Abby is in the Finance-Accounting Tech Industry

Abby

abby

A LADY-LIKE RECREATION

Currently, existing book search solutions (such as those used in public libraries) heavily rely on keyword matching rather than a semantic understanding of the actual content of book titles. As a result, search results may not meet our needs very well, or even be vastly different from what we expect. This is because relying solely on keyword matching is not enough, as it cannot achieve semantic understanding and therefore cannot understand the searcher’s true intent. So, is there a better way to conduct book searches more accurately and efficiently? The answer is yes! In this article, I will introduce how to combine the use of Apache SeaTunnel, Milvus, and OpenAI for similarity search, to achieve a semantic understanding of the entire book title and make search results more accurate. Using trained models to represent input data is called semantic search, and this approach can be extended to various different text-based use cases, including anomaly detection and document search. Therefore, the technology introduced in this article can bring significant breakthroughs and impacts to the field of book search. Next, I will briefly introduce several concepts and tools/platforms related to this article, in order to better understand this article. What is Apache SeaTunnel Apache SeaTunnel is an open-source, high-performance, distributed data management and computing platform. It is a top-level project supported by the Apache Foundation, capable of handling massive data, providing real-time data queries and computing, and supporting multiple data sources and formats. The goal of SeaTunnel is to provide a scalable, enterprise-level data management and integration platform to meet various large-scale data processing needs. What is Milvus Milvus is an open-source vector similarity search engine that supports the storage, retrieval, and similarity search of massive vectors. It is a high-performance, low-cost solution for large-scale vector data. Milvus can be used in various scenarios, such as recommendation systems, image search, music recommendation, etc. What is OpenAI ChatGPT is a conversational AI system based on the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) model, developed by OpenAI. The system mainly uses natural language processing and deep learning technologies to generate natural language text similar to human conversation. ChatGPT has a wide range of applications, including developing intelligent customer service, chatbots, intelligent assistants, and language model research and development. In recent years, ChatGPT has become one of the research hotspots in the field of natural language processing. What is LLM A Large Language Model (LLM) is a natural language processing model based on deep learning technology that can analyze and understand a given text and generate text content related to it. Large language models typically use deep neural networks to learn the grammar and semantic rules of natural language and convert text data into vector representations in continuous vector space. During training, large language models use a large amount of text data to learn language patterns and statistical rules, which enables them to generate high-quality text content such as articles, news, and conversations. Large language models have a wide range of applications, including machine translation, text generation, question-answering systems, speech recognition, etc. Currently, many open-source deep learning frameworks provide implementations of large language models, such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc. Tutorial Here we go! I will show you how to combine Apache SeaTunnel, OpenAI’s with our vector database to perform a semantic search over the entire book title. Embedding API Preparation Before the experiment, we need to obtain an OpenAI token from their official website and then deploy a . We also need to prepare the data that will be used for this example. You can download the data from here. Milvus experimental environment Importing data into Milvus through SeaTunnel. First, place book.csv under /tmp/milvus_test/book, then configure the task configuration as milvus.conf and place it under config. Please refer to the . Quick Start Guide env { 
