Today is Wednesday at the PASS Summit, and that can only mean one thing: women are buying my lunch!
Every Wednesday during the PASS Summit there is a Women in Technology luncheon. I have been attending them for years now but with each passing year my interest in the topics grows due to the fact that I have a daughter. As much as I want my daughter to find her own path in life, I need to make certain that she is aware that she can choose any path she wants.
Last week I took part in a Tweetup sponsored by NASA. Part of the event involved having various members of NASA stop by for a talk. We listened to astronauts, control directors, and even a “flow director” (FD). What is an FD? Great question!
A flow director is someone that is responsible for the preparation of a spacecraft for launch. I was fortunate to have Stephanie Stilson drop by to chat with us about her responsibilities and duties as an FD. Essentially the FD oversees everything and everyone involved in launching a shuttle. I was immediately struck by two things (and no, one of them is not that she is a woman). Those things were:
- She is responsible for about 1,000 people who help prepare the shuttle for launch.
- She is one of 3 FDs, and all of them are women.
That’s right, all three FDs at NASA are women. Each of them have more responsibility than most CEOs. Think about it. How many CEOs do you know that are responsible for the actions of 1,000 people? How many CEOs go to sleep at night with the idea that is something goes wrong then someone may die as a result? Not many. Most CEOs go to bed at night after finding a way to “earn” more money to pay for yet another yacht that they will never use.
And while on the flight to Seattle last Saturday I was going through the latest copy of MSDN magazine. In the current issue I found an article from Julie Lerman about using the entity framework with SQL Azure. There was also an article from Lynn Langit on how to get started with SQL Azure development. It seems that everywhere I look I see examples of women in technology. And every time I come across another one it makes me think about my daughter and how lucky I am that I have so many examples to use as reference points for her.
I’m looking forward to lunch today and learning more about how I can help my daughter as she grows older. She may not have any desire to be involved in technology at all, and that’s fine with me. The other day she asked my why they’re weren’t any girls playing baseball on TV and then said “when I grow up I want to play baseball”. She is smart enough and athletic enough to do whatever she wants to do in life. I just want to make sure I can help her get wherever she wants to go.
And attending the WIT luncheon is a great place for me to get ideas, to ask questions, and get some feedback on how well we are doing so far.
[Almost forgot this one: http://www.justin.tv/nasatweetup/b/273060221, go to 3:20 in and listen to what they say about the one (and only) perfect landing in the history of the shuttle]
