jenseninman

Some of my favorite quotes from the video:

You don't need to be a genius to learn how to code. You need to be determined.

If someone had told me that software is really about humanity, that it's really about helping people by using computer technology. It would have changed my outlook a lot earlier.

A handful of resources for people who want to start building websites, games, apps, and more:

• Code.org
• Treehouse (Treehouse student plan is only $9/month.)
• HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
• Illustrated Guide to Front-End Development

Recently, I've been asked: What shapes a culture of innovation? I've come to believe that:

• innovation is connection, and;
• a culture of innovation is a culture built through connecting.

What do you believe shapes a culture of innovation? And why is a culture of innovation important?

Some insight to why 3M believes innovation is connection:

Let's support learning experiences like Project Ventura. 

Project Ventura provides young women (around 15-16 years old) an opportunity to learn engineering through a project-based, experiential learning process. These young women are working in small teams to convert an old trailer (from the late 70's, it's not as groovy as it once was) into a usualable eco-trailer. 

When we all pitch in a little bit, these types of projects don't take a lot of money. For example, these students are only raising $5,000. 

How do we begin to close the gender and skills gap that currently exist? We support projects like this. So, go ahead, back this project and/or a project like this in your community. Like it says on Project Ventura's website, "Project-Based Learning Will Save Education!" Heck, it might even save the world.

As he raised his voice, he stepped closer and closer. His face was twisted in anger and he was shouting at me. We were at the conference reception that followed my presentation. He was less than two inches away from my face. I stood there frozen. I was in shock. Another guy, stepped in and pushed the angry conference attendee away from me and helped me escape the situation.

That was the most awful moment during the most awful conference experience I've ever had.

I've only shared this with family, close friends, and a handful of other speakers who are women. However, with Sarah and Relly speaking up about their experiences, I feel it's time that I speak up, too. 

I'd like to think that my experience, Sarah's experience, and Relly's experience are isolated incidents. They are not. There are pockets within our industry where a culture of hate exists. Places that allow men to belittle women and women to feel shame for the actions of men.

I'm 5'10" and I grew up in northern New Jersey. In other words, I don't intimidate easily. However, at that reception, at that conference, I was scared. I've tried to understand why I haven't shared this and other incidents publicly. It boils down to shame and fear. 

I left the reception and the conference thinking that maybe I did something to deserve to be treated in such a hostile manner. I really thought, maybe I brought the snide remarks and angry spew my way. It pains me to write this because of course I didn't do anything to deserve to be yelled at or to be physically threatened. 

After the reception, I went back to my hotel room. I sobbed. I read every tweet about my presentation and wept. The tweets were not about the quality of my presentation, instead, they were about me being a woman. They were about my clothes and my shoes. They were about my curves and my hair. They were mean and petty.

I wept not only for me but for every woman in and every woman about to enter our industry. This is what they would face. They would not be judged by the merits of their work, instead, they would be judged by their gender.

As I sat crying in my hotel room, I responded to every single ugly tweet. I couldn't think of what else to do. I was polite, yet firm. I didn't sleep at all that night. 

To my surprise, I started to receive apologetic tweets. The next day at the conference, the guy who had gotten in my face the night before, apologized to me in person. The conference organizers pulled me aside and said, "we've talked to the one guy who was tweeting the really awful stuff and told him if he tweeted one more inappropriate thing that we would return his money and escort him out of the conference." 

I learned a lot through this experience. I learned we have a long way to go in creating a welcoming culture within our industry. I learned we all need to do our part to change the culture that currently exists. I learned to ask better questions about the events I'm asked to speak at. If I don't personally know the conference organizer, I ask questions about the culture. I only speak at events where I feel there is great respect for all speakers and all attendees. If I even sense that there is a culture of hate, I will not speak at the event. In essence, I've become more selective about where I spend my time and who I share my professional thoughts and findings with.

I volunteer at Girls Inc. in Chattanooga. I talk with young girls, usually between 11-14 years old about the professional opportunities that exist for women. I let them know that there is an entire world for them to explore and participate in. I hope that by the time they are speakers at events, that we've all spoken up, stepped up, and created a new culture—a culture that supports all people based on their work and contribution to our industry. 

It's our responsibility to leave our industry better than we found it. For me that means sharing this experience, supporting young women, and participating in events like Converge SE, A Web Afternoon, and the IA Summit—events that cultivate a thoughtful environment of acceptance.

What does “leaving our industry better than we found it” mean to you?

As Shaun’s wife, I am offered a view of his work that few get to see—his entire process.

I get to see how he thinks. It’s not Borg tech that allows me this opportunity (at least not yet). Instead, I get to watch—with my own eyes—Shaun’s process unfold through design. Each pixel he moves allows me to see how he considers the designs that he creates. It's fascinating.

I am often stunned by the sheer amount of thought and work that goes into everything Shaun creates. Every piece is considered, reconsidered, and even re-reconsidered. He takes quite laborious designs and makes them appear effortless. It’s impressive.

As a designer, it’s fun for me to watch another designer work through his or her process. As a designer + wife, I get an unmatched view into my designer + husband’s process. Sometimes, I leave the house for a day full of meetings and when I return, I realize that  Shaun has created a new character for a video game and other days I return to an entirely new video game. It’s astonishing. 

Along with the creative highs, I also get to witness the creative lows. It’s something that all creative people go through but it’s also something that is often glossed over when people share their process. Shaun documented his entire process—the highs and the lows—for The Last Rocket and published the process in his book, Lift Off The Last Rocket Development Diary. It’s honest, raw, and wonderful (check out Day 72...ouch).

As creative people, we like to challenge ourselves and push our work forward. To do this, Shaun is teaming up with Rusty Moyher and Matt Grimm to create six video games in six months! Seriously! They will document their process, much like Shaun did during the development of The Last Rocket.

They will use Kickstarter to get their project, Retro Game Crunch, off the ground and backers of $15 or more get to submit and vote on themes of the video games.

Backers will also be able to get the same kind of look into Shaun’s development process as I get. And they won’t even have to marry Shaun for this access. This is a good thing, because our home isn’t large enough for sister (or brother) wives.

In conclusion: Support Retro Game Crunch to influence the themes of six games in six months, play six games in six months, experience the game development process, and do this all without becoming a Borg or a sister wife.