IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2014 - 40

Career Advisor

DC Web Women
Helping women who work in tech

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2014.2353296
Date of publication: 7 November 2014

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

grown from a handful of members to
more than 3,000 women and now men in
the D.C. area.

A Portal

Enthusiasm Is Contagious

Since the mid-1990s, a numand Motivational
ber of other organizations for
Edwards became a DCWW
women in technology have
member in 2006 and has
sprung up in the D.C. area.
since seen the organizaAs technologies changed
tion from all aspects. She
and became more spewas coming home on a
cialized, so did the groups.
bus from working as a Web
Women in SharePoint DC is
designer for a small political
Ashley Holtz
a SharePoint users group for
agency and had a book on
women. Girl Develop It helps women
her lap about Flash. The woman sitting
learn how to develop software, and Web
next to her told her about the group and
Content Mavens is geared toward people
asked if she had heard about it. "I had
who develop content for the Web and
only been in D.C. for about six months,
mobile markets.
and the group sounded perfect! I wanted
Sibyl Edwards, DCW W's current
to get out more and meet other women in
president, says "Many of these fantasthe same industry. I had career ambitions
tic groups were created to fulfill specific
and wanted to be around more who do
needs and focus on specific technologies.
the same thing," she says.
Our group is more general, serving memShe checked out the Web site, joined
bers who work or are students in all
the listserv, missed the first meetaspects of Internet and Web technology,
ing, but went to the next one and saw
from copywriting and blogging to infora group of energized and enthusiastic
mation technology, social media, Web
women in the room who really wanted
development, and more. We're more like
to be there. Edwards says she told hera portal, offering a little on everything."
self, "This is who I want to be and what I
DCW W may have one two-hour
want to do" after the first meeting.
event teaching Python development but
DCWW is an all-volunteer organizaif members want to go deeper, PyLadies
tion, and Edwards started volunteering
focuses on coding and developing in
at events soon after she joined the group.
Python. "We hold coding events which are
She also volunteered as a technology
intro classes and get people interested in,
director, which is like a Webmaster but
CRYSTAL AUGUSTONO

When the Internet took off in 1995,
opportunities for coding and developing for the Web were numerous. Many
women frequented Web sites, message
boards, and forums geared toward Web
development, but they had difficulty
finding a place that would help them
learn how to code and write for the Web.
At that time, there were very few,
if any, groups for women involved in
technology. A few women working in
technology careers wanted a safe space
that catered to women and allowed them
to support each other at all stages of
their careers. They met with other likeminded women, and it turned out there
were many more interested in the same
thing. Their meetings grew into a group
that became a Washington, D.C., chapter of WebGrrls International, an existing organization with similar goals. The
unique chapter in D.C. helped more than
50 women learn about rapidly changing
technologies, network, and to progress
in their careers at its inception in 1996.
By 1999, the founders wanted the
group to become more like a formal trade
association, with features and benefits of
such, so the group separated from their
parent organization and incorporated
as the nonprofit organization DC Web
Women (DCWW). Since 2000, it has

say, Ruby on Rails," Edwards says. "When
members need a more specialized group,
Rails Girls has a very active D.C. chapter. Everyone advertises on each other's
groups and the members cross-pollinate."
There are also other technology organizations serving women in the D.C.
area. For example, Women in Technology, which mainly serves a different geographic area in the Northern Virginia
and Tyson's Corner corridor, focuses on
tech, social media, design, and different
aspects of nonprofits, with a huge focus
on government contracting.

DECEMBER 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2014