More Dogs and Bears and Chickens and Things: Invite your colleagues to Pablo’s Fiesta

If you work with developers who are women, please tell them about the Los Techies Open Space conference, coming up at the end of February. If you’ve attended an event like this in the past, you’re already aware of some facts:

• The Austin developer community is vibrant, engaged, and constantly striving to improve our craft. We’ve got a good thing going here.
• The quality of the conversations and the value of the event far outstrip the price of admission; it would be a bargain at twice the price.
• Women are way under-represented.

Early in my career, I wasn’t tapped into the information channels that announce events like this. I didn’t go because I just didn’t know about them. My friend and colleague Josh Flanagan made a point of letting me know, and encouraging me to go, and showing that it was not only okay but right to ask my employer to send me to such things.

Attending conferences has made a huge difference in my growth as a developer and in my career. It brought me into the on-going conversation in the developer community. It exposed me to new practices and new technologies, which I brought back to the team. Please do the same favor for your women co-workers that Josh did for me: Tell them about Pablo’s Fiesta and encourage them to sign up.

Bringing women into the mix brings new, diverse ideas into the conversation, new skillsets to the community, more role models for our kids. The conference will be improved by spicing up the guest list. Although I’m focusing on women here, reach out to any of your colleagues who “don’t usually go to these things.” New voices mean new synergy, which means more learning and more fun.

And you. Sign up, your own self. It’ll be great.

If you have any questions about Pablo’s Fiesta, or about whether you’d enjoy it, please feel free to post them here, and I’ll get the answers for you.