I am Emily Johnston, Google Software Engineer and, as my name implies, a woman. Throughout my career, I have observed an occasional popular interest with Women in Technology (WiT), often as one-off pieces written from an outsider’s perspective talking to other outsiders about how rare and special it is to be a woman in technology, and wouldn’t it be great if there were more women around here? I full-heartedly agree (Spoiler alert: if you don’t, you will probably find this blog pretty tedious), and I would like to take that conversation a little deeper.

I’m not trying to hate on the non-engineers who are trying to tell the story of women in engineering. It’s wonderful! I’ve also found there’s a lot of coverage of women entrepreneurs, which is another rare find in industry, but it’s not quite the same story. But when I was in high school wondering what to do with my life, or even now when I wonder what I’m doing with my life, I wish there was more depth to the women in tech experience that shows up in the media.

To be clear, there are some fantastic ongoing blogs and feeds from some great women in tech. This morning I discovered Gail Carmichael’s Blog on her experiences as a PhD student in CS… and that’s about all I’ve got. Please let me know if I’m missing fantastic women in tech blogs! But I have looked and looked, and they are rarer than a woman in a CS class.

If you are a woman in tech that I already know, beware that I will be coming for your contributions. If you are a woman in tech and have something to contribute, let me know! Oh, and like the Grace Hopper Celebration and Smart Girls at the Party, we’ll end a lot of blog posts with a Dance Party!

In the spirit of changing women’s minds to join tech, I’m partying to Let Me Change Your Mind by Zed Bias feat. Jenna G:
Let me change your mind ft. Jenna G