# You can set engine configuration here 
execution.parallelism = 1 
job.mode = "BATCH" checkpoint.interval = 5000 
#execution.checkpoint.data-uri = "hdfs://localhost:9000/checkpoint"}
source {
  # This is a example source plugin **only for test and demonstrate the feature source plugin**
  LocalFile {
    schema {
      fields {
        bookID = string
        title_1 = string
        title_2 = string
      }
    }
    path = "/tmp/milvus_test/book"
    file_format_type = "csv"
  }
}transform {
}sink {
  Milvus {
    milvus_host = localhost
    milvus_port = 19530
    username = root
    password = Milvus
    collection_name = title_db
    openai_engine = text-embedding-ada-002
    openai_api_key = sk-xxxx
    embeddings_fields = title_2
  }
} Execute the following command: ./bin/SeaTunnel.sh --config ./config/milvus.conf -e local Viewing the data in the database, you can see that data has been written into it. Then use the following code to perform a semantic search on book titles: import json
import random
import openai
import time
from pymilvus import connections, FieldSchema, CollectionSchema, DataType, Collection, utility COLLECTION_NAME = 'title_db'  # Collection name
DIMENSION = 1536  # Embeddings size
COUNT = 100  # How many titles to embed and insert.
MILVUS_HOST = 'localhost'  # Milvus server URI
MILVUS_PORT = '19530'
OPENAI_ENGINE = 'text-embedding-ada-002'  # Which engine to use
openai.api_key = 'sk-******'  # Use your own Open AI API Key hereconnections.connect(host=MILVUS_HOST, port=MILVUS_PORT)collection = Collection(name=COLLECTION_NAME)collection.load()
def embed(text):
    return openai.Embedding.create(
        input=text, 
        engine=OPENAI_ENGINE)["data"][0]["embedding"]
def search(text):
    # Search parameters for the index
    search_params={
        "metric_type": "L2"
    }    results=collection.search(
        data=[embed(text)],  # Embeded search value
        anns_field="title_2",  # Search across embeddings
        param=search_params,
        limit=5,  # Limit to five results per search
        output_fields=['title_1']  # Include title field in result
    )    ret=[]
    for hit in results[0]:
        row=[]
        row.extend([hit.id, hit.score, hit.entity.get('title_1')])  # Get the id, distance, and title for the results
        ret.append(row)
    return retsearch_terms=['self-improvement', 'landscape']for x in search_terms:
    print('Search term:', x)
    for result in search(x):
        print(result)
    print() Here is the result: Search term: self-improvement
[96, 0.4079835116863251, "The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman's Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships"]
[56, 0.41880303621292114, 'Nicomachean Ethics']
[76, 0.4309804439544678, 'Possession']
[19, 0.43588975071907043, 'Vanity Fair']
[7, 0.4423919916152954, 'Knowledge Is Power (The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes: #15)'] Search term: landscape
[9, 0.3023473024368286, 'The Lay of the Land']
[1, 0.3906732499599457, 'The Angry Hills']
[78, 0.392495334148407, 'Cloud Atlas']
[95, 0.39346450567245483, 'Alien']
[94, 0.399422287940979, 'The Known World'] If we use the old method of keyword search, book titles must contain keywords such as “self-improvement” and “improvement”. However, by using large language models for semantic understanding, we can retrieve book titles that are more relevant to our needs. For example, in the example above, when we searched for the keyword “self-improvement”, the displayed book titles such as “The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman’s Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships” and “Nichomachean Ethics” did not contain relevant keywords, but were clearly more relevant to our needs. Therefore, by using Apache SeaTunnel, Milvus, and OpenAI, we can achieve more accurate book title similarity searches through large language models, bringing significant technological breakthroughs to the field of book search, while also providing valuable references for semantic understanding. I hope this can provide some inspiration to everyone. Related links: https://seatunnel.apache.org/ https://milvus.io/ https://openai.com Also published . here

