Will Your Job Be Done By A Machine? : Planet Money : NPR – Interesting little tool. I plugged in some of the professions relevant to the Snook and myself. “Computer Programmer” has a 48.1% chance of being automated, but “Software Developers Applications” is only 4.2%. But then “Information Security Analysts, Web Developers and Computer Network Architects” falls in the middle at 20.6%. (I wonder what the distinction is?) “Computer and Information Systems Managers” looks pretty good – only 3.5% chance of being automated. The C-suite is even better at 1.5%. But I think “Computer Systems Analyst” is probably the the absolute best – only 0.6% chance of being automated! Maybe I should’ve got that IIBA certification after all… (The backup plan, as always, is to chuck it all and become a full-time “craft artist.” Only 3.5% chance of being automated! Sure, nanotech will replace a lot of production, but there will always be a market to sell quality handmade goods to the Vickies, right?)

In Flight – NYTimes.com – This is an absolutely beautiful interactive piece written by a pilot describing a flight from London to Tokyo. I immediately sent it to the Snook; he’s a big fan of airplanes and flying. (Interesting trivia: his original major in uni was aeronautical engineering.) The writing is lovely and I appreciated the touches of humour throughout. The infographics were really helpful too as I learned about waypoints and sky countries and the problem with altimeters. I also marvelled at the overall design of the piece – the way the background and text colours shifted as I scrolled, mimicking the airplane’s long journey, bookended by the takeoff and landing sequences. What a fantastic way to present a longform essay. I worry sometimes that the Internet has broken my ability to digest longer pieces of text, but I absolutely savoured every word of this one.

Two great new initiatives for women in tech:

• Women to Speak Directory
  @sandimac is launching a directory of women in technology who are willing to speak at conferences and on panels and podcasts. If you’re interested, just fill out the form.
• Women in Tech Podcast
  @EspressDevora from @WeAreLATech is launching a new podcast for women in tech. If you register with your email, you’ll be the first to find out when it goes live!

I mentioned recently that I entered YOW!‘s “Women in Tech Speaking Competition” and won a spot at a full-day training session with Damian Conway. The training took place at the start of May, and the format was essentially to give a talk and get feedback from Damian and the other participants (nine other women). We were asked to prepare a 12 minute talk to give on the day, so I cut down a version of my How to Win Hackathon talk. (I didn’t have time to memorise the new version, but I figured I’d wing it.) I decided to be brave and volunteer for the first speaking spot, which fortunately meant I got a lot of feedback. (We were running behind schedule the rest of the day!) I took over ten pages of handwritten notes over the course of the other nine talks, and I’ve since combined them into a shared Google Doc with a few of the other attendees. Here’s a sample of some of the valuable practical suggestions:

• A good talk should be for the audience. How will your talk inform, entertain, or make their lives better? It shouldn’t be a sales pitch about you.
• Aim to reduce any distractions from your content. Dress simply and–“especially for women!”–avoid writing or embellishment near your chest. If you can, remove everything between you and the audience (podium, hair in face, etc). Remove any lanyards or name tags.
• Don’t point with a single finger. It’s an aggressive movement and in a lot of cultures it’s extremely rude! Use your whole hand (palm outwards) to gesture. (Evidently I’m a pointer. I never knew!)
• If possible, set up your laptop to your left. People tend to look to the right when they lie and to the left when they recall, so having it on your left makes you (subtly) look more trustworthy.
• Test your presentation on the worst projector you can find (not your beautiful Retina laptop). Most of them will have crappy resolution and even crappier colours.
• The Noun Project is a great source for icons and simple imagery to use in your talk.
• Buy your own clicker and use it! (I went out a few days later and bought myself the Logitech R400.)

I’ve got heaps more, so send me a message if you’d like me to share my full notes with you.

A few days later, Damian sent through his transcribed notes for each person as well. I was extremely gratified to read this part:

I’d encourage you to look at making speaking at least a part-time career: you have real skills and real charisma, both of which you could be sharing with more people. You also clearly love speaking and teaching and connecting with an audience…which are the ultimate secrets to being a great presenter.

That’s the dream, right there! I’m still working towards my next conference presentation. I was thrilled to be selected to speak at YOW! West which took place last week, but unfortunately I had to decline due to the timing around changing jobs. (I didn’t know I’d be getting garden leave.) I’m undaunted though. I’ve been bookmarking upcoming conferences from the excellent Technically Speaking newsletter, and I’ve identified a couple that look promising. Time to write some CFPs!

Fred George / Kevin Lynagh – Agile JIT / ClojureScript | YOW! Nights – Looks like an interesting evening of talks! Anybody else going?

Knowing when to back off – Engineering at Canva – Great post by @brendanh about how Canva throttles back its “auto-save” functionality during times of peak usage. It introduced me to the term back pressure as applies to IT as well.

How To Beat Jet Lag (And Why It Happens) – Digg – Quoted for truth: “Maybe jet lag is just the implicit karma debt you pay for traveling to cool places.”

Bone Broth Is Hot Ham Water – Haha, yeah, I do still identify as primarily a “Paleo” type eater but I’ve never called it “bone broth.”

I’m so excited about my new job, y’all! I don’t officially start until June 9th. I’m trying to enjoy this unexpected vacation, but it’s really hard not to mentally jump the gun. That image there? It’s from Apple’s new iPad Changes Everything campaign, which prominently features Canva at the 8-second mark.

The Snook has been perfecting his hamburger recipe for some time now. We bought a KitchenAid grinder attachment last year (when he dressed as Bob Belcher for Halloween), and he’s been doing a version of Heston’s method ever since. (Just the meat part; not the insane DIY buns, cheese, and ketchup.) I wonder if the “Smash” technique is worth the additional effort. Smitten Kitchen has posted her recipe, and Epicurious has a big investigative article as well as their own recipe too.