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Tag: women in tech

  • LinkedIn All-Women Hackday Invite Requests End Soon

    LinkedIn’s Hackdays are a fun monthly tradition that gives employees a break from the normal work routine, and where company engineers can team up to simply build something interesting. Sometimes the creative ideas that come from a Hackday are implemented into the LinkedIn website. The idea behind the Hackday, giving creative people the space and freedom to innovate, is the same as the idea behind Facebook’s Hackathons. The Hackdays sometimes have a theme, such as a Hackday on Veteran’s Day last year that created tools allowing veterans to better search LinkedIn’s job postings using the skills gained from their military service. At the end of this month, LinkedIn will host a Hackday devoted entirely to women.

    The DevelopHer Hackday (get it?) will begin on June 30, and will have the goal of encouraging more women to participate in Hackdays, enter the engineering field, and take on entrepreneurial roles. The event is open to the public, and women of all ages are encouraged to attend. All that is required is a laptop and valid ID. The LinkedIn Engineering Twitter account yesterday Tweeted out that requests for an invite will be ending soon:

    The DeveloopHer Hackday will take place at the LinkedIn Headquarters in Mountain View, California. Check-in begins at 10 am, and hacking starts at 11 am. Completed hacks are due at 11 am the next day, July 1. As an overnight session of coding can be grueling, a yoga break is scheduled for 8 pm that evening. The hacks will be judged by Christina Allen, Director of Product Management at LinkedIn; Rashmi Sinha, CEO of Slideshare (which LinkedIn recently acquired); Megan Quinn, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; and one surprise judge. Prizes include Amazon gift cards, dinner with the judges, and Apple devices.

  • Dell Apologizes for Moderator’s Sexist Remarks

    Dell Apologizes for Moderator’s Sexist Remarks

    Yesterday Dell issued a formal apology for a series of comments made during an event that took place in Copenhagen back in April. They hired Mads Christensen, a personality famous for poking fun at stereotypes, to moderate the Dell-sponsored partner summit and apparently he made some rather off-color remarks about women. While the remarks may have been suitable for a comedy club, many professionals did not find it appropriate for the event.

    Here’s a segment from their apology on Google+:

    “Empowering women and their businesses is something close to our hearts at Dell and is the motivation behind our Women Powering Business initiative and DWEN – a network and annual conference that helps bring female founders, CEOs and innovative leaders together, share best practices and open up new business opportunities around the world.”

    “Once again, we apologize for this unfortunate event. Going forward, we will be more careful selecting speakers at Dell events.”

    According to CNET News, Christensen intended the comments to be entertaining and satirical, as he told a Danish blog. Unfortunately for Dell and Christensen, both the event and the delayed apology did not sit well with many who were involved.

    As for what exactly was said at the summit, I’m not exactly sure, but CNET’s Molly Wood does a good job summarizing in this video commentary about the event.

    Take a look: