Who run the world (of tech)? GIRLS!

This International Women’s Day, meet the Australian Women taking on the male-dominated world of tech.

Published in

LIFX

7 min readMar 8, 2019

March 8th is International Women’s Day.

To celebrate, we’ve spoken to four Aussie Women who are doing some pretty awesome things in the world of tech.

Check it out.

Michelle Mannering.

Tell us how you help businesses embrace innovation through MichManners?

At MishManners, I work with companies to help them develop their innovation strategies. Facilitating hackathons, running workshops, and providing professional development are what organizations need to ensure they are staying at the top of their industry. But it’s not just that. It’s about building the Australian economy. It’s about ensuring Australian companies and people are capable of matching and leading the rest of the world on the innovation front. The talent we have here in Australia is of high quality, high standards, and forward thinking. To enable people to flourish, we need to make sure our leading industries are creating workplaces where Australian talent wants to be.

A few of team here at LIFX have participated in Hackathons. How do you feel they impact company culture?

That’s why hackathons are a really key part of changing, shaping, and inspiring company culture. Not only do they provide organizations with key outcomes, solutions, and ideas, they provide an environment where people can flourish, and talents are nurtured. Hackathons can also push companies to create a culture where people can speak up, new teams can be built, and it pushes the organization to think about how they can cement themselves as a leader of their industry.

How did your career lead you to this? Did you study computer science straight out of school?

Hahaha, well my career has been an interesting one. I come from a rural town, just north of Albury/Wodonga. The high school I attended was in a tiny country town with only 39 students in my Year 12 grade. I was lucky to be granted a place at Melbourne University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science, Majoring in Chemistry. I did take a couple of computer science subjects during my degree, but nothing super in depth. Due to the Melbourne model, I was able to take breadth subjects that I had missed out on in high school; ancient history, and media. I went on to do a Master of Media and Communication and by chance was offered a place at Carlton Connect (CCI); a project building Australia’s largest innovation precinct — as the events coordinator. It was the best place for my skills. That’s where I started running hackathons and learning about startups. By the end of the year, I had my own artificial intelligence startup. I left my job at CCI to run my startup full time. We won multiple awards, the best being the National Innovation Champion for the Microsoft Imagine Cup Challenge. I left this startup to work with BajaBoard, the off-road electric skateboard company. I was the only female. I held the Chief Marketing Officer role and quickly put the company in the spotlight. In my role, I applied for multiple awards, of which we won a GOLD Tech Design Award for our design and the National iAward for Consumer Markets. After finishing with BajaBoard I’ve continued to run hackathons with Variant X. So I’ve basically got here, partly by chance, and partly because I took the opportunities that came along.

It seems also you have a side passion for Esports. How’d you get involved?

Oh yeah! Esports is an industry that is rapidly growing. I got involved in the scene back in 2013/2014 when I started running LAN parties and volunteering at events. I only started playing games went I got to college so you could say I’m a little late to the party. Although I did manage to play some DOS games like Xargon and Commander Keen as a kid. And we got an Age of Empires CD out of a Nutri-Grain pack. To which I was allowed to play because I convinced my parents it was ‘educational’. Now, I’m heavily involved in the scene. In my ‘spare’ time I write articles for international esports publications and stream games regularly on Twitch (you can follow me here:www.twitch.tv/MishManners). I have a fantastic and passionate community that comes to watch and engage. Often people ask me questions about marketing, business, and startups. It’s an interesting mix, but a great platform to chat with people and pass on some mentoring. You’ll also find me hosting and MC’ing some top esports events too. I even got my own Reddit thread after the DOTA event last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/a4i058/the_female_talent_in_the_au_event/

Did you ever think Esports would be where it is today?

Yes and no. As something that is very different from traditional sports, I knew it’d take a while for us to get there. But there was always a strong, passionate, and growing community of players. It was only a matter of time until certain industries started utilizing this untapped audience. Even saying that it’s grown incredibly quickly, especially in Australia. I believe there are some great things on the horizon for esports this year. Not just in Australia, but globally.

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Gala Camacho.

Mathematician & Analytics Wizard.
LinkedIn|Blog

Were maths and science things you were always passionate about?

I always loved math and physics, I enjoyed the challenge and I enjoyed building things. In high school however I found many bits of the curriculum annoying and realized quite quickly I did not ‘fit the mold’ of the math/science student, it definitely took a toll on me admitting in public how much I enjoyed it!

You now work as Head of Analytics, tell us, what does a typical working day look like?

My day usually involves some reading up on what’s happening in urban development + tech, some programming, some meetings and a lot of thinking.

Did you always want to work in technology?

No. I never even thought about technology as a career to be honest. I was a math+science teacher for a while, and when I quit that, I did a masters in mathematics. I originally wanted to do statistics but then I discovered Operations Research and I loved it, it was *actual* applied mathematics. It was through that that I truly learned to code in Python, I had only dabbled in Matlab and Mathematica before then. Once I started programming I realized how much I enjoyed it and so the journey began.

Tell us a little about the projects you run with Girl Geek Academy?

The Introduction to Python workshop using the LIFX lights was my first project with GGA, but I have known GGA from way back in 2016 when I participated in SheHacks. I run projects with them because they are one of the most encouraging organizations to work with. You call Sarah, you tell her you have an idea and what you want to do — and she says ‘do it, we can do this and that for you. Is there anything else I can help or support you with?’ and then it’s done, from idea to event. It’s such a refreshing way to do stuff, especially when you are working on side projects, you need an organization that is flexible with you.

If you weren’t working in analytics, what would you be doing?

I don’t know haha — I would probably be working for an NGO. I am so hooked on doing things that have a positive impact on our communities, I can’t see myself doing anything other than that.

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Amelia Schmidt.

UX Designer & Former Software Developer
Twitter | Website

Fill us in on what being a UX designer involves?

I work with software companies (like startups) to design their products. There’s a bit of a misconception that that means just designing how they look, but I actually mainly focus on what they are and how they work. I would say my goal is to make things intuitive, useful and usable for users — but doing that isn’t particularly easy. So I spend a lot of time doing research — talking to people, asking them to give me feedback about things, and learning about their needs. I spend a lot of time with post-it notes and sharpies.

When did your passion for user experience start? Did you always know you wanted to work in technology?

I actually thought I was going to be a writer/editor. I worked in music/arts journalism for a while and moved to Melbourne to work at a magazine. Part of my job was actually redesigning their website, and I found that much more interesting than the rest of my job so I ended up going into that world. I actually became a software developer first, and then I became a designer a little later in my career — mainly because I asked too many questions!

What advice would you give an aspiring UX designer?

Being a UX designer is a lot of fun but the truth is not a lot of people understand what it is or the value of it. The more senior you get, the more your job is about educating people and teaching them about design. I enjoy that, but other people might not.

How did you get involved with Code Like a Girl and Girls in Tech?

Selfishly I really wanted a girl gang and I couldn’t find one. Almost every place I’ve ever worked, I’ve been the only woman in the team — and this problem was much worse when I worked as a developer. So I went to find some awesome people to support me. Being part of the community has been awesome, and definitely helped my career in the long run. I’ve met some of my close friends there too!

Are there any projects you’re particularly proud of?

Working with Code Like a Girl has been awesome, especially a piece of research I did around secondary schools teaching tech skills. Also, I now get to work at RMIT Online designing short courses, which is an awesome thing to be working on (and my team is super great).