Johanna Bates, Independent Consultant
Last year, Clay Shirky wrote a now-infamous blog post called "A Rant About Women". Shirky observes that his female students tend to miss out on career opportunities because they rarely promote themselves like "arrogant self-aggrandizing jerks", as his male students seem far better able to do. As a web builder and tech consultant in a male-dominated field, this was far from news to me. But it was framed in a way that made me think about how I navigated the transition from "accidental techie" to career nonprofit techie, and whether I may have held onto that "accidental" label a little longer than I needed to, like an apology for not coming to the field via traditional routes.
For me, the "accidental techie" role was the on-ramp to a career that I love. After several years of "becoming a career nptechie" sessions at the NTC, I know I am not the only NTENer for whom this has been the case. I've seen a disproportionate number of women at those sessions, too. We know there is still a dearth of women who major in computer science, so it makes sense that many of us would find our skills "by accident". But I don't think that's the only explanation.
Holly blogged here last summer about the need to revisit the term "accidental techie". In the NTEN group discussion on LinkedIn that followed, Michelle Hines made the following comment: "There are still some days that I don't feel absolutely comfortable in my role as Technology Director and I wonder if its right, but that is usually countered the next day by something that confirms that it is the right position. ... I'm not surprised that I don't see any accidental techie dudes commenting. I think back to when I became an accidental techie - technology was vastly a male dominated job - so I do believe a lot of the accidental techies may be female. I'm sure that there are a few out there"
Yeah. Lots of familiar themes here. For the record, some "accidental techie dudes" did eventually show up on the thread, but again, there was a disproportionate number of women in the discussion.
When I began my career as a techie in 1999, B.A. in hand, yes, it was accidental. But the "accidental" label felt safe, and I held onto it for years after I had established myself -- via training courses, skills acquired on the job, and successful tech projects -- as a career techie. Even after over a decade in the field, after I've proven time and time again that I can do the techie jobs for which I'm hired, and do them well, I feel at times like an impostor. I have at least one close female senior colleague with over ten years more tech training and experience than I have who tells me she feels the same way. What gives?
Shirky says in his post, "...it would be good if more women see interesting opportunities that they might not be qualified for, opportunities which they might in fact fuck up if they try to take them on, and then try to take them on." The little part of me that still hangs on to that "accidental" label just let it go a little more. As Shirky asserts, the ability to self-promote even when you know you don't have all the answers -- to "fake it till you make it" and put yourself forward as a viable candidate, trusting that you have the innate ability to figure it out, with a willingness to risk failing informatively--is key in growing in a techie role. And by most accounts, it's easier for men to do this in our culture right now than women.
I was not the only one who reacted strongly to Shirky's post and connected it with my experience as a woman in the tech field. In September, Shirky's post turned into a Women Who Tech telesummit panel discussion that I am still thinking about many months later. The discussion took these ideas much further, and offered that along with women making an effort to be more arrogant, employers, conference organizers, and other institutions need to think outside the box about how they choose experts. The best techie for the job may not always be the rock star or the person with the official degree. In my career, I have been lucky to work for some incredibly forward-thinking women and men, all of whom believed in my abilities and supported me to learn new skills, and let me take leadership whenever appropriate. At my last org job, this room for me to grow and lead was key to many of the org's most successful projects.
I wonder if other current or former nonprofit techies, male or female, feel they themselves -- or their colleagues -- have done any hiding behind the "accidental" qualifier. If so, why? And how did you move to a more intentional career track? If you still feel "accidental" but aren't happy there, what do you need to change things? Are things improving for women techies? How else can we think outside the box to let non-traditional techies thrive and succeed in tech careers?
Johanna is an independent consultant with over a decade of experience helping nonprofits and socially responsible businesses build websites, use technology thoughtfully, and communicate clearly.