2018 LLVM Foundation's Women in Compilers and Tools Workshop

The LLVM Foundation is excited to announce our first half day Women in Compilers and Tools Workshop held the day before the 2018 LLVM Developers’ Meeting - Bay Area. The workshop will be held at the Fairmont Hotel on October 16th from 1:00-6:30PM and includes a cocktail reception.

This event aims to connect women in the field of compilers and tools and provide them with ideas and techniques to overcome barriers or enhance their careers. It also is open to anyone (not just women) who are interested in increasing diversity within the LLVM community, their workplace or university.

Registration for the event will open on Monday, August 27th at 9:00AM PDT. Attendance is limited to 100 attendees and tickets will be priced at $50 (students $25). Please see the EventBrite registration page for details.

The workshop will consist of 3 topics described below:

  1. Inner Critic: How to Deal with Your Imposter Syndrome

Presented by Women Catalysts

You’re smart. People really like you. And yet, you can’t shake the feeling that maybe you don’t really deserve your success. Or that someone else can do what you do better…and what if your boss can see it too? You are not alone: it’s called the Imposter Syndrome. Believe it or not, the most confident and successful people often fear that they are actually inadequate. The great Maya Angelou once said, “I have written 11 books, but each time I think, 'Uh-oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’” But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this workshop, you’ll learn to identify the voice of your Imposter Syndrome and develop with strategies for dealing with your inner critics.

  1. Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking

Presented by Karen Catlin

To grow your career, you know what you need to do: improve your public speaking skills.

Public speaking provides the visibility and professional credibility that helps you score the next big opportunity. But even more important is the fact that it transforms the way you communicate. Improved confidence and the ability to convey messages clearly will impact your relationships with your managers, coworkers, customers, industry peers, and even potential new hires.

In this presentation, Karen Catlin will cover the importance of speaking at conferences and events, along with strategies to get started. She’ll share some favorite tips from the book she co-authored with Poornima Vijayashanker, “Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking.” And she’ll tell some embarrassing stories that are just too good to keep to herself.

About Karen: After spending 25 years building software products, Karen Catlin is now an advocate for women in the tech industry. She’s a leadership coach, a keynote and TEDx speaker, and co-author of "Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking.”

Formerly, Karen was a vice president of engineering at Macromedia and Adobe.

Karen holds a computer science degree from Brown University and serves as an advisor to Brown’s Computer Science Diversity Initiative. She’s also on the Advisory Boards for The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley and WEST (Women Entering & Staying in Technology).

  1. Update on Women in Compilers & Tools Program

Presented by Tanya Lattner

Over the past year we have hosted panels and BoFs on women in compilers and tools. We now need to take many of the items discussed during the events and put them into action. We will discuss some key areas and potentially break into smaller groups to determine action plans and steps to move forward.

FAQ:

Do I need to attend the LLVM Developers’ Meeting to attend this event?
This is an independent event which is open to anyone.

Is this a women only event?
Anyone is welcome to attend that values diversity within the field of compiler and tools. These topics can relate to anyone, not just women, and our mission is to improve inclusion and diversity in general.

Is there a financial hardship discount?
We have discounted the tickets for all attendees but please reach out to the organizer and we will decide on a case by case basis.

You’ve already had people stop being involved over your SJW nonsense, are you seriously still trying to push that shit?

Keep in mind, the entire LLVM toolchain is permissively licensed, you can be dropped whenever the people decide.

I hate to feed the trolls, but this needs to be addressed.

This is not "SJW" stuff. And even if it were, shouldn't we all be
warriors for social justice?

There are real, systemic barriers to women in technical fields and
computing is particularly bad in this way.

I am not writing as a representative of the company I work for, but I
will say that as a senior technical member of our compiler team, I am
thrilled that effort is being put into getting more women excited about
and involved in compilers. The diversity of experience and ideas that
women bring to the table make our technical teams better. Beyond being
a moral issue and far secondary to it, there is a real business case for
investing in making technical fields more accessible to women.

                            -David

Marcus Johnson via cfe-dev <cfe-dev@lists.llvm.org> writes:

Marcus,

You can choose not to attend the workshop or maybe you might find it interesting. Either way is fine. The topics presented may be interesting and valuable to anyone (not just women) in the field of compilers and tools. Attendance is not restricted to women alone. Increasing women in compilers and tools is a program of the LLVM Foundation, which is a nonprofit that supports the LLVM project. This workshop is a part of that program and just one of many things we fund. If you would like to learn more, I am happy to explain further.

While you are totally allowed to have your own opinion, I find your response to be quite rude and I would ask that you refrain from “speaking” to me in this way going forward.

Thanks,
Tanya

David-
I've typed and deleted a message similar to yours about a hundred times over the last few days, but could never express these thoughts as eloquently as you did. I'm a touch ashamed of myself for not responding initially, but am thoroughly thankful that you did so.

Our industry is famous for gatekeeping and generally being unwelcoming to outsiders. Anything our project can do to make ourselves obviously welcoming to those who have been otherwise discouraged in the past is also greatly appreciated.

Tanya- Please do not take any misguided posts by a vocal minority as the opinions of the project at large. Your contributions to the project are greatly appreciated by most here.

I also do not speak officially as a representative for my employer, however if I felt that my comments weren't reflected by my company's values, they would no longer be my employer.

-Erich