You can go to PyCON AU for free! Apply by Wednesday 13th!!

Posted on July 11, 2011 by katsbud

Do you use Python and want to go to the Python Conference on Sat and Sun 20-21st August 2011?

The organising committee of PyCON AU have secured some extra money so they can offer two ‘gender diversity grants’ this year.   What this means is that two awesome female Python devotees can head to the conference for free, and one of the two will also have their travel and accommodation costs covered!   Good deal for us!

The organisers have extended the deadline for entries to noon on Wednesday so if you are interested, please complete this form today.  This is an opportunity to increase the representation of women in the open source community and we all know from the last GGD how important that is.

Please pass this information on!

I spoke with Tim (one of the organisers today) and he said that only had a handful (literally 5) people had applied and that he would leave the application site open until noon on Wednesday 13th,  incase there were others that had missed the cut off.

More information can be found at http://pycon-au.org/2011/grants/

 

 

 

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YOW! Night on Tuesday 5th July

Posted on July 4, 2011 by katsbud

Guest post by Lisa Cumes from YOW!

Hey ladies (and guys),

We have an upcoming YOW! Night on Tuesday 5 July here in Sydney.  Our invited speaker is Udi Dahan aka The Software Simplist, an internationally renowned expert on software architecture and design.  A solutions architecture and connected systems MVP, 5 years in a row, Udi is also one of 33 experts in Europe recognized by the International .NET Association.

He is speaking on Hidden NServiceBus Gems: Although NServiceBus has been around for a while, many developers are only familiar with the top-level public API.  Join Udi Dahan for a look into some of the lesser known capabilities of NServiceBus that just might save you from having to reinvent the wheel.

YOW! Nights are an opportunity for the developer community to get together regardless of which user group you ‘belong’ to.  The talks are generally cross platform appealing to a wide audience and always vendor neutral.   We take advantage of International speakers who are in Australia working or training and invite them to speak to the developer community.  Add to this food, drinks and a relaxed pub atmosphere and you have a formula for a great night. It’s a unique opportunity to meet other developers, network and maybe even find a new job (if you’re looking).

Join us on Tuesday from 5.30pm, you can register online at http://yownightsyddahan.eventbrite.com/ and if you use the discount code GGD it’s only $5.

Hope to see you there!

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Live-streaming of tonight’s Google Girl Geek Dinners Sydney event

Posted on June 30, 2011 by acarleton

We are looking forward to seeing all of you at tonight’s Girl Geek Dinners Sydney event at Google.  But if you cannot make it, please note  we will be live-streaming from 6pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (check the time in your local timezone here) at either of the following URLs;

http://view.streamti.me/GGDSydney
or
http://www.justin.tv/ggdsydney

We will also be uploading videos of the talk to YouTube shortly after the event to the GoogleFOSSSydney channel.

The system has twitter and IRC integration, so
•    tweet with #GGDSydney
•    join the irc://irc.freenode.org/#ggdsydney IRC channel
•    webchat at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=ggdsydney

Thanks to Tim ‘mithro’ Ansell for making this happen!

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GPN – Girls’ Programming Network

Posted on June 8, 2011 by katsbud
Blog post by Nicky Ringland.
*
The Girls’ Programming Network (GPN) is an extra-curricular program for high school girls in years 9-12 interested in computers and technology. Managed by a group of female IT students and alumni from the School of  Information Technology at the University of Sydney, GPN runs on Tuesday afternoons each term, investigating different topics in the world of computers and teaching students to program in Python. 

GPN students have dis- and re-assembled computers, written chatbots, android applications and both text and graphics based games, learnt about cryptography, networking, algorithms, encoding methods, image manipulation, table-top computers and a host of other topics. This term we are focusing on interactive web development, with students learning how to write and deploy dynamic web sites.  No previous programming knowledge is assumed, with extension activities and lectures designed for more advanced students.

The ability not only to use computers but to be a true creator of technology is quickly becoming a valuable skill for students interested in any career, including science, engineering, arts and medicine.  For a number of reasons, girls tend to become expert users of technology, but rarely independently take steps to explore creating and developing technology in their own time.  This leads to an imbalance in confidence at university, as boys frequently have substantial previous experience in programming and IT.  Coupled with the gender imbalance of technology based university enrolments, some girls find choosing Information Technology degrees daunting.  The purpose of GPN is to provide an opportunity to develop their technical skills and social network so they can pursue their interest in IT with confidence. 