Creating an Efficient Book Search Field Using Apache SeaTunnel, Milvus, and ChatGPT

TO PROVE BY AUTHORITY A PASSAGE TO BE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF AMERICA

Remarks upon the foregoing Observations.

OCR software enables the digitization of essential data in paper documents and photographs. They can then be electronically changed, shared, and kept. Even better, you can make an editable document from a scanned image. Then you may use it as a model for other documents in the future. However, you must be sure that the OCR SDK of the software you use is appropriate for your needs before you begin scanning your data. This post will provide you with five suggestions for the top OCR APIs available right now in 2022. 1. Why is Filestack OCR considered one of the best OCR APIs? Initially created as a tool by developers for developers, Filestack OCR has subsequently expanded to offer a wide range of goods. Users of the Filestack product line can also fully scale their content efforts using a single API, thanks to image intelligence functionality. With just two lines of code, customers of Filestack can significantly increase the usefulness of any file upload. Irrespective of their sector or use case, users may use the Filestack workflow capabilities to streamline content tasks within an easy-to-use UI. Filestack follows best-in-class capabilities used by industry leaders to analyze photos quickly and deliver valuable insights. Besides simple object identification, it has copyright and object detection capabilities and precise content detection. Filestack comes with a very responsive Content Ingestion Network (CIN) to prepare for continuously shifting network conditions. It also makes uploads almost three times faster and immensely more dependable. Key Features Large feature set Accelerated performance Secure Embedded file viewer Finally, support for all accurate data sources Pros Increase data collection efficiency Fewer errors Effective data transfer It supports uploading files via drag and drop It also supports real-time photo and video posting using the device’s camera Must enable a multi-part uploader, which divides a huge file into smaller pieces for uploads that are more efficiently optimized Cons Provides although smaller organizations and individuals may find it slightly more intimidating flexible trial plans, 2. How good is ABBYY FineReader as an OCR API? ABBYY FineReader is an OCR program that offers editing capabilities for PDF files. Thanks to AI-based OCR technology, it can recognize text in more than 198 languages. Therefore, this robust application is ideal for transforming PDFs worldwide. It not only makes converting PDFs simple but also provides a variety of features that can simplify your life. Some of those features are converting scanned PDFs, PDFs with images, and password-protected PDFs. ABBYY FineReader offers a 7-day free trial for private users and a 30-day free trial for business users. It works on Windows, Android, iOS, and Mac. The AI-based OCR and document converting technologies from ABBYY guarantee high standards of accuracy while preserving wireframes for easier editing. Key Features Make, modify, and also arrange PDFs Collaboration and PDF approval Tools for superior editing and document comparison Intelligent and adaptable OCR settings/adjustments Pros OCR editor with keyboard support for manual corrections Outstandingly clear interface Exports in a variety of formats Document comparison feature Cons It does not have full-text indexing for quick searches Learning curve necessary Costs may be expensive Unable to examine the document’s revision history Cannot combine many files into one The UI might seem too complex at first Large files are also processed slowly 3. Is IBM Datacap good as an OCR API? Datacap also extracts valuable data from corporate papers by automating those documents' collection, identification, and classification. Datacap offers a powerful OCR engine, several features, and programmable rules. It is also compatible with fax, multifunction peripherals, mobile devices, scanners, and other channels. Key Features Advanced document capture AI-infused intelligent processing Export to other targets Role-based redaction Highly adaptable rules-based capture Pros Configures sophisticated data collection applications Mechanism for scanning Easy to use Cons Almost no online assistance UI may be more user-friendly Setting up can be difficult Slow A customized flow is difficult to create Batch commitments require time 4. Adobe Acrobat Pro: An OCR solution? You can create customizable and searchable text from scanned documents and photos with Adobe Acrobat Pro. It recognizes text in photos using optical character recognition (OCR), making it simple to modify and conduct targeted searches. Acrobat Pro is another piece of excellent software from Adobe. It can edit PDFs, recognize text, add comments, convert Microsoft Office documents, digitally sign PDFs, and many others. Additionally, numerous features are already included in Adobe’s PDF file viewer. Moreover, the OCR tool is accessible on all devices. Key Features Strong PDF editing software High rate of OCR accuracy Support for digital signatures Available across major platforms Pros Reliability Easy to use Cons Expensive Not a specialized OCR program It occupies a large amount of space on the hard drive Integration challenges with services like Dropbox and Sharepoint It also needs a Creative Cloud license from Adobe 5. Is Google Document AI one of the top 5 OCR APIs? Google Document AI (DocAI) is a document processing interface that uses machine learning to automatically identify, retrieve, and enrich data and uncover insights from inside documents. This is one of the services in the Google Cloud AI portfolio. Therefore, users can process many documents with Google Doc AI, including PDFs, payment forms, and invoices. DocAI employs AI algorithms to increase data accuracy and also decrease the need for manual human checks. You can save processing costs, guarantee legal compliance, and gather insights from numerous documents to improve customer experiences with only a few clicks. Additionally, this platform’s computer vision technology allows users to read and scan data from scanned photos and unorganized words. Clients can also apply data validation and add human reviews to enhance the accuracy of data extraction for AI models. Key Features Combines Google Graph with parsed data It also supports multiple languages Data enrichment of documents by clever analysis It converts to PDF and functions with a variety of cloud products Document splitting, form parsing, and also text editing Lastly, feedback from Human in the Loop (HITL) Pros Simple to set up Additionally, it combines seamlessly with other Google services Information storage Fast Cons Firstly, it’s difficult to customize pre-existing modules and libraries Python or other coding languages are also not suitable for this Ineffective API documentation Expensive Not ideal for installations of hybrid clouds Also unsuitable for situations requiring bespoke AI algorithms In Conclusion can help you analyze, retrieve, and organize data, minimize data extraction mistakes, and improve the effectiveness of data collection. OCR APIs Photos, invoices, business cards, IDs, and tax documents can all be used with it. Additionally, you may avoid the burden of manual data processing by character-by-character converting image attributes into customized identification codes utilizing APIs. Also published here .

