Only 26 percent of STEM workers in the United States are women. So it’s no surprise that at Chicago tech companies women devs are a rare. But there are a number of women and organizations like Ms. Tech and Girl Develop It who are paving the way for more women technologists, developers and software engineers. Built In Chicago sat down with four of these women to hear about the amazing work they’ve produced right here in Chicago, like Sarah Gray, senior software engineer at men's personalized clothing company Trunk Club.
[ibimage==36570==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
How did you get involved here in Chicago?
I did a lot of volunteer work with the non-technical community between 2010-2012. My partner and I gave free, focused, technical advice to non-technical entrepreneurs and business people. The reason we did this was because we met so many people who had good intentions and ideas but got taken advantage of by bad technicians. A lot of the knowledge we (developers) take for granted is inaccessible to people "on the other side of the fence,” but could help them a great deal. So we wanted to help, which led to us meeting a lot of people that don't often mingle with the developer communities. It was really satisfying to contribute in that way: I was inspired by all the people we talked to who were building their own businesses and following their visions.
What's your advice to young developers?
Focus on learning an area of programming deeply, and find smart people who use best-practices to learn from. Do good work, be reliable, take time to learn the fundamentals, have a good attitude, share your knowledge, and build projects that solve problems for people (and ideally, are a pleasure to use!) If you do those things consistently, you won't have to worry about marketing yourself because good word will spread.
What projects are you currently working on at Trunk Club?
My team recently finished a project that allows operations workers in the Trunk Club warehouse to locate items of clothing by shelf-address. Prior to this project, clothing was organized with similar types of items across multiple shelves, so it was time-consuming to find a specific item for the customer. This system allows clothing to be stored with all types of other clothing in small physical slots that are identified by address, so the picker can be directed exactly where to go in a large warehouse. The ability to find items this way made it much quicker to pick items for a trunk, while also allowing stylists to know how many of an item are in stock at any given time. I worked on the back-end system for this, and worked with a great team of other back-end programmers as well as designers and iOS developers.
I am currently finishing a project for our internal team, which aggregates all of the API-documentation (that are generated by running our tests) into a central location. Trunk Club uses a lot of small independent services, but we wanted to be able to view our API documentation in one place. This is fun because it's extending some open-source code and building something I've envisioned for a while, and it's going to help share the knowledge of our services across the teams.
You've spent quite a few years working remotely and freelancing. How was the transition after that to a single fulltime job?
For about six years I had a remote job: it was located in NYC, but I lived in Brooklyn, Texas, Denver, and finally Chicago. I got to build interesting projects, like a clinical competency system for a major hospital (which is still in use today) and I enjoyed the work. After a while I worried I would spend my entire youth in my pajamas walking up and down my own hallway "talking" to "people" in chat rooms. I wanted to work more closely with other developers so I could grow my skills, and also have human interaction.
That decision to switch to a full-time job in Chicago would have been smooth, but about 9 months after I started, I was laid off in 2008 when the economy tanked. That led to a very interesting few years. I found another full-time job right away because it was important to have an income during that financially unstable era. My challenge became: how can I find ways to grow my skills? Even in a job, that, frankly, I didn't like very much. I felt kind of trapped and unsure of the way forward. I think that's something everyone will face at some time. There you are, in a place that you don't feel is a fit, but you need to be there so how do you make the best of it? It's an important life-lesson. I gave myself professional challenges that I could focus on, and clear-cut goals that I could work towards. These helped me get better and were skills I could take with me. If you're in a less than ideal situation, look around and make a list of ways you can grow regardless!
What was it like co-founding your own ventures throughout your career?
I'd spent a lot of time building small prototypes in my spare time, and had a lot of ideas around building things. Finding a partner, setting our sights on building projects, and leaving my full-time job was incredibly exciting. This was a time of real stretching and growth. I got to better my coding skills from working with my more-experienced partner, and follow my vision of projects. There was a lot of fun in this.
However, I learned that I am not an entrepreneur! When I have time to build on my own I would much prefer to build something fun that tickles my fancy than worry about how to monetize it. This was a distinction I didn't understand for a while: I thought, well, you build something fun and then sell it, and then...magic and profit! Right? Wrong! I have real admiration for people who go that route, but at the same time I was very happy when I understood the distinction for myself. I think that so much of the work satisfaction is understanding what you want to do, and finding ways to do that. I like to play.
And whether it's a playful project or a work-based project, I personally am most satisfied when I am working with people I respect and can have good conversations with. We are building something good in a sane fashion. At one point about 10 years ago, I got a freelance job that was very "sexy" because it was high-profile, featured on NPR and built by people who looked good in black-framed glasses. It was a big eye-opener because the project had some management problems, and it was painful to work on. It was a big realization that I could effectively write the same code for something "sexy" as for something "boring", but the joy came from the *process* surrounding the code. Is it well-organized, well-managed, well-tested, not a death march, iteratively built, etc.? People all the time mistake "sexy" projects for their branding rather than for their management and process.
How did you start working with Trunk Club?
I came to Trunk Club by the accident of doing a six-week contract with them 2 years ago. I realized I was working with an amazing group of people who wanted to build things for an innovative and growing business. It was an eye-opener because I felt like I had found a home. It's a great mix of interesting, talented people with good development practices and processes. It's a growing business run by people who really have the skills for it, and the opportunity to do entrepreneurial work inside of this context. It's really a pleasure to work here and I feel lucky that Trunk Club and I met!
Why Chicago?
The local tech community is fantastic. It is one of the huge strengths of Chicago. There are so many rich communities of developers here and so many established and excellent practitioners, and the groups mingle easily. Because the city has such an easy-going nature, it's easy for everyone to congregate at meetups and hack-days and in people's apartments. To be honest, Chicago has the best developer community I've ever encountered. I feel incredibly lucky to live and work and build here.
.jpeg)
