Inspiring Women to Excel In Technology with Women Who Code

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, tacos and tech you know we got tacos and tech is on smash border green guacamole keeper countins counting beans Contador Quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a crappy beer and coffee My coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos El gordo, the taco stand in pesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean watch the sunset la Hoya shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana esti be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders who believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon SDTechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Startups get the party, startups get the.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech podcast where we discover cutting edge San Diego technologies and the builders making it happen. I'm your host, Neil Bloom, San Diego's tech ambassador and together you're going to put a face to the name of today's tech leaders with our own blend of local lifestyle. This segment is brought to you by Cox Edge. Our longtime partnership with Cox business has helped their engineering teams develop new tech products for small businesses and startups. Cox is investing in Edge capabilities and working with developers and engineers across the ecosystem to deliver ultra low latency compute solutions, helping customers to improve application performance and to reduce cloud transport and on premise infrastructure costs. Interested in hearing more about Cox Edge? Please visit coxedge.com and mention Neil Blum or freshbroodtech.com for our partner discount. And welcome back to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neal Bloom. I am thrilled to have Jillian, Luisa and Michi from Women who Code San Diego. Appreciate you guys being on. Thanks for joining.

Thank you, Neil.

Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Yeah, absolutely. I've been a fan from the sidelines and I just felt like I've been seeing so much great work and so many great programs that you guys are doing that I want to get to know more and as well as our community too, the tech community of San Diego. So Jillian, you want to quickly give us an overview of what Women who Code is all about?

Yeah, I can totally do that. So Women who Code is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. And Women who Code Global actually released a new vision statement recently. And that is we envision a world where diverse women are better represented as engineers and leaders in technology. So as most of us know, women are underrepresented in the technology industry and women of color even more so. So recent surveys show that women represent about 25 to 30% of the technology industry. And so Women who Code's goal is to get more representation in the tech industry. And we do that by hosting free monthly meetups. And these events include technology focused talks, workshops, coding nights, networking events, and so much more. And just want to say that everyone is welcome to attend. You don't have to be a woman. As long as you support our goal of inspiring women to excel in technology careers, then you're more than welcome to our events.

Love it. Well, I want to hear more about the events, especially how it's been going during COVID where you guys are headed. So we'll get into that. But love to get to know each of your backgrounds, how you end up here in these leadership roles. Michi, maybe you want to go first and give us a little bit about your background?

Yeah, sure. I started in Women who Code a little bit after Jillian and Louisa did. I was looking for a community of other female and female identifying developers because I've always been drawn to smaller companies and startups, which are great, but I tended to not work with any other women at all. And so even though all my coworkers are great and I loved hanging out with them, you're just missing a little bit of something when you don't see yourself represented in your coworkers. And coincidentally, right around the time that I was looking to find a group, Jillian, Louisa, and one of our other former co directors, Leslie, they started Women who Code. So it was great. It was perfect timing for me. I started as a lead leading the angular monthly meetups, and then after doing that for, I guess about two years, I was really fortunate and lucky that Jillian and Luisa asked if I wanted to join the leadership team and also become one of the co directors, which was very exciting. And I said yes immediately.

That's great. How long have you been kind of in the tech world itself?

Almost ten years since I graduated. I had a traditional background in tech, so I was lucky to find out that I liked software development in college. I graduated college in 2012 and have been coding ever since. I started as a backend Developer transitioned to full stack and now I'm pretty focused on the front end and angular development.

Cool. What's the day to day company that you're working at as well too?

I am working at Mosaic Tech. I think they're actually featured on this podcast a couple months ago. So it's a fun startup here in San Diego. We're doing strategic finance.

Awesome. Very cool. Well, thanks for that. Yep. We had, we had the crew, the founding crew on of Mosaic. We love to see you guys doing well, so appreciate that. Louisa, you want to give us a little bit about your background as also as well kind of your involvement with women who code.

Yes, of course. So I have a non traditional background. So basically I'm from Italy and high school in Italy is vocational so I studied computer science in high school and once I graduated from high school I was able to get a job as a software engineer from one of the main companies over there, which is ST Microelectronics, which they provided microchips. So they're actually one of Intel's competitors. But you don't see their name, you know, in products. Their chips are usually inside main brands, brands so they're not as known. After five years working there, I moved to San Diego because I met my husband, he is American, so he imported me here. I started working at Sony PlayStation a couple of years after I moved to the United States and that's when I decided to actually get a degree. So I'm a little bit different background than most people, but I think education is, you know, as important as work experience. And while I was at PlayStation we had the opportunity to help launch the San Diego network for Woman who Code. So I will also. I was looking into ways, you know, to give back to the community and I was also looking for a group that was a tech group that was focusing on women because in Italy we had a lot of women working in the company where I was. But you know, especially in a game, in the gaming industry, there weren't many other women. So I was trying to figure it out like, you know, what group I could join to get that sense of community that I had previously. So when we had the chance to start the San Diego network for women code, I volunteer along with Gillian and we've been involved for the past four years. So it was great to see the network grow.