GPN is an excellent opportunity for students to move beyond being users of technology and learn to be the designers and builders of technology, to move ahead of the typical user and employ both advanced technical skills and creative expression.  It lets girls explore computer science in an encouraging, fast-paced atmosphere, and gives the girls the chance to meet new friends with similar interests, find female university studentsas mentors, and find out about university life. It offers girls a chance to explore a field many of them may not have otherwise considered.


If you know any tech-minded teenage girls in Sydney, be they daughters,  nieces, cousins or family friends, please pass this on to them!  If you, or they, have any questions, email us at girls at it.usyd.edu.au 
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Google GGD is full up!

Posted on May 26, 2011 by katsbud

We are unfortunately no longer able to accept any more regos for the
Google GGD on 30 June. Emails going out to all respondents soon!

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Girl Geek Dinner – 30th June 2011

Posted on May 21, 2011 by acarleton
Girl Geek Sydney Girl Geek Dinner

Girl Geek Sydney would like to invite you to
a winter Girl Geek Dinner
The girl geeks at Google (say that 3 times fast) have organized an evening of networking, lightning talks, and gaming with a keynote from Mary Gardiner from the Ada Initiative.

 

The evening will start off with networking and snacks followed by Mary’s keynote. Next will be a dinner break followed by lightning talks. The evening will end with more networking in the Google game room.

This is going to be a great evening and we hope you can attend. There are only 50 spots so please RSVP now using the link below but please do not disappoint other Girl Geeks by RSVPing and then cancelling.

We are still looking for a sponsor to cover drinks for the evening. Please contact us if you are interested or know of someone we could contact.  **Suncorp have saved the day!!  Thank you Suncorp for your generous sponsorship!
Meet other geeky girls!
Learn something!
Have fun!
What: Girl Geek Dinner
Where: Google Sydney, Level 5, 48 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. There will be more information at the door to help you get in.
When: Thursday 30 June 2011. Talks start at 7:00 but don’t miss the nibbles and drinks first from 6pm!
Thanks to: Google for their sponsorship of this event.

Please click here to RSVP

Sponsored by Google AND Suncorp
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ACS Women: The effects of underpaying staff on the ICT industry

Posted on May 10, 2011 by katsbud

ACS WOMEN
The effects of underpaying staff on the ICT industry

When: Tuesday 24 May 2011, 6:30 – 7:30pm
Where: Level 11 , 50 Carrington Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000

What: In this presentation Linda Zeelie will explore the possible impact pay equity could have on this equation for Australia and how this impacts not only the economy but YOU – no matter what your gender.

Sign up: http://www.acs.org.au/nsw/index.cfm?action=event&area=9001&temID=eventdetails&eveID=30194085675222

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Girl Geek Dinner – March 2011

Posted on April 1, 2011 by acarleton
Almost 150 girl geeks showed up for a full night of talks at the Aerial Function Centre at UTS.
Girl Geeks Mingling

 

For many, Lynn Kraus (right – top), partner at Ernst & Young was one of the highlights of the evening with her talk on breaking the glass ceiling. Lynn encouraged organizations to be flexible about working conditions and encouraged women to champion their own cause. One of our favourite quotes was "My mother always told me to never grow a wishbone when you should have grown a backbone."

Jo Smail (right – bottom), also from Ernst & Young, talked about managing your career and salary negotiation. Did you know that men initiate salary discussions four times as often as women? And that women who consistently negotiate their salaries earn an average of $1m more during their careers? Yes, you heard that right!

Emily Baxter (right – middle right), @EmilyCBaxter,
Business Concerto, gave an energizing talk on taking the wannabe out of wannabe Girl Geek but it was abbreviated as the evening ran late. Hopefully we can get her to speak again soon.

 

The twitter wall was a favourite addition to the event, thanks @nerdgerl for setting it up. #girlgeeksyd trended on the evening and a prize was given to the most prolific tweeter, @piawaugh.

You can replay it all on the girl geek sydney web site.

 

 

On the technical side, Cathy Lill (right – top), @cathyblabla, Yahoo, showed us 5 cool things we might not know about HTML5 including semantic tags and a drag n drop demo.

Wouter Veugelen (right – middle), @veugelenw, Ernst & Young, made a pitch for women interested in IT security to contact him before starting his talk. Some found his shoes boring but his cyber security talk went down well with the techie girlies who tweeted their own stories of network sniffing and prank "hacks".

Pia Waugh (right – bottom), @piawaugh, spoke to us about the NBN proposal. She left us hopeful for a future of amazing Internet speeds and jealous of her shiny new motorcycle.

 

The evening finished off with more food, drinks and networking.

