I recently started attending a new meetup group – Sydney Technology Leaders. The theme for the April event was “What the CEO/Board needs from Technical Leaders.” A few days before, the organiser Ted asked if I’d be a last minute substitute on the panel.

Me: Uh, but I’m not a CEO!
Him: You lead a team of devs. Same difference.

So I was on the panel! I really wasn’t sure what value I’d be able to add, but it seemed like people enjoyed hearing the perspective of someone who’d recently moved into management.

I especially enjoyed the talk by Samuel Riley, the CEO of ansarada. He talked about how as a leader you can either build or slow your team’s momentum. The slide was so great I took a photo of it:

How to slow momentum as a leader vs speed it up. I need to print this out and stuck it on my monitor. #sydtechleaders pic.twitter.com/eOfVscUEtM

— Kris Howard (@web_goddess) April 9, 2015

Overall I had a great time and met some really inspiring folks in the industry. If you haven’t joined the meetup group yet, you really should. And to the girl who came up afterwards and told me I was her idol? YOU ROCK AND YOU MADE MY WHOLE NIGHT. And so did Fiona, who tweeted this during the event:

As a woman, it's so great to see a female tech leader like @web_goddess on the #sydtechleaders panel. Someone I can identify more with.

— Fiona Chan (@mobywhale) April 9, 2015

The Real Deal on Tartan, Kilts, and Outlander Costumes | Frock Flicks – I knew all that chunky garter stitch knitting was too modern to be historically accurate!

Are you or do you know a woman who works in technology? The second annual SheHacks Hackathon will be happening on May 8th and 9th. I’m helping the fantastic Girl Geeks with the organisation, and I’ll also be there as a representative of Mi9, who are sponsoring breakfast. You should definitely sign up – it was such a fun and inspiring event last year!

The video for my talk “Granny Was a Hacker” at Ignite Sydney #13 is now available! Thanks to the brilliant folks at Hunting with Pixels for doing such a great job capturing it.