That's great. What's the comparison in Italy versus San Diego? How are the tech worlds? Is tech as big in Italy or bigger than San Diego?

Honestly, there are a lot of more opportunities here. For example, now I work at Amazon, and they've been expanding in San Diego. There are, like, so many opportunities, and, you know, a lot of big companies are moving in San Diego. So my opportunities of graphite in Italy were a lot less than the ones that I have here. But for some reason, maybe because, you know, when I started 20 years ago, there weren't many computer science majors back in Italy. So they were getting recruiting people from different measures. So we had a lot of math majors, statistics. So we had a lot of people joining the company. And I think that's why we might have had a lot of better success with diversity.

Got it. Interesting. All right. But now. So now we can start importing more from Italy here to San Diego since we have even more.

Yes, I would love that. Although there are, you know, probably too many Italians in San Diego.

Well, yeah, we have a little Italy.

Yes, there is a huge community of Italians. It's amazing.

Well, it's really cool. Glad to have the linkages there. Gillian, tell us a little about your background.

Yeah, so I kind of have a vanilla background. I've lived in California my whole life, and I've had a very direct and traditional path into tech. I grew up in Orange county and entered a computer science class in av. Computer science in high school, decided that I liked it, and then went on to pursue a major of electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley. Was able to graduate somehow, and then I was very lucky to land my dream job at my dream video game company here in San Diego. I work as a software engineer in the tools and technology department. And I'm really lucky that I'm able to interact with our colleagues around the United States and also in the UK and Japan. So it's a lot of fun for women who code background. Luisa already touched on it where. So PlayStation was the initial network sponsor for the Women who Code San Diego chapter, and they invited a couple of the women engineers to help start it. And I was really excited for the opportunity because at Berkeley we had an organization called the association of Women in eecs. EECS is electrical engineering and computer science. And that was a really fun organization to be a part of and to have that support because there weren't that many women in that major. So to have the same opportunity to start a similar organization in San Diego was, like, super awesome. And I was so excited to join and to help launch it.

That's awesome. Love seeing not just the three of you stepping up, but the company Sony, as well as other companies step forward and say, you know, like, we want to build community here. It's enough that we all are just working and usually working hard, you know, because tech is, you know, nonstop. But for companies to say it's important for leaders to step up in their community, I think really great. So thank you for that. And to the companies as well, too. I mean, is that typical in the companies you are at as well? There are, you know, these community groups that bring people together even internally in the companies as well.

So I. I tend to work at smaller companies. We tend to not have those groups. But as you get into the bigger companies, it's not uncommon for those groups, bigger companies, to have ERGs or employee resource groups, and a lot of them will be women focused. And we've partnered with a lot of different companies here in San Diego that have those groups and are looking to expand and work outside of their company as well, or just give their companies more support, being like, hey, like, we have this, you know, employee resource group supporting women. Let's bring some other women from outside our company in San Diego, let you talk to them as well. But it is something that not every company has and not everyone has access to. So we're definitely really excited to be able to provide that for people that don't have it or companies that just aren't ready to do it yet.

Got it. That's great. I mean, starting anything is hard, right? And two of you were there at the starting, kind of the beginning. Easier to say no. What was it like and what was the original kind of response from the community? And I guess what did that look like? What did actually starting a chapter look like compared to today? I'm sure it's evolved and pivoted a little bit.

This is Gillian. So I can quickly speak to how Women who Code as an organization started and then how we started in San Diego. So Elena Percival, who is the Women who Code CEO and co founder, noticed that there were organizations that supported and encouraged younger girls to pursue tech, but not that many organizations for women who are already in the tech industry and kind of need that extra community because they may not have other women at their companies that they can talk to. So Elena wanted to help form this community, and she started the first women who coach hacked her in Silicon Valley and then expanded it out since then. And now it's a global organization for San Diego in particular. Shout out to Leslie, Leslie Pahuelo, who is the first director of Women who Code San Diego. She tried to start it in, I want to say, like 2015 or 2016, but it was really hard to find time or funding. So like you said, it is very hard to start an organization like this, especially at the city wide scale. But PlayStation noticed that there wasn't a San Diego network of women who code. And so they provided the funding and asked some of their engineers to help lead the effort. We had a soft launch in August 2017 and officially launched in October 2017. So we just celebrated our fourth birthday. Yay.

Woo.

Happy birthday.

