35 career-building resources for women in tech

Bridging the gender gap in technology must start with a level playing field for professional growth.

Our call to Philly’s women in tech to suggest articles yielded a pitch too good to pass up: Why don’t we make a list of resources for women in tech?

We kept it purposefully broad in the interest of packing it tight. We reached out again for your thoughts, women in tech, and you did not disappoint. From local meetups to books, from websites to podcasts and from mentorship programs to nonprofits, this list is chock full of resources that can help make the average startup a more gender–diverse one.

Yes, it’s about professional development to an extent, but it’s also about community building. Our informal community outreach revealed a need among women in tech for more connection, more advice, more access to resources. And fortunately, as our reporting shows, there’s a healthy dose of that in Philly.

Before we get to the goodies, we want to drop some names of people who helped us compile this list. Thank you for pitching in: Lauren Hallden, Zeina Barr, Sharon Hake, Tiffanie Stanard, Maggie Deptola, Amelia Longo, Adriana Vásquez, Melissa Le, Jen Dionisio, Alisha Miranda, Yuval Yarden and Jessica Cornell. Special shoutout to reporter emeritus Juliana Reyes, who looked closely at women in tech during her tenure as Philly lead reporter.

Here’s the list — in no particular order — but feel free to add yours to the comments section below:

• Girl Develop It: The national nonprofit with Philly ties (its Executive Director is Philly’s own Corinne Warnshuis) and an active Philly chapter was the most mentioned resource in our initial outreach to Philly women in tech. In addition to its year-round programming, GDI has a strong set of community-built learning materials.
• Tech Ladies: The national network of women technologists has a popular tech jobs section focused on women technologists.
• TechGirlz: Last school year, Tracey Welson-Rossman’s nonprofit, which focuses on school-aged girls, enrolled 2,600 “girlz” in tech.
• Coded by Kids: As a teacher, that is. Coded by Kids operations manager Maggie Deptola said women devs that are looking to get more practice with the basics can become instructors with the organization.
• GRIT_PHL: Based out of Callowhill design firm Tonic Design, GRIT_PHL is a mentorship program for 5th and 6th grade girls.
• WISE: AKA, the Women Investors, Startup Leaders and Entrepreneurs meetup group. 
• The Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs: A mentorship and advice group focusing on early stage companies.
• The Women in Tech Summit: Happening yearly in Philly and other cities to connect women technologists.
• The Women in Tech Network: Founded by Jumoke Dada, who also cofounded Project ALOE, the project aims to connect tech-savvy women in a”digital cafe” format.
• LadyHacks: Who better than organizer Kelsey Leljedal to stump for Philly’s first women-only hackathon.
• FemmeHacks: Philly’s women–only hackathon that focuses on students.
• ChickTech Philly: The meetup group is having a sesh on workforce readiness next month. Here’s what organizer Sarah Herrmann said about the group’s name.
• Rad Girls in Tech: And their annual Rad Awards, happening every year around Philly Tech Week. Remember to nominate your favorite women in tech when the time comes.
• PHL Design Co’s #phl-xx Slack channel: Practical advice for women in design.
• Ela Conf: Another crowd favorite, the group pledges to be a “safe, inclusive tech leadership conference and community for adult (18+) marginalized genders.” Ela Conf’s Slack channel garnered high praise as well.
• Twitter (really?): Though these days, logging onto Twitter requires a mandatory deep, deep breath, Stitch product designer Lauren Hallden said the social media network has helped her connect with underrepresented people in tech. “I’ve been employing a deliberate strategy of following women and other underrepresented people in tech, and you can learn a TON from the thoughtful articles and personal experiences people share,” Hallden said.
• This incredibly honest post by Amelia Longo: A roundup of terrible anecdotes in tech, and a call to make companies’ culture as inclusive as possible.
• Dream, Girl: A documentary on women entrepreneurs by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Erin Bagwell. Here’s how to watch it.
• Great Dames’ mentoring program: Delaware’s Great Dames has a mentoring program five years in the running. Just recently, it’s peer advisory group expanded to Philly in order to support women entrepreneurs.
• Interactive Mechanics’ fellowship program: A tech training focused on diversity. Part of the Old City web dev shop’s broader push to increase diversity.
• Susan Weinschenk’s books 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People and How to Get People To Do Stuff.
• Femme and Fortune: Melissa Alam’s online platform for women entrepreneurs, which offers creative services specifically focused on women-founded businesses.
•  The Career Shifters blog.
• Hannah Rosen’s article on changing careers in your 40s.
• This Entrepreneur list of 50 ways to fund a women-founded company. Lilu founder Adriana Vásquez swears by it.
• NYC-based Women in Product meetup. Maybe worth a day trip?
• The Bootstrapped VC podcast with Backstage Capital.
• Bryn Mawr College’s internship program.
• Alisha Miranda’s guide to career pathing.
• The Broad Experience podcast.
• Amanda Steinberg’s book Worth it: A primer on taking advantage of personal finances from the DailyWorth CEO.
• Technical.ly’s women in tech tag: Inspiring stories about women technologists going back as far as 2012.
• The League for Entrepreneurial Women at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
• The Lesbians who Tech meetup group.
• Mogulette: A speaker series focused on “educating, mentoring, and empowering women, with a focus on women of color,” per its website.

Have more suggestions? Tell us in the comments section below:

Technical.ly’s Editorial Calendar explores a different topic each month. The August 2017 topic is women in tech.