to code. However, I've had some success with certain methods more so than others uh do have beginner focus events where people can bring questions from any tutorial they choose As I mentioned earlier, this is an essential part of Pilates Boston. I always suggest my two favorite tutorials, but if someone learns better another way, say like a MOOC or videos, they can use those as well and I'll still answer questions. I also try to make it clear in any communication that I'm always available by email.

Speaker 1: That's also a high bar. I don't, especially if you're running a really, really large user group, I don't necessarily recommend that. But if you've got a smaller group Not that many people are going to email you. Um so I like I was making myself available to about 1500 people through the groups that I ran in even more through my website where I'm just like contact me, I don't care, I'll help you. And I would get like an email a week max. It wasn't that bad, but the people who did ask for help really needed it and they really appreciated it So don't have a free class that builds on itself week after week because it sort of works if people are paying for it because then they're financially motivated. But if you're just trying to provide a free service to your community, which is awesome, but this is a bad option for you

Speaker 1: because I did this at first and I held classes, it was just two hours every other weekend. And great turn off the first week. We had like 30 people. I was like, yeah, this is great. Second week, 20 people, still great. And by the fifth week, it was just me and my co-organizer. So like don't don't do that Uh do give short one-off tutorials on basic programming concepts that don't build on each other So you can't necessarily do a ton of these since most of programming does require not knowing other concepts, but you can't teach the idea of object-oriented programming without involving a significant amount of code. Or you there are other languages that you could teach the basics of in a two-hour period, with SQL as my favorite.

Speaker 1: But you could also potentially do HTML. And the goal is to share knowledge, so get creative Don't give a text tutorial with absolutely no support. So if I just tell someone here's like learn Python the hard way. Have fun, it's easy, no problem. With no support group or a place to reach out for help, when people get into a tight spot, they can assume that they just aren't cut out for programming and absolutely quit There's still stigma that you have to be good at math to be a programmer and or like you know you have to be smart. If you're not smart, you definitely can't and People think, oh, I'm just I'm not smart. So some non-technical people think that only geniuses can program. And again, I've been told that I must be super smart because I'm a developer.

Speaker 1: fools, all of them, because I'm not. Like often it's just a matter of seeing the right example for a concept to make sense. So just because someone has trouble learning in using one resource doesn't mean they couldn't learn using another But if it's your first introduction, you might think that you have no clue what's going on and you'll you never will. So really quick, let's talk a little bit about how to be the best ally. You need to respect. If you are told you're not welcome in a space, please respect that. Don't argue with the organizers or demand a reason. And even if you can't attend events, that doesn't mean you can't help. As someone who regularly runs events that are only for women and non-binary people, it is not because I hate men.

Speaker 1: I married one. And But it's just it's a different space. And anyway, so take time to listen to your friends and empathize with what they tell you, like about the issues that they may be having. Don't write off their feelings if you don't understand. And this is a big one because we all have like a different intersection of privileges. Every every single one of us has like something over someone else and someone might be having trouble and can't be like, oh well surely that's not actually an issue. No. Like Tell them that what they're feeling is valid and that is seriously a big thing that a lot of people don't do.

Speaker 1: Ask how you can help. and actually listen and follow through to the best of your ability. Because oftentimes maybe a a let's say a women's focus group might need volunteers for you know mock interviews or something. And there's still a chance to help. And the best thing you can do is to spread the word to people who may be interested in joining the community. So if you run an organization with a similar focus, provide a way for the organizers to promote their group. Like I've gotten a lot of pushback before thinking that I was going to be stealing all the women from like Boston Python. And I wasn't at all. Like my goal was to get more women in their group

Speaker 1: by bringing more women to the community, period. I did not want to I steal anyone. Um but even like through a mailing list or making an announcement. So you can make a difference. These are my recommendations on how to build communities for beginners, but however you involve yourself, being part of a space where everyone is welcome to learn is a valuable and rewarding experience that can really make a difference. someone who's just starting out. So this is all I do have like yes, totally nailed the time here. These are all like my contact things. And I also want to give a shout out to Octo Mills, who's action or on Twitter who originally did the Allyship portion of this talk in 2014.

Speaker 1: And that's a link to it. These are some resources, which is pretty long, but if you looked at the slide Slides on speaker deck, you can see all of these. And so I will take questions while everyone can watch this amazing GIF. Hopefully it'll keep going forever.

Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Jennifer. Uh great talk.