Thank you. But yeah, it was a big effort to plan the launch events and figure out how we wanted to guide the chapter. I'm so glad Luisa and Leslie were there to just lead this effort. And since then it's been a little bit easier because it's not like trying to start this thing from scratch. We have experience now and we kind of have our routine down, but we're still learning and trying to improve as well.

I just want to add, I went to the launch event not as a leader or a volunteer, just as someone that was interested. It was the nicest meetup I had ever been to. And at that point I was like, all right, these people are serious. They are here. They're here to stay. And I was super excited to see it, which is partly why I got involved in volunteering, just because it was just so well organized and well done that you could tell that they really wanted to be here in San Diego.

Aw, thanks, Michi.

Yeah, at the beginning it was hard because we didn't know, like, you know, how do we get companies to host our events? How do you even host an event? You know, what do we talk about? How do we plan it? But we had a lot of support from women Code Global on Get It Started, and we work a lot on, you know, the best flow and how to reach out to companies. But I have to say that, you know, a lot of companies are actually now reach out to us to host events, which is great. So it's really good to see the support of the community from volunteers to hosting companies. Like, we couldn't do this without that support.

What's the kind of typical profile of someone, like, attending? Is it individual, contributor, manager, higher up, all the above? Like, what does that look like for kind of your audience?

It's really all of the above. We have a mix of different backgrounds. We have some people that are just starting out and they're trying to figure out if tech is right for them. We have some people that have been. That are ic that have been doing this for years. We have some people that are starting their own companies. Managers. It's definitely a really diverse group of people in every way that you can have diversity from age, race, backgrounds, all of it, which is, I think, what makes the community really special.

That's awesome. What's some of the content that people can expect to hear? I mean, is it all presentations or. Yeah, take us through kind of the experience of coming to an event.

So prior to the pandemic, we used to host our events at companies around San Diego. Whoever would be generous enough to for those events, they would be like presentations about technology topics, general software engineering principles, or cloud computing. We've had a data science workshop, a lot of different topics that some are escaping me right now. Since the pandemic started and everyone had to do the shelter at home, Women who Code Global takes safety very seriously. So as a global organization, they told us we're moving everything online. So all of our events are on Zoom until at least 2022. And they're constantly evaluating the state of the pandemic. So hopefully soon we'll be able to go back to having in person events. But for now it's on zoom. And for our Zoom events, we're still doing techtalks and workshops. And some of my favorite events are our bring your own project nights where a bunch of women come together and we all bring our own projects or stuff we wanted to study or stuff we wanted to review or practice. And we just kind of work on our own things, but still in a zoom collaborative environment. And if we have questions, we can ask other people about their opinions. And it's a really cool environment that we can provide even during a global pandemic.

Yeah, it's got to be so hard to know consistency of who's going to show up and if the event, you know, down the road, what it's going to be like, that's got to be tough to plan. So I totally get that. And it's great to be flexible. Like you guys are. What's it, I mean, besides the in person versus virtual, like what does the future look like? Is there new kinds of programming you want to do or new audiences you're trying to tap into to kind of bring out for the future of women who code in San Diego?

So we try to be flexible even with the program. Like we obviously we're trying to reach out to as many women in allies as possible. Everyone is welcome to our events. Like we mentioned, we hope to create like a positive environment for all the minorities in tech. So we try to, you know, create an environment where everyone feels welcome, that's like our goal even for the future. And as programs like, we try to be flexible and as Gillian mentioned, like, we try to, you know, offer different type of types of events. So we have. We generally go from talks, tech talks, to lightning talks. We have work workshops. Sometimes we even branch off into different topics. Like we had. Sorry, I don't remember her name, but she offered like a financial workshop for tech woman that was really interested. So we really try to offer and be diverse, even in our programs so that we can interest a diverse group of attendees.

I've got to imagine during the pandemic, we've seen a lot of people physically move either into town or move out of town. Have you noticed any trend in terms of who's joining these virtual events or more. More women moving to San Diego in the tech world? I'm curious if you have. If you've seen anything around that.

I think I've seen both. We've definitely had some attendees that have left San Diego. And the one great thing about being remote is they can still attend our events even though they're not physically here. We've had some attendees that joined us from different states and different cities because they wanted to move to San Diego and they're trying to find a community. And some of those people have, in fact, since then moved to San Diego. So I think it's a mix. People that want to go into the country are doing that. I've had some friends that have left San Diego and gone to places that are a lot more affordable. I think a lot of people during the pandemic and stay at home that want to get in tech. They use that time to start learning software development and then joining groups like Women who Code and find that community and then getting different jobs and moving to places like San Diego because of that.