Filestack And Other OCR APIs

As someone who speaks and writes about business on a regular basis, I revel in any opportunity to look at business from a fresh perspective. After a while, the same topics get tired; how to come out on top financially, the best way to drive a profit, how to beat the competition. It was in a recent interview that I realized why these topics feel so tiresome. They are hellbent on the financials, and nothing else. It feels like every business conversation ultimately comes down to how much money can be made, and in a world where so much more is at stake – our environment, our socio-economics, our wellbeing – this myopic focus no longer feels sustainable. Abby Falik is, among many things, a social entrepreneur. Her life's work is focused on changing our perspective from money chasing to the pursuit of curiosity, courage, and conviction. I was enamored by her beliefs about leadership, and in particular, the idea that our bottom line should be people – not profit. If you listen to , or if you're yet to give it a crack, this one is bound to get you fired up. Let's dive into some of the key points Abby made. my podcast Abby Malik's Mission to Change Our Entrepreneurial Mindset How can I summarize Abby's career? From my point of view, she's one of the most accomplished people I've met – and not because of profits or growth. Abby is the Founder & CEO of Global Citizen Year, a nonprofit using the power of a global immersion between high school and college to unlock curiosity, conviction, and courage in our next-generation leaders. Her conviction began right after she finished secondary education. “When I finished high school, I was so tired from the treadmill. I had been an excellent sheep; I’d ticked all the boxes, I’d gotten into college. But I knew something was missing.” What Abby saw was a gaping hole in her education. She'd learned how to cram for tests, and to regurgitate knowledge – but at no point had she been taught about authentic and purpose-filled leadership. She hadn't learned about contributing to the world around her, or about shaping her values. “I desperately wanted to spend some time outside of the classroom in the real world in a way that would shape my values and perspective and identity and sense of purpose – in a way that I knew my freshman year of college couldn't.” After recognizing that our education system is fundamentally flawed in the way it prepares young people for the world, Abby was fixated on this idea of helping young people become global citizens. She founded GCY to give students access to a year of global education; one that would teach them how to be citizens of the world, and to gain resilience, empathy, agency, and leadership. The Purpose of Global Citizen Year In founding GCY, Abby's mission was to intercept young people right at the point of influence; those formative years when ideas are being flung at them from all angles. "Once they're then in college and being swept along, [young people need] a counter-force to all of the pressures that say, ‘Optimize for your own personal advancement. Maximize profit generation for yourself or your entity.’” Because this is what young people have impressed upon them from a very young age; you exist to make money, and to get as wealthy and comfortable as possible. You start a business in order to drive profit for yourself and those involved. As an adult and businessperson myself, I've experienced the outcome of this mindset. Every board meeting is focused on the financials; what are the sales, what's the profit margin, how can we do better? But Abby and GCY believe that there is a different way. A bottom line that is people-centric; one where business decisions are made with the wellbeing of everyone involved in mind. "What does it look like to embed a sense of civic responsibility that extends so far beyond yourself and personal gain, but to hold people in our planet as, as your bottom line?" This is what Abby's organization is trying to impress upon the next generations of leaders. But it isn't just our young people who need to shift their mindset – there's plenty we can learn from Abby's mindset and ideology, too, and it's never too late to pivot. The Problem With A Financial Bottom Line Before we launch into some business theory, here's a disclaimer: I'm not here to slam anyone for wanting to make money. It is, after all, how we survive – and as Abby informed me in our interview, even the most non-for-profit organizations still have to think about revenue strategy. The problem that Abby wants to tackle, and the issue I see so clearly in the business world, is this endless drive toward making more money and nothing else. Every business move is made for the ultimate goal of maximizing profits. Even decisions that might be bad for the environment, or workers, or customers – as long as they increase the bottom line, they're seen as viable moves. And that mindset simply isn't sustainable in the world we currently live in, especially if we want to preserve any kind of future. "I