I did this last year, and it was a lot of fun, so I'm back again!
I'm excited about...
Getting to help people build great APIs! In my new role at Stoplight, I'm learning a ton about the OpenAPI Specification, API design, and testing. I can't wait to share more of this knowledge that I am collecting up.
One of the things I love about APIs is that they have the power to democratize data. I'm glad to be in a role that gets to help people build them.
I want to brag about...
Guys Bot! 🤖 Guys Bot is a hack (built with Probot + Glitch) I made one night after continually seeing lots of my women and non-binary friends in open source and tech struggle with the lack of gender-neutral language in online spaces.
It's one thing when a teammate who respects you includes you in "guys," but it is another when strangers do it all the time because unconscious biases and don't expect you to be a part of that space as a woman or non-binary person. As non-males, we are the "other" in these spaces.
Guys Bot has its haters, but people of all ages have embraced it and found it a proactive and straightforward solution to a problem. All the 💖 it has gotten has reminded me it is good to build stuff like this. Also, it is the first project I've setup TravisCI for.
Another thing, I got a talk accepted to OSCON last week. It's on better API testing with OpenAPI Specification. It's a pretty technical talk compared to some that I have been doing the last couple of years. I'm excited to build it out. I used to give more technical talks, but I had stopped for a bit.
I'm currently hacking on...
Another language based GitHub bot. This one is going to be watching out for unhelpful language in documentation pull requests. 📝 Think of it as a linter but for docs. It could grow to be based on a docs style guide and customized to anyone's standards.
My advice for allies to support women and non-binary folks who code is....
First, PAY THEM. 💵 But seriously, women and non-binary folks do so much unpaid work that we never ask men to do. Add in the pay discrepancies for if they are a person of color and as a society, we are actively hurting future diversity even more. Whether it is more significant things like diversity and inclusion work to simple office tasks that are stereotyped as a thing women do. The number of times I've helped out another community or company with free advice without anything in return is way too many. 💸 It needs to change.
Second, put them at the forefront. Showcase them, not the guy with the high community reputation. 📣People gain reputation by being put at the forefront, so you have to make those opportunities for women and non-binary folks. Lend them a privilege that you have that they don't have.
Third, realize that whisper networks will always exist. Support and listen to them. It's not a "witch hunt." It's women and non-binary folks protecting themselves. Be open, available, and willing to hear out that some of the people in your network that you think highly of may have done things that are hard for you to believe but known to whisper network. Believe women and non-binary folks. They are taking a significant risk to speak up.
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