Are women underrepresented in the tech sector —fantasy or reality? In addition to the Women in Tech survey, we released a diversity collection to bring your attention to the most inspirational and effective women in the tech scene. Today, we want you to fulfill Agnès Crepet, co-founder of the Ninja Squad and Java Champion.
Is tech a boys-most effective club? So it seems. But the light of clever and powerful girls is ultimately shining vividly. We root for excellence and justice; we need meritocracy to win. This is our manner of giving women in tech a shout-out.
The research observed via The National Center for Women & Information Technology showed that “gender variety has specific blessings in era settings,” which may explain why tech businesses have begun to invest in tasks that intend to reinforce the number of women candidates, recruit them in an extra effective way, hold them for longer, and allow them to advance. But is it sufficient?
Agnès Crepet, co-founder at Ninja Squad and Java Champion
Agnes is an activist. A Java activist is first and main! For 15 years, she has loved constructing Java architectures and implementing them. She was nominated Java Champion in 2012. She co-founded Ninja-Squad in 2012, a group of passionate builders proudly creating software with Java and JS. She works additionally for an Engineering faculty, Mines Saint-Etienne, on Web programming publications and Agile pedagogy. She’s energetic within the network because she enjoys getting to know and sharing. She was the leader of the Lyon Java User Group for five years. She leads Duchess France, a group that connects women in IT and objectives to offer extra visibility to lady builders. She also organizes the MiXiT convention, blending ultra-modern technologies, Maker sports, and Agility, which she co-founded in 2011.
What was given to you by generation?
There was no PC in my circle of relatives after I was young. I’m in my forties, and 25 years ago, the internet was no longer so sizable. So, all through my teenage years, I had no computer & no internet at home (and I’m alive 😉 ). Thankfully, throughout my primary school, I discovered the Basic way to a large French Educational Program for Teaching Computer Science at college! And when I was 18, a few buddies confirmed the staggering global of Open Source. I discovered Linux, and I became so impressed by this opportunity environment and the opportunity to create software with others. At that point, I became passionate about the brain and artificial intelligence. The “Deep Blue” chess gadget defeated the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. I desired to recognize the way it turned into viable… I selected to study cognitive sciences and software program engineering 😉
At the end of my research in artificial intelligence and software engineering, I had a Ph.D. Scholarship for research work in Artificial Intelligence; however, I didn’t accept it. The height of the hobby for startups came about in France at the beginning of the 2000s. I became bathed in this “appealing” world and changed into searching ahead to discover the industry’s work. A little more than 15 years later, I think it can have been an excellent concept to take this opportunity to do a Ph.D., maybe sooner or later; it’s in no way too past due… 😉
After my research, I worked as a software program writer for three years. I changed into lucky due to the fact I did several present-day studies for this business enterprise; I located Hibernate in its early days (2001) 😉 I chose to work for an IT offerings organization for four years and then for the IT branch of a pharmaceutical laboratory. While working for this ultimate enterprise, and after a sabbatical where I made a one-year international journey, I released my company five years ago: Ninja Squad. It took me ten years to release my company. The biggest impediment I’ve had to overcome turned into myself and my academic heritage! It took me ten years to remember the fact that quitting a corporate activity isn’t the beginning of the end but the beginning of an existence that I’ve selected 😉
Inspiring human beings
I hooked several pals on Open Source when I turned in my twenties. I found this ecosystem and became very curious about this global’s ethical and political side! When I did my studies in artificial intelligence at the end of my research, I became coached by using a Ph.D. Scholar, a female, Emmanuelle (Emmanuelle is now a notable researcher in Artificial Intelligence)! She inspired me a lot. She turned into a ninja in coding. I thought that if she had made it, why couldn’t I?
After eight years in my career, I met an exquisite guy, Cédric, who was very active in the Java Community and was the main of the Lyon Java User Group. I commenced to steer this person group with him, and we co-founded the conference of our desires: MiXiT. Cedric taught me about Duchess France, an association that sells girls, builders, and women in IT. With him, I embraced the superb side of our process: the builder’s groups make our task interesting and open to lifelong knowledge!
And because not anything is best …
I’ve had an almost horrific supervisor enjoy a guy who controlled me turned into, without a doubt, harmful (misogynist, no longer inspiring). He didn’t surely try to stop me from advancing in my career. However, he didn’t do anything for my development or the development of my technical talents. But in fact, it changed into a pretty good enjoyment: I’ve pulled myself collectively in a way that he never concept feasible 😉 I think nobody had ever tried to prevent me from getting to know you because “learning to research” is my motto 😉
A day in Agnès’ lifestyles
Most of the week, I’m a Teacher in an Engineering School in Computer Sciences (I’m specifically in the rate of Web Programming, Git, Spring, …) and in Agile Management (Scrum, Lean Startup). So, an average workday with college students is in a study room. Still, besides my publications, I lead this Engineering School, the Department of Learning Innovation (multidisciplinary crew with documentalists, pedagogy engineers & developers). Through one-of-a-kind tasks, I try to carry humans collectively to explore extra agile and progressive studying practices.
Every week, I paint for a few non-income projects in my business enterprise, Ninja Squad. For example, we are developing an application for affiliation, a healthcare center that facilitates migrant people. The assignment close to my heart in my expert lifestyle is the company I co-founded, Ninja Squad, although I don’t think there is a workload for it right now. Five years ago, the opposite co-founders and I dreamed about a cooperative employer without managers or sales associates. An organization wherein every person should have an identical voice and time to do their tasks or contain themselves into projects that could thrill us (although it’s voluntary work for nonprofit organizations). The organization has been going for walks thoroughly for the past five years. The magical component is that we, co-founders, have a percentage of the same values, approximately existence-stability, preference for our initiatives, and risk-taking…These co-founders are very inspiring humans for me, and I’m fortunate to work carefully with them.
Why aren’t there more women in tech?
So, past what I hear each day, inclusive of “women don’t have the best brain for method” (don’t forget the “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber” manifesto), I tried to recognize why there aren’t so many women in tech. The first rationalization can be linked to ladies’ education and curriculum selections. Some stereotypes are anchored within the family and the education atmosphere: parents or teachers, on occasion unconsciously, may not encourage women to choose tech research. “It’s not for you, sweetie; it can be too tough.” An Indonesian lady, a pal of mine, said to me that in Indonesia, little girls may want to repair the family vehicle with their mother and father; it’s not interesting just for her brother; it’s now not too dirty for the women (in keeping with the hacker rank survey “Which Countries Have the Most Female Developers?”, Indonesia has ranked ninth, United Kingdom 23 and France 26!)
Another rationalization should come from the commonplace representations of the “geek,” who’s often a man, younger, hooked on universes that include heroïc-delusion or technology fiction. Women are not nicely represented (they may be just bodily appealing characters with tight garments). They aren’t an effective element for encouraging girls in tech.
Diversity is first-rate for innovation! I believe that creativity would spread more if there had been greater variety in tech, not only gender variety but also cultural diversity! As Tim Berners-Lee stated: “We need various concepts in the international to stand the brand new challenges.”
Obstacles ladies running in tech face
A huge assignment for ladies in tech is to fight in opposition to stereotypes to combat a not-so-welcoming surrounding. Even if a few people say that tech isn’t for them, even though the geek universes (especially at school) aren’t so female-pleasant, women should experiment with this discipline to find their vicinity. I examined a few pieces of research demonstrating that they may be extra extroverted and cooperative during ladies-only tech classes. They take more because they’re more assured [1]. I suppose self-assurance is fundamental; ladies must overcome the impostor’s syndrome and be persuaded that they are not professionals in Computer Science!