think so many businesses have been founded with a very singular, and focused, and easy to measure profit maximizing purpose – period," Abby explained. "What you measure is what gets done; it's what you manage toward, and the form and the function of what you're actually oriented around." How It Hurts Society If what you're oriented around is driving a profit, there's little room left for social responsibility. Some organizations exist under the guise of having a double bottom line, one that focuses on both profit and people; however, when push comes to shove, the people tend to lose out. "I don't mean that the profit maximizing oriented orientation is necessarily bad. I think the problem is when you're not then accounting on your balance sheet for all the externalities or harm you may be causing." I loved the way Abby clarified this. You can make a profit, and you can set your team up for a comfortable life. But where it goes wrong is negligence toward the impact you have on the world at large. "It doesn't work for society to have companies that maximize profits for shareholders whilst ignoring other stakeholders, including humans, and health, and the planet's sustainability. Out of those profits, you might give some of it away to help; you've made the money in one hand, and you're giving it away as band-aids on problems that you may have contributed to." Sadly, problems don't go away when we throw money at them. We can't have our cake – financial monopoly – and eat it too. Somewhere along the line, our businesses and our leaders need to switch from a mindset of 'make more' to one of mutually benefiting society. "It's a much more holistic way to see the role of the corporation in society: as accounting for its positive and detrimental contributions." What's At Stake? In the Western world, we live in a green-washed society. Our chocolate is stamped with a free trade symbol. Our meat is 'RSPCA approved'. Cars are going electric and companies are going carbon-neutral. We like to think of ourselves as responsible global citizens, and our economy reflects that with a focus on sustainability and social responsibility. But scratch the surface, and it's clear that profit is still the be-all and end-all for many businesses. Take a look at the headlines – companies going bankrupt, mass redundancies, tax avoidance schemes. Behind the PR gloss, it's clear that profit is still taking precedence over people. The problem is that this short-term focus on profit can have devastating consequences for both people and the planet. When businesses are forced to make decisions based on profit rather than people, we see things like: Household incomes have been since 2019. Low wages and precarious work: steadily decreasing Unsafe and unhealthy working conditions cause every single day. Poor working conditions: 7,500 deaths For up to 16 hours per day, between 5 and 14 are forced to work in sweatshops. Sweatshops: 250 million children Globally, are raised for consumption each year. Factory farming: 50 billion farm animals are released into the air and earth by industrial facilities every single second. Toxic pollution: 310 Kg of toxic chemicals The rate of temperature increase has over the past 40 years, and continues to rise. Climate change: more than doubled And the list goes on. At a time when the world is facing some of its biggest challenges – from climate change to inequality – it's clear that we need to rethink our bottom line. But the illusion of corporate social responsibility makes us feel as though we're already doing enough, and that's how we get caught out. "In an era when big tech and social media hijack our attention and sell it, unless we know our ability to choose how we invest our time and energy and resources – if we are just carried along without a sense of our own – we end up in a spot where there's a threat of authoritarian leadership. We are the product," Abby explained. "We live in a time that requires every human to know their responsibility to contribute to solving problems, big or small. Because without all of us having that orientation, we will just get swept along and swept off a cliff. We need everybody to see their power as change agents." Of course, I'm not saying that Elon Musk hasn't made a difference with his electric cars, or that the free trade initiative hasn't made a difference. But how much more could we achieve if businesses put people first, and solely first? It's a chilling thought. The Alternative: Social Entrepreneurship You may be wondering – so what's the alternative? How do we put people first, whilst staying afloat and achieving our financial goals? What Abby advocates for is social entrepreneurship. And no, it isn't just corporate social responsibility (CSR) – which is often seen as a PR move, and a way to greenwash dodgy business practices. Social entrepreneurship is the real deal: it's using business as a tool for social change. It's creating innovative solutions to social problems, without the guarantee of a significant financial outcome. I