Category: Tech

I read this beautiful book by Reshma Saujani a while ago and I loved it so much. I listened to the book, and then bought the kindle book. It was such a wonderful book about how important it is for women to work on bravery instead of striving for perfection. To tackle some of the hard things they are afraid to do and just be brave enough to try.

Saujani also founded the Girls Who Code movement. She helps get girls interested in and involved in programming and they want to “change the image of what a programmer looks like and does.” There are also some great young chapter books written by them as well. And I think this is important because the younger you can get programming and coding into the minds of younger children, the earlier they will be able to learn how cool it is! Here is a summary of the book from Amazon:

Imagine if you lived without the fear of not being good enough. If you didn’t care how your life looked on Instagram. If you could let go of the guilt and stop beating yourself up for making human mistakes. Imagine if, in every decision you faced, you took the bolder path?

As women, too many of us feel crushed under the weight of our own expectations. We run ourselves ragged trying to please everyone, pass up opportunities that scare us, and avoid rejection at all costs.

There’s a reason we act this way, Saujani says. As girls, we were taught to play it safe. Well-meaning parents and teachers praised us for being quiet and polite, urged us to be careful so we didn’t get hurt, and steered us to activities at which we could shine. As a result, we grew up to be women who are afraid to fail. 

It’s time to stop letting our fears drown out our dreams and narrow our world, along with our chance at happiness.

By choosing bravery over perfection, we can find the power to claim our voice, to leave behind what makes us unhappy, and to go for the things we genuinely, passionately want. Perfection may set us on a path that feels safe, but bravery leads us to the one we’re authentically meant to follow. In Brave, Not Perfect, Saujani shares powerful insights and practices to help us let go of our need for perfection and make bravery a lifelong habit. By being brave, not perfect, we can all become the authors of our best and most joyful life.

Reshma also did a TED talk as well and it was a good summary of the topics she touches on in her book. The link to the TED talk is below.

Her book and her message is one that can be universal and not just applicable to women in technology. I think that overall, women are starting to bridge the gender gap and make themselves more of a staple and asset in many other forms of business, not just technology.

Let me know if you end up reading or have read this book already. I would love to hear your thoughts on the book and her message in general.

Around a year ago, I went to a Geekettes meeting. One of the speakers was Meghan McInerny. She was funny and honest and real and someone I wanted to connect with. After 9 months or so, I got up the courage to email her and she agreed to let me come to her office at Clockwork. It was so kind of her to meet with me. She gave me some great suggestions and tips on re-entering the workforce. She also suggested a book for me to read (which I will write about soon) to help me figure out my strengths.

Before I met with her, I knew I needed to read her book (and get it signed when I went to see her). There was something about the book that resonated with me. I don’t know if it was the style in which it was written, the fact that I have a girl-crush on Meghan or just that I was in love with their ideas and descriptions of project management. Either way, I loved this book.

I didn’t know a whole lot about project management before reading this book. I knew it sounded like a fun job in theory, but didn’t really know WHAT a project manager did. One of the aspects that really stood out to me in their book was how project managers needed to figure out a way to deal with each person on the team individually. They pointed out that these are real people, with real issues/strengths/feelings and it’s important to remember this and be aware of it. They talked about how to work with various types of people to get them to work well in a team or group.

Of course, there were many other key points, but I have always felt like a people person, or at least a very social (read: chatty) person and I was drawn to this job requiring some people skills.

I loved this book and will probably read it again or at least reference it when I am going to start interviewing for jobs or thinking more about what I could do with myself.

If you have interest in project management, I recommend this book. It was an easy read and something you could use for certain areas of reference if you are already in the field.

Happy reading.