Timea Turdean BELONGin
Huma Hamid Cisco
Carolyn Stransky Meeshkan
Barbara Herndler
Ulrike Strommer Cloudflight
Andra Bria
Daniela Hellmann Cloudflight
Diversity - Equality - Inclusion: Diversity in the workplace is more than raising the women´s quota or having employees of different backgrounds. Inclusion has to the be the goal in order to fully grasp the strengths and knowledge that each individual employee has. Do you agree and what does this mean for you specifically? Let´s develop a roadmap for a successful Diversity Management Strategy for a modern working world together! Initially we will give an introduction into the topic (definition, status quo, figures, best practice examples etc.) and then we will work with the participants on the topic, exchange and discuss ideas and experiences and develop possible strategies!
The workshop is about basics in programming. Participants will learn what is an algorithm and the most important commands: if/else/when/for. They will also test it in practice 'coding' some tasks for the robot with prepared cards.
Timea Turdean Co-founder, BELONGin
"In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln. Timea is the co-founder of Women Techmakers Vienna and is currently building a social startup. Her two big passions are knowledge representation and community. Lately she focuses on topics like leadership and diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIBs).
Career transition is more common in tech than we think and without a practical goal and a strategic plan in place, it can be an overwhelming experience for many. Some people may think about switching domains forever but the will never make the move due to the fear of failure. That can eventually lead to a mediocre career where verticle or horizontal growth becomes stagnant. While transitioning requires self-discipline and planning but in order to do this effectively and successfully, the power of a supportive professional network, mentoring and sponsorship cannot be undermined. This talk takes a practical approach towards successfully achieving that goal.
Huma Hamid Technical Product Manager, Cisco
Huma Hamid is a tech-maker by heart a volunteer by soul, with a passion to build digital products, platforms, teams, and communities. She is currently part of the platform technology group within Learning@Cisco as a technical product manager, and the Cofounder and former President at Pakistani Women in Computing (PWiC), a USA based non-profit organization, and an AnitB.org affiliated global STEM community. During her 15+ years of journey in tech, she has been part of several R&D and engineering groups focused on building digital platforms and products to serve industries like infrastructure and construction engineering, network and communication engineering, digital learning and customer experience. In tech, she has led a curiosity-driven career and wore multiple hats across all the different stages of a software development life cycle. She believes in taking charge of her personal development and growth and providing equal access to learning and growth opportunities for everyone . Huma is also part of several global STEM communities and actively volunteers for causes impacting people and technology.
We often generate and evaluate product ideas based on what we know, and, in consequence, based on our biases. But every design decision we make can raise or lower barriers to participation in society. If we use our own biases as a starting point, we end up with products designed for people of a certain age, gender, language and physical ability. Inclusive design is a method of designing products, services and experiences that draws on the full spectrum of human diversity.
Andra Bria ,
My approach to problem-solving is social science meets technology meets creative culture. I use it from advising early stage startups on how to launch their business and optimise their product to top brands on how to communicate and innovate. I also use it for my own entrepreneurial endeavours.
Mind control seems like a far-fetched idea from science fiction films, but what many people don't realize is that we already possess the technology to control computers with only our thoughts. The field of Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) is creating some very exciting possibilities, especially for people who are physically disabled and unable to move and/or communicate. This talk will give you an introduction to the basic concepts of BCI and how our team at the University of Vienna is applying brain wave analysis and machine learning in order for paralyzed patients to control a computer game with only their thoughts.
Melanie Balaz Software Developer, Erste Group IT
Melanie Balaz works as Software Developer and studies Informatics at the University of Vienna. She is particularly interested in combining IT and science and is currently involved in an Neuroinformatics research project working with EEG and paralysed patients. She is very passionate about sharing knowledge and getting people excited about the endless possibilities of technology.