particularly love Abby's broader definition: "My favorite definition of entrepreneurship is the pursuit of an opportunity, independent of the resources under control. It's this notion of stepping off a cliff and having confidence that you will assemble the airplane or the parachute as you before you land. But it's a pursuit of an opportunity before you know where the resources come from." Going Against the Grain When you think about it, this is so counter-intuitive to our current business model, which is all about certainty and control. We want to know what the return on investment is going to be, we want to minimize risk. Our biggest corporations pay billions of dollars for incredibly precise predictions of consumer behavior, so they can plan and strategize to the nth degree. "In social entrepreneurship, I think that the opportunity you're pursuing holds people and our planet and a sense of social purpose as your bottom line," Abby explained. What a noble goal to pursue. It's one in which financial success is not the only – or even the primary – measure of success. It moves us away from egocentricity and towards a more holistic worldview. And if we're honest with ourselves, it's probably one of the most sure-fire ways to feel that you have succeeded as a human. We are naturally wired toward contributing to the greater good. We derive a lot of satisfaction from helping others and making a difference in the world. It feels good to see our efforts contribute to the betterment of society as a whole. Even something as simple as giving a thoughtful gift sends tingles up our spine. If you know the principles of Ikigai, you know that we feel most fulfilled when our work connects to our passion, supports our community and contributes to the world around us. This is what social entrepreneurship is all about. So how can you get involved? How To Shift Your Bottom Line According to Abby, our best bet at shifting toward a people-centric bottom line is to 'change the world from the inside out'. You might have heard of this concept in leadership circles; to benefit others, you must problem-solve from within. The problem is, change rarely comes about from these lofty ideals. Abby's goal is to impress upon people the importance of this concept. Her theory of change is that in order to change the world, you need to change individuals first – which is where her concept for GCY came about. As business leaders, we can take this concept into our own companies and organizations, too. Let's close out the article with a few strategies and mindset shifts you can walk away with. Alter Your Company's Mission As we've been talking about, your bottom line is the thing that drives your company. It's what you use to make decisions and it's what you're ultimately responsible for. Therefore, this is the element you should start with when looking to change your company culture and make it more people-centric. Take a good, hard look at your mission statement. Is it profit-driven or people-driven? Are you acting with the intention of benefiting others, or just your shareholders? Change truly comes from within, so look at the internal parts of your company and make the necessary tweaks to reflect a people-centric mission. Change Your Mindset From 'Should' To 'Must' Abby touched on something that I feel is crucial to making such pivotal changes within our businesses: the mindset of 'should'. "As you're talking, you've used the word 'should'. I think that's a really hard place to respond from, because it feels like an obligation or a responsibility. And so there's something that needs to shift from the 'should' to the 'must'. I do it this way because of experiences I've had, and because of the way I see the world." must It's true – taking responsibility for our impacts on the world is not really an option if we want to see real change. It's not optional if we want our people and our planet to thrive; and not even thrive, but simply survive. It's a must. Don't Miss The Moment The recent pandemic has presented us with a unique opportunity to change our business models, and to change the way that we view the bottom line. "What I would say to anybody who cares about contributing to a future that looks better than the present, is that we can't miss this moment. Arundhati Roy wrote about the pandemic is a portal, a door that we're walking through from one era of history into the next. And we choose what we carry, and we choose what we leave behind. I think so many sectors and industries are missing the opportunity to rethink everything." I think that's a pretty strong note to leave today's newsletter on; seize the moment. Don't let this opportunity pass you by to take initiative and rethink what the bottom line means to you and your company. If you want to connect with Abby Falik, you can on all of the usual platforms – and don't forget to listen to , because there are plenty more gems on changing education, leadership, starting a company, and more. find her our interview Thanks again for reading! Also Published here

