I started reading with that feeling of dread that this was going to be another indictment of tech conference misogyny that would make me feel sad for the world, my daughters, and our profession. How delightful to hear this inspirational response to a tech conference experience!
Yup, that was my initial thought too. I have two daughters and I have gotten my eldest going with Ubuntu on her school laptop and she's loving it. I'm introducing her to shell scripting and LaTeX (through the awesome Pandoc tool) right now.
I, too, was skipping out on the technical panel and was in the room when Wendy's name was called. It was quite humorous to see her realize it was her name that was called. She said "that's me", got up and ran out of the room in excitement yelling “WAAAAIT!"
I'm happy to have that memory and to have this blog post to remind me of one of the many great parts of the Madison ruby conference. I am definitely returning next year! Maybe I will win the gift certificate this time...
It's humbling to read this, and makes me incredibly proud to know Jim and Jen Remsik, who created and run Madison Ruby.
She wouldn't take advantage of this thread by linking to her event management business, so I will: http://saplingevents.com/
Jen does an incredible job building unique and interesting events and totally gets the important details that make a conference memorable and exciting. If you're thinking of hosting an event, I'd definitely give her a call.
I was so fortunate as to speak at MadisonRuby in 2011, and I confirm it's a special thing. Jim and Jen have really created something special in the Ruby world, and I haven't seen anything like it. For starters, I've never seen as many talks start with hugs as I have at MadisonRuby.
It's inclusive in a way that puts most uses of that word to shame. I don't know how it happens, either. I want to grow up and be like Jim.
Wow the original title for this submission, "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study", completely missed the mark and I am glad it was changed.
Never underestimate the power of bacon to bring together the technical with the aught to be technical. I've heard nothing but good things here in Madison about the conference as a way to broaden the appeal the ruby community seems to have for folks who fear approaching development.
“it's okay to not get this and be completely confused”
I'm only 4 months into learning to program, but still think this is one of the most valuable mindsets to have. It's a skill, really, being able to accept that everything I read about might not make complete sense or be familiar enough for me to be able to apply the learnings right away, but that I will understand more each time I try to pick up some new content.
The keyword density and some of the keyword repetition for this article makes me suspicious. Not questioning the experience - I read it and it sounded great. Just analyzing the most common words and phrases used though - so you decide:
'Ruby' - 19 times (~2.4% density)
'madison' - 15 (1.87%)
'madison ruby' - 12 (1.50%)
'tech' - 13 (1.62%)
'conference' - 12 (1.5%)
No I didn't. I understand the post. I support anyone, anywhere who wants to learn programming and show an interest, especially young women who are under-represented in the industry. I just think that they're promoting Madison Ruby because the piece is highly structured to display a very specific keyword density, and that's typical for promotional work. So my vote is that they're not being honest about the origins of this article. Just an opinion though.
It's a story about Madison Ruby, which is a tech conference that requires travelling to Madison and involves talks about Ruby. I think this is the appropriate keyword density. Sometimes good content is just that, no SEO required. SEO is for people who can't write.
Thanks for the comment drharris. With all due respect, I think this is a paid promotional article, not something that should be promoted on the front page of HN. Consider this:
A) they published the article, then changed it to optize it for SEO. The original title being "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study". B) Event insiders and HN users with very low ratings plugging Madison Ruby in the comments section, and specifically plugging organizers "Jim and Jen" stating that other events people should consider hiring them. C) The author's story is highly unusual - blogger with no previous interest in programming invited (for free) to a tech conference, and afterwards writes very long, SEO-optimized blog post about the event? Hey - I'm sure the event was great, and I'm a 110% supporter of any ways to get young people, and more women into the tech industry. But I think that paid promotional work has no place on HN, because it's disingenuous to present it as a true testimonial.
Hey cool! I didn't know I was so good at promotional work & SEO! I mean I knew I was writing good stuff (regardless of my lack of income) but now I know just how marketable my writing is! Thanks for giving me an anecdote to share when I apply for content strategy and SEO positions in the future! Your comments are just about resume worthy for me!
I am happy to promote via honest positive review an event that was literally life changing for both me and my partner. I does seem like I got a lot of freebees. I did. In that I was lucky. But I was also lucky to have the experience of MR as a place to confront some of my issues with tech. If you had actually focused at all on the content of my post you'd know that I identified elements of the conference that were problematic and difficult for me to access. I did this because I want to event to be better about these things in the future.
I understand where your skepticism comes from. I am skeptic too (you would also know this if you read more of my posts). But please don't assume that my articulated account of a positive experience is bought. It wasn't (at least not with anything more than valuable experiences and cheese).
My post was not an infomercial. I never want to use my personal blog for paid promotional work. I never titled the post anything other that "My Madison Ruby Story" (the other title was lifted from a 3rd party tweet) and NO edits have been made to the actual post since I published it yesterday at noon. The SEO-optimization was a coincidence. One I may now point to as an example of my acumen for content strategy. So thanks.
You're wrong. This is something that my wife and I have spent the last 2.5 years trying to build. An inclusive event where everyone feels welcome to participate.
The post was made here specifically because HN has a reputation for being exclusive and to show, as we have in our conference(s), that with a little work you can build a successful inclusive community.
I respect your opinion and your right to stick up for HN to prevent it from being gamed. There was no compensation made of any type to encourage Wendy to write this piece.
Well, then please accept my apologies and thank you for taking the time to explain. As I said originally, I think that it's wonderful that you're encouraging young people, and especially women who are under-represented, to get involved in the tech industry. That is truely a goal worthy of your 2.5 years of hard work.
Where are you finding the original title? The original title of this HN submission was that, but as far as I can tell, the original blog title was "My Madison Ruby Story", as it stands now. What are you seeing that makes it look like she later optimized for SEO? There's literally no evidence for what you are saying unless I'm missing something.
As far as it all being fake, that's absurd; she's created a new blog specifically about all the cheese they bought with her gift certificate, the first entry being about Madison Ruby. There are much better stories one could tell if they were indeed lying (maybe one about not skipping out on half the conference).
Nope, this article is the real deal. I was at this conference and the take on the community rings true to me. It was a no-holds-barred hug fest (and a fine conference, of course). Lest you accuse me of sockpuppet-ism, I've been on HN for 5 years.
