MDK

I was reading the Planet Perl Ironman feed this morning and came across Karen Pauley’s article on Ada Lovelace Day: Jacinta Robinson (read this article about Jacinta here and about Ada Lovelace Day here). I was inspired to write a few words about a person who inspires me a lot, and she happens to be a woman.

I am not being contentious…

I say happens to be on purpose. Jess, Castaway to many on irc, has never made a shout about being a woman in Technology/IT/Perl. In fact to-be-honest I am not sure she cares about the gender issue at all (except perhaps in regards to any inequalities of pay). This isn’t about the merits or issues with affirmative action, nor is it about gender equality, social equality or any other issue to her that I can account. It is because Jess sees herself as an equal to anyone else in the room for the word go. And, to me, she is usually a few streets ahead of anyone else in the room. Jess has never needed to be hailed as a Female Perl Developer (add trumpet sounds as appropriate) she just is a Perl Developer (add even more grandiose trumpet sounds).

Who’s that girl…

That’s the Jess I know. I don’t see her as a woman who does IT/Technology, I see her as a friend who is exceptionally skilled in technology. I rate her abilities highly and it is no surprise to me that so do many other people. I often find myself annoyed when people say “wow, castaway is a woman?” they are not trying to be rude but they are being. The first time you meet Castaway is usually on irc or on a mailing list. She will be the person holding your hand as you ask questions, she will point you in the right directions, she will listen patiently as you fail to make the right point/explain yourself, then she will know what you wanted and be able to guide you towards solving your issues. If she can’t solve your problems, she knows about a thousand people who owe her a favour who probably can and she will grab one of them to help you. To some people they don’t expect a woman to be doing that, talking to them in this manner, patting them on the head in a wry way when they suddenly realise they are being dim or slapping them down if they are being rude or obnoxious. I think some are also impressed that castaway is a woman because she is so ‘on her game’.

Castaway is also one of the co-authors of the Catalyst book from Apress, she maintains docs/website/resources/a-billion-other-jobs on the complex Dbix::Class project, she is a maintainer of Ironman and on the development team for Ironboy, she is an experienced developer of many years standing (I actually don’t know how many fingers she has in how many pies).

Jess is also a good friend to have. She is kind and supportive. When you are feeling down or just are having a bad day, Jess is there with a hug and will either say something witty to pick you up or will kick you for being a miserable bugger without good-enough cause. When you really need a friend, Jess is also there, she is a firm and intelligent person and doesn’t seem to lose her head so is strong in a crisis.

So I am celebrating a woman on this day who really shames me by her great example into thinking I need to do more, or I need to do better. She doesn’t do that despite being a woman, or because she is a woman, she does it because she is a great person, who happens to be a woman.

(I could write so much more on Jess but I have possibly embarrassed her enough, and anyway I may just give her a sequel post – on a non-special day – why the hell should we only have one day when we celebrate women, men, children pigs, biscuits, ducks or small furry creatures from Alpha Centuri in IT?)*

-ttfn – Mark

*(Okay, that bit was a little bit contentious ;) ).