Refocusing Your Business: From Profit to People

200 Black Women in Tech to Follow on Twitter in 2022

200 mujeres negras en tecnología para seguir en Twitter en 2022

200 femmes noires en technologie à suivre sur Twitter en 2022

टेक में 200 अश्वेत महिलाएं 2022 में ट्विटर पर फॉलो करेंगी

2022 年に Twitter でフォローするテクノロジー業界の黒人女性 200 人

200 mulheres negras em tecnologia para seguir no Twitter em 2022

200 phụ nữ da đen trong công nghệ để theo dõi trên Twitter vào năm 2022

2022 年将在 Twitter 上关注 200 名科技黑人女性

In this thread, the team at Hackernoon discusses the best video game villains and why they are worthy of making this list. slogging This Slogging thread by Jack Boreham, Limarc Ambalina, Blake Cram, Adrian Morales, Sara Pinto, Allyson Blinkhorn, Nicolas Ng, Jose Hernandez and Amy Shah occurred in slogging's official #gaming channel, and has been edited for readability. Jack Boreham Dec 2, 2021, 2:50 PM What are the best video game villains? Limarc Ambalina Dec 2, 2021, 5:12 PM 1 is Seifer in final fantasy 8, the villain who isn't really a villain in his heart.  He just ended up on the wrong side Blake Cram Dec 2, 2021, 8:03 PM This is probably divisive. But mine is Ellie and Abby from the Last of Us Part II. The game does an excellent job blurring the lines between protagonist and antagonists, to the point it isn't clear who the real "villain" is, yet both characters personify this quality. Both Ellie and Abby are complicated villains in a way that is compelling narratively that encourages deep discussions long after the game is done. That depth is what makes them the "best" villains IMO. Jack Boreham Dec 3, 2021, 3:46 PM I love these; for me. It has to be Ganon. The demon keeps coming back despite getting his ass beat by Link every time. Also, the Eggman from sonic! Nostalgic and one of the best villains. Jack Boreham Dec 3, 2021, 3:47 PM Blake Cram  Nicolas Ng Allyson Blinkhorn Jose Hernandez? 😄 Adrian Morales Dec 3, 2021, 5:11 PM I would say Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2. His use as a villain is more than just a disturbing monster that periodically chases you around the game.  Silent Hill 2 is a story all about James Sunderland, our main character, coming to terms with the awful things he has done to those he once loved. Thematically, Pyramid Head is a manifestation of James' guilt and inner torment. Every encounter with Pyramid Head represents James fighting his demons, literally and figuratively. Video games rarely feature such conceptually mature and unique villains like Pyramid Head. Sara Pinto Dec 3, 2021, 6:38 PM Jack Boreham Well, I don't know about the best villain, but Bowser from Super Mario was pretty iconic to me 😅 I have to up my gaming. Allyson Blinkhorn Dec 4, 2021, 5:11 AM Sephiroth -- especially given his status in Kingdom Hearts, too 🔥 1 Allyson Blinkhorn Dec 4, 2021, 5:14 AM Also, take your pick of Undertale/Deltarune villains -- Flowey, Sans, and Spamton are all very different and have great, interesting stories. 🔥 1 Nicolas Ng Dec 4, 2021, 10:00 AM Vergil is one of my favourite villains. He's got the best boss theme, and because of all the memes about him, I can't take him seriously at all. Just listening to him talk has become funny to me. In terms of raw storytelling, I would go for Emet Selch from Final Fantasy XIV. He's just fantastic to be around Jose Hernandez Dec 5, 2021, 1:25 AM My pick would have to be Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. The dude is pretty straightforward, he wants to conquer Earth, and he's unapologetically evil. Jack Boreham Dec 6, 2021, 11:04 AM Jose Hernandez Nicolas Ng, these are both great pics. Thinking about it..what makes a good video game villain? Limarc Ambalina  Blake Cram Allyson Blinkhorn? Limarc Ambalina Dec 7, 2021, 7:44 AM Blake Cram, that is such a great way of putting it. Sometimes it's hard to play the game because you don't know who's side your on. It blurs the lines of who you're killing and why. IMO the greater villain in that game were the faction leaders that wanted to commit genocides. Limarc Ambalina Dec 7, 2021, 7:46 AM Jack Boreham What makes a good villain, in general, is a reason for the madness, and the greater sense of empathy you can create for them, the better. When it comes to the point where you know they're a villain, you also feel sorry for them at the same time. The new Joker film did very well in this regard, compared to The Dark Knight, where the joker is just portrayed as someone who wants to watch the world burn. Joaquin Phoenix's Joker shoes WHY he wanted the world to burn because, in his mind, it was a world that shat on him and all the lower class people all his life. Jack Boreham Dec 8, 2021, 6:05 PM Limarc Ambalina, I agree. That reminds me of Darth Revan from Kotor or even Vader. Both these characters are villains but are in tune with their light side. They also have redemption arks. I think a great villain is not just a maniac but one with a light side and not afraid to tap into it. Jack Boreham Dec 14, 2021, 9:22 AM Amy Shah got any good ones? Amy Shah Dec 14, 2021, 10:19 AM Jack Boreham Do the eerie ghosts on Pac-Man count? Jack Boreham Dec 14, 2021, 1:07 PM Amy Shah, they do!! I have them with a passion. Are you a big fan of the classic game? Amy Shah Dec 14, 2021, 1:16 PM I am a fan of classics 🙂.  Gimme More Amy Shah Dec 14, 2021, 1:16 PM Jack Boreham Dec 16, 2021, 2:14 PM Amy Shah 😂 can't beat them.

Who are The Best Video Game Villains?

