Sterling Rose Design Blog

RailsConf was inspiring on so many levels, it would be almost impossible to try to cram it all into one blog entry, so I won’t even try. So for this entry, I want to talk about what I took away from the event in terms of being a female developer in an industry that is overwhelmingly male in its constituency.

Before about three weeks ago, I didn’t really think about it much. I was a “coder who was female”, not a “female coder.” The “girl” part was at best incidental. I mean, sure, I knew that I was in the minority in the #rubyonrails IRC channel, but it was a non-issue for the most part. Now, I’m more conscious.

There were about 40 female and about 1100 male attendees at RailsConf 09. That’s a ratio of about 3.6%. I saw and heard (via the #railsconf IRC channel) plenty of guys call it a “sausage-fest.” And it was. Now I’m not abou...

I just finished attending my first-ever RailsConf in Las Vegas, NV. It was an amazing experience that I’ll be blogging about a lot over the next coming days. I wanted to make my first post on the subject be a (long – sorry) list of tips and advice in case you ever plan to attend a similar event yourself. If you have tips of your own that you’d like to share please feel free to drop them in the comments section!

1. Bring lots of business cards. One of the greatest benefits of attending a conference of any type is the contacts you will make, and it’s easier for them to remember who you are and keep in touch if they have your contact information.


2. Take care of your feet. There is a lot of walking and standing, and the days are quite long. Wear very comfortable, well-padded shoes. Put your feet up when you can. If you can find a place to unobtrusively take your shoes of...