NetThing 2022

This week I attended NetThing 2022, the Australian Internet Governance Forum, an event I've attended several times before and always get a lot out of.

From the About page:

NetThing is Australia’s Internet Governance Forum, an annual event for the discussion of public policy issues pertaining to the internet in Australia. It is a multidisciplinary community, forged by the common will to increase understanding of Internet related issues but, most importantly, increase understanding of a diverse range of stakeholders’ views on these issues.

NetThing aims to provide a diverse and inclusive platform for the exploration of Australian technology policy issues, to mobilise Australians to collaborate on solutions, and to connect Australia to the regional and global Internet Governance Forums.

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Women in the Workplace 2022 report

Via http://leanin.org/wiw

Women in the Workplace 2022: report shows leadership disparity.

Today, Lean In released the 8th annual #WomenInTheWorkplace report, the largest study of its kind, and a joint effort with McKinsey & Company. This year’s report makes it very clear: We’re in the midst of a “Great Breakup.”

Women are demanding more from work, and they’re leaving their companies in unprecedented numbers to get it. Women leaders are switching jobs at the highest rate we’ve ever seen—and at a higher rate than men in leadership. The reasons women leaders are switching jobs are telling.

There are three reasons driving #TheGreatBreakup2022:

1. Women leaders are ambitious, but they experience microaggressions that signal that it will be harder for them to advance.

2. Women leaders are overworked and under-recognized—they're doing more to support employees and foster inclusion, but this important work is going mostly unrewarded.

3. Women leaders want to work for companies that are committed to flexibility, employee well-being, and #DEI.

If companies don’t take action, they’re at risk of losing their women leaders—and this has serious implications. To learn more about what’s driving the Great Breakup: http://leanin.org/wiw #WomenInTheWorkplace2022

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Tech suffers from lack of humanities, says Mozilla head

This article comes up in my memories every year, and is as relevant today as it was 4 years ago, and also the last 20 years. It's the primary reason I decided to study a humanities degree, to add to my STEM skillset, a decision I've never regretted.  

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/12/tech-humanities-misinformation-philosophy-psychology-graduates-mozilla-head-mitchell-baker

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Atlassian targets tree-changers in flexible working recruitment drive

My first focus reading this was all about Scott Farquhar of Atlassian working from a motorhome last year and I was already mentally dusting off my van cover - but actually the interesting line is this:

“We’re already at record low unemployment, so there’s not people sitting there, twiddling their thumbs, waiting to join the tech industry. We’re going to have to retrain people from other industries to do that.”

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Brooks Law

A great way to demonstrate how lines of communication become more complicated when teams get larger.

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3 ways women can reach the C-suite even though research shows the odds are against them

Not only is the percentage of women in leadership extremely low, but the path to reaching the C-suite decreases significantly after the first 10 years of a woman’s career. Here’s how to break that glass ceiling.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90782678/3-ways-women-can-reach-the-c-suite-even-though-research-shows-the-odds-are-against-them

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How to increase gender diversity in tech

Improving gender diversity in the tech sector isn’t just about opening up more job ads.

https://financy.com.au/how-to-increase-gender-diversity-in-tech/

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A New Challenge - part 2

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash 

Today marks 2 months since I started my job so it's a good time to recap to see how things have measured up.

First up - the people I work with are 100% the nicest workplace of people I've ever been in. I can't even explain the multitude of ways they're the most pleasant and caring group of people. Even when there's a disconnect, no bad words are said. Complete strangers will check in just to see how I am. Our household came down with Covid recently which resulted in 2 weeks of chaos and it was no problem at all; people were proactively getting in touch to see how I was and discuss leave options because I hadn't been there long enough to have much. Amazing!

I've also discovered some things about myself and my capabilities in the last 2 months, which of course is part of the journey and part of this experiment.

1. I have a "GenX" mindset, which doesn't truly reflect workplaces today. I was totally focussed on hours and making sure I did more than that every single day, because that's what I'd always done, at least before I started my own business. But these days the expectation is to get the job done, whenever and wherever. It's been an adjustment.

2. I'm older than a lot of people I work with. I remember when I was 20-something, thinking people my age were ancient. Now I don't feel ancient at all, but I suspect some of them might think I am! Happily a benefit of being this age is it doesn't bother me in the slightest!

3. It took about 2 weeks to realise my confidence issue was unfounded. (Now I get to live with my husband's told-you-so-ish-ness but actually he was right). It's been really good for me to realise that not only haven't I lost any real skills, but running my own business and gaining a degree and raising kids means I've actually got even more than I used to.

4. Unfortunately, I'm not getting to use them all. I'm doing a role that is 2 levels below what I was last doing as an employee and… I'm already a bit bored. The hierarchy is not configured very well, the workflow and processes aren't well defined and it's quite a reactive environment. The problem is, I prefer proactive, and my previous experience means I can see what needs to be done but I'm not in a position to be able to do much about it.

On the one hand it's easy to say "just chill, ease back in, do your job and have plenty of time to do other things, get that work/life balance you've never really had". Sounds great! But on the other hand - yawn.

At some point I'm going to need to make a decision - either slow down into an easy work/life balance with really nice people, or accept boredom is just not me and never will be.

 

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