That's great. I mean, I think I don't want to speak for your three companies, but it seems like tech in general is just hiring and hiring in San Diego. So we need the talent. And now to be able to have it open to being able to work remote, it's great, right? To work for San Diego companies, but work from where you want. That opens up our talent pool a little bit. And then to have a landing spot for community like women who code is great too, right? So you could be elsewhere in the world, but also be connected to San Diegan's if that's something you want to be connected to. So that's great. How can the community help? You know, we've got listeners who run companies Work for companies, want to start companies, you know, all the above. What's the best way for the community to help you out and get involved with women who code San Diego?

The number one thing is to attend and support our events. Like, we love seeing everyone. We love seeing repeat attendees come. And that just tells us that we're doing a good job and people are coming back. We also love seeing new people and meeting new people. So our goal is to make sure that the community is super welcoming. We want everyone to feel supportive. We've even heard from some of our male colleagues who come to our events that they feel like our group is a lot more supportive and welcoming than some of the other organizations around the San Diego area because those can be intimidating for women and other men as well. So just to have that welcoming atmosphere is something we strive for. So attending our events is a way to help us out and get started with women who code. And another thing you can do is encourage your women colleagues to attend our events because that shows that you, speaking from a company point of view, support your women colleagues and women employees that you're like, hey, check out this organization. It's made up of women and maybe other underrepresented minorities that are like you. So there might not be other people at the company that you can talk to about what you're going through, but there is this organization. And so we want to let you know that this exists and we support you in that way.

Yeah. And we're also always looking for speakers. So if you want to, if you're passionate about a tech topic and you want to give a talk, like, reach out to us, we will accommodate that. We also know one day when we will be able to host events in person. Hopefully next year we will need hosting companies. So if your company in the future would love to host us, we will more than happy to be there. So those are also great ways to support us other than, yes, please attend our event. We really love to see everyone there.

Is there an online community like a Slack group for the San Diego chapter or anything like that that people can get involved in, like in between events? Or is it really the events where people can.

Yes, we do have a women who code Slack. There's like a special form that you have to fill out in order to be added to it. But a good way to contact us is san diegoamenwhocode.com that's our email address. That'll go to all three co directors. And then the best place to keep up with our upcoming events is to Join our meetup group. That's where we post all of our events. You'll get updates whenever we post new ones.

Okay, got it. We'll make sure we put that in the show notes. You know, as remote as we all are and on zoom. We all are, we all gotta eat. And to eat in San Diego means to eat tacos. Which means we gotta know, do y' all have your favorite taco spots? Michi, you first.

So my favorite taco spot, I've actually only been to once. It's a new favorite. My wife recommended it to me. It's called Birria El Rey in Golden Hill. She used to go there all the time. She would talk about it, like, every day. So she finally took me there a couple weeks ago. And I can tell you, if I could choose any place to get a taco from right now, it would be Birri El Rey. They are fantastic.

Love it. Jillian, how about you?

So I'm more of a burrito person and I love the California burritos at Jalapenos in Carmel Mountain Ranch. Their carne asada is amazing. It's the best I've ever had. So that's my recommendation.

Ooh, I'm a Cali burrito fan, too. Putting it on the list. And Liza, how about you?

Yes. See, for me, this is a hard question because I'm a vegetarian, and I found that the Mexican food is not really vegetarian friendly, at least in most places. So when I live downtown, I used to get tacos at Lolitas by the park. So it was good and quick. But unfortunately, I don't have a great recommendation. But I might try the place that Michi suggested if they do have vegetarian options. I usually go to Lovinata. They have, you know, a vegan California burrito in tacos, and those are really good. But I'm open, like, you know, if you have any recommendation for good vegetarian tacos, I'll go there.

From our taco database that we have for the podcast, a few come to mind around this Puesto is known for some pretty good vegetarian vegan options, as well as, I believe, city tacos. I think also have vegan, vegetarian, and even taco stand.

So perfect. I'll try to. So I'll be prepared for next time.

Exactly. Come back and give us your reviews. There's a taco for every place and every person and it being Taco Tuesday. We really appreciate you guys being on the podcast. So thank you and thank you for the great work you're doing in the community. Really appreciate it and look forward to continuing to support and hopefully coming to an event sometime too. I'd love to join in.

We'd love to have you join. Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

From Couch Surfing, thanks for joining us.

On the Tacos and Tech podcast with Neil Bloom. Thanks again to Cox Business for helping make this possible by expanding the reach of the San Diego tech ecosystem. Big shout out to School of Rap for our rad intro music and this podcast is edited and mixed by Patrick Norton at citizenrecording.com youm can find Neil Bloom on Twitter eelbloom and on LinkedIn as well as well as fresh brewed tech and tacos in tech Pod on Twitter too.

Party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, tacos in tech. You know we got it.

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