Yes, we got your feedback, more food next time, and earlier! And not so many awesome speakers in one night, even a super girl geek cannot sit still forever! And signs so you don’t get stuck by the elevators. You don’t have the ability to teleport… yet.

We do listen to your feedback so if you haven’t yet given
feedback about the event, please do so.

What’s next?!?
Google will be sponsoring a Girl Geek Dinner in June!

We are always looking for event sponsors and speakers, both technical and non-technical. If you know of a company that might be interested or an interesting speaker or topic, please contact us at girlgeeksydney@gmail.com. Do it now, we need your help!

Thanks to:
Girl Geek Sydney organizer: Kellie Scott, Allison Carleton
Ernst & Young organizer: Ana Roxas
Event initiator: Lorna White
Photographer: Carleen Seeto – All her awesome photos are on flickr
The Ernst & Young team: Hayley Cresswell
Miscellaneous Girl Geeks: Kate Carruthers, Claudia Mikelian, Cathie McGinn, Georgi Knox, Jason Yip, Mark Cahill, Thomas Given-Wilson
Aerial Function Centre at UTS: Sally Grady

Keep in touch:
Follow us on twitter
Sign up for our newsletter
Join the facebook group
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Girl Geek Dinner – 10th March 2011

Posted on February 23, 2011 by acarleton
Girl Geek Sydney Girl Geek Dinner

Girl Geek Sydney would like to invite you to
the first Girl Geek Dinner of 2011!
The girl geek ninjas have finally subdued holidays and homework with their flying kicks and are ready for the first girl geek dinner of 2011.  To help celebrate International Women’s Day we have organised a fun-filled event full of tech talks and a special section on softer skills as requested by some of you last year.

Do you know the difference between an opportunistic and a persistent threat?  Is your website vulnerable to cross-site scripting kicks or SQL injection punches?  The main tech talk will demo some of the moves used by crackers (or hackers!) in recent cyber attacks.

Also, Pia Waugh, one of our original girl geeks, is coming up from Canberra to talk about the much debated National Broadband Network!

Lastly, we may also have a star appearance from OzGDI javascript teacher: Cathy Lill…

On the non-tech front, many of you wanted tips and tricks on softer skills so we have managed to score the below talks:

  • Salary negotiation: Find out what you are worth and get it
  • Smash the glass ceiling: What has really worked for Lynn Kraus, partner at Ernst & Young (with a Q&A so have your questions ready)
  • Coaching: Emily Baxter, girl geek turned life coach will give a short talk

As always there will be opportunities to network but you’ve got to be on time because there are lots of topics!
Meet other geeky girls!
Learn something!
Have fun!
What:  Girl Geek Dinner
Where:  Aerial UTS Function Centre, level 7, UTS building 10.  Enter at 235 Jones St, Ultimo Foyer, take the lift to level 7.
When:  Thursday 10 March 2011.  Talks start at 6:30 but don’t miss the nibbles and drinks first from 6pm!
Ninja thanks to:  Ernst & Young for their sponsorship of this event.

RSVP is now closed.

Ernst & Young
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2011 – Happenings…

Posted on February 16, 2011 by serengetisunset

First things first. Happy 2011!

We’ve been a little bit quiet on the blog front over the holiday season, but behind the scenes January has been a hectic month arranging loads of cool stuff for you to attend this year…

The first sponsored event (thanks to: Ernst & Young) is almost ready, and the date has been locked in for Thursday 10th March. All we’re letting on for now is that it’ll be a traditional Girl Geek Dinner, and more details will come shortly!

Monthly drinks will continue to be held on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Aurora Hotel, starting this Thursday 17th February. We’re sticking to the Aurora for now, but if anybody has any suggestions for somewhere different (and central), please let us know.

Some other events coming up in the tech landscape that you might be interested in:

February 18
Silicon Beach
http://www.meetup.com/Silicon-Beach

February 18-20
Urgent Genius Weekend – Are you a genius?
http://urgentgenius.com

February 24
SydPHP
http://sydphp.org

March 18-21
Rails Camp NZ
http://railscamps.com/#nz_wel_mar_2011

On-going:
Girl Develop IT Sydney (OzGDI)
Want to learn how to code? Have a great idea? Don’t be shy. Develop it.
http://www.meetup.com/girldevelopit-sydney/

Lastly, don’t forget to follow us on @ggdsydney for news and other tech goings on.

See you in a bit!

The Girl Geek Sydney Crew

P.S. Ada Lovelace Day is no longer in March. As of this year, it’s been moved to October. Until then, keep on rockin’, and celebrating the achievements of women in technology. If you see something you like, or someone doing great work, give them a shout out!

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