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enough to not resort to insults to assert themselves. Those
people make the tough environment actually tolerable. If you
can help each other, then you can establish a safer zone to
talk through ideas. And since those more secure people are
typically so secure because they are really, really good, you can
find yourself in an informational jet-stream.
opportunities also exist in the form of help from others
pushing you forward and help in the form of others who don't
let you get away with anything. Help might be treating you
like everyone else. Help might be from the powerful women
who may not make the perfect guidepost but are available
and will make time for you. For me personally, a huge turning
point was working at Quora. I remember realizing how
the founders had trusted me with this incredible challenge involved
with taking responsibility for building Quora's product
and interface. It was the first time I was able to take responsibility
directly, which is a remarkable opportunity.
Results Matter and Are Powerful
The technology world isn't a perfect meritocracy, but it's close
enough and awesome results do matter. Whatever barrier is
in front of you, an amazing product that gets traction will
cut through it. The same is true for an awesome abstraction
that boasts a 50% speed improvement or generates elegant
code that enables future efficiency. The absence of an outright
block means that making something great can open many
closed doors. Just knowing that is possible is very encouraging.
Additionally, if you push through the crap and have major
contributions to make, no one is going to be able to ignore
your results, nor will they want to. At the end of the day, everyone
in technology wants to turn a dollar into ten and then
into a thousand; it's essentially a culture built on hope and
results. The barriers to entry are pretty low and inexpensive.
Start building, learn JavaScript, publish thoughts, all of these
building blocks are readily accessible. Use them. Get results.
People will give you money to get more results.
Being a Woman in Tech Is a Competitive Advantage
Developing new technologies is about oscillating from extreme
focus (for designing and programming and building) to
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