Women can be superheros too! Women in STEM are also able to make significant contributions to society and be successful in a male dominant environment. Engineering is about developing technologies in order to make an impact on the daily lives everyone in the world. Furthermore, women in STEM are able to achieve this without losing their femininity.
Barbara Herndler ,
I am a female engineer who has been working in the engineering sector since 2011. I originally come from South Africa, where I started my career as an Engineer in Training (EIT) when working at a power station (generation). I then moved into the electrical distribution environment where I was a performance enhancement engineer. In this role I was responsible for improving the performance of the electricity distribution networks (eg, fault finding, analysis and problem solving). This included conducting various line inspections and cable replacement. My work also included finding solutions to ensure that large birds (vultures, eagles etc) are not harmed by electrical apparatus. I then moved to Austria, where I began working within a research environment. In this role I have worked on EU projects which investigates new smart grid technologies. I have a good perception of the differences between first world and third world technologies within the electrical engineering sector. I have worked in a male dominant environment and have presented a presentation where I have shown that one is able to be a successful women in engineering, without the need to lose ones femininity.
Ever wondered why people devote their spare time to Open Source projects? Did you know that communities need developers and non developers alike? Ever thought about a career in the tech industry but didn't know how to get started? Join my talk & learn more about my story of personal and professional growth through non-code contribution to Open Source.
Ulrike Strommer Requirements Engineer/Product Owner and Scrum Master, Cloudflight
Ulrike joined her first open source project 7 years ago and quickly became involved, currently as Vice Chairman of Drupal Austria. In 2017 she co-founded Open Minds - the Austrian Open Source Award & Open Source Ball [an event with more than 400 participants to highlight and celebrate Austrian open source heroes and heroines]. In her professional life she is working as a Requirements Engineer/Product Owner and Scrum Master at Catalysts/Cloudflight. But the latest of her projects seems to be the most important one: Matilda, born in September 2018.
From war zone reporter bots to social listening tools, artificial intelligence and machine learning practices have crept their way into newsrooms. This talk will explore some of the ways these technologies are used in modern journalism and touch on what’s coming next.
Carolyn Stransky Frontend Developer, Meeshkan
Carolyn (she/her) is a frontend developer and former journalist based in Berlin, Germany. She's currently working at Meeshkan, a machine learning startup based in Helsinki. Out of the office, she’s a Mozilla Tech Speaker and organizer of the BerlinJS and QueerJS meetups. You’ll usually find her taking selfies in the nearest restroom mirror.
How an agile mindset empowered me to found a rising UX team. Pushing a new field or profession in the company can be quite tough and sometimes also taxing. Especially as a woman it's sometimes even harder as we might be afraid of taking over a lot of new responsibilities or 'stabbing into a bee's nest'. As UX Designer in a software development company it's sometimes easier to introduce UX at clients than developing this field further in your own company. That is why I want so share some lessons I learned during my journey, which started as a lone UX designer and brought me to lay the foundation for a rising team. An essential component of my path was to overcome the feeling that I'm not prepared for the upcoming challenges and to find a way to convince my colleagues and leaders to trust in me and my plans. People who attend my talk will learn how an agile mindset can help to revolutionize a discipline in the own company, what obstacles may come up and possible ways to tackle them. Everyone shall leave inspired and ready to drive their personal topics forward in their companies.
Daniela Hellmann UI/UX Designer, Cloudflight
Daniela is a UX enthusiast that loves to share her passion about Usability, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, and Design. What she really enjoys about being a UX designer is working with various professions and exploring new business fields by "looking behind the scenes". Her goal is to create digital concepts and applications that support their users instead of aggravating them. Currently Daniela is working at Cloudflight (former Catalysts) as UI/UX Designer where she helps to break down and solve complex problems in various teams. Prior to Cloudflight she spent 2 years at the University of Applied Science in St. Pölten in the HCI research group.
Presentation of and by our partners for Women Techmakers Vienna 2017
Messages from sponsors
Awesome Afterparty
Online Breakfast