Summary: Why is burnout so common? Burnout symptoms are often a result of suboptimal procedures and working conditions. They are signs of a serious and protracted illness. Especially, burnout of software developers is more widespread than one might suspect. It hits companies via increased employee turnover, reduced team productivity, and above-average sick leave just as hard as the affected employees. Amongst many other reasons, “meaningless” work, frequently changing priorities, unrealistic goals, deadlines, and overwork are disproportionately often named as causes. Early indicators for these most important burnout causes can be identified from the work on the software code with the DETANGLE Analysis Suite. With these analysis results, project leaders/-management have information at hand to identify health-threatening working conditions of their developers at an early stage and can initiate countermeasures timely. By regularly applying these analyses, additional information regarding the trend of the relevant key metrics will become available. Over time it becomes increasingly easy to narrow down the causes of a developer’s burnout and to avoid it before the individual and as a consequence, the organisation is seriously impacted. Why are software developers so often exposed to burnout symptoms? Burnout is a serious and protracted illness.  There is still no clear definition and diagnosis for it. Often, it is confused with depression. A helpful description can be found, for example, at Burnout Prevention for Software Developers [1]: Burnout is one of those things you don’t notice until you already have it. But people with symptoms of burnout are people who are – generally always working, always on they feel like they can never take a break or have downtime. – Abby Kearns, Cloud Foundry The . The following list of some symptoms are consistently cited in How Not to Burnout: Guide for Software Developers [2]: consequences of burnout are severe for the individual developer, the team, and the company “Becoming cynical or overly critical at work” “Lack of energy and concentration with no evident cause” “Constant fatigue” “Procrastinating on tasks that you used to do enthusiastically” “Feelings of dread, apathy, and being out of control” “Lowered productivity” “Minor to major anxiety” “Outbursts of anger” One could argue that burnout happens in every profession. But software engineering is particularly predestined for it. And there is a reason for that. Software engineering has no limits. Work is not defined by a set number of hours per day, but by optimistic and sometimes arbitrary management deadlines. As one senior tech CEO told me, “I knew there was no chance of meeting my deadline, but I just wanted to get the engineering team to work faster.” In addition, understaffing of project teams is  common because recruiting developers is difficult – and expensive. [3] The publication Beware Burnout [3] lists the following software development-specific reasons for an increased probability to get burnout: “Unclear or rapidly changing direction” (A), “Bus factor is low” (B), “Programming is isolating” (D), “Draining work of maintenance” (C), “Impatient or ungrateful users” (in the case of open source development) “Coding for others” Other publications such as 7 Reasons why programmers burn out [4] and Only You Can Prevent Tech Burnout [5] list quite similar and further reasons. The various reasons the different authors find causal for increased susceptibility for burnout can be consolidated into four clusters: Category Example Lack of focus (A) Too many varying tasks. The developer e.g. works on the development of many new features but just a few will be completed. Or the developer constantly switches between maintenance/bug fixing and feature development often without finishing previous tasks. High workload and/or unbalanced distribution of tasks (B) High workload for some top developers, as only they have the skill to handle complex parts of the software. A single developer has to coordinate the work of many (new) developers. Unrealistic deadlines coupled with notorious understaffing. Significant share of “non-value” work (C) A high share of maintenance work and a low share of the development of new features/innovations becomes frustrating in the long run. Bad collaboration within and between development teams (D) Lack of onboarding/training of new colleagues. Experienced developers who do not delegate or share their knowledge. Lack of communication about work progress and best practices within the team or between teams. Table 1: Work condition categories and their influence on burnout of software developers Of course, it also depends on very individual circumstances whether the employee suffers from burnout. But since it is a very serious and long-lasting disease, it is even more important to measure the known causes and their impact on the individual developer as early as possible and to implement prevention concepts. In the following sections, we show that many causes of burnout can be extracted by investigating the work on the software code. Early indicators of burnout are measurable The first step in burnout prevention is to identify indicators that are known or reasonably suspected to be associated with an increased susceptibility for burnout as shown in table 1. For the category clusters A, B, and C, we record the following parameters per developer over time with DETANGLE®: What is the developer’s share of the workload of system maintenance vs. feature development? How many features/user stories does a developer work on simultaneously and what is their effort distribution? How many different source code directories is the developer working on simultaneously? How many different programming languages is the developer working with? Does a developer pose a project risk over a longer period of time due to his relevant and special knowledge, and is she/he aware of it (bus factor)? The analysis of these data gives clear insights about working circumstances that are known to cause an over-proportional amount of employees burdened with burnout syndrome. For example, the higher the individual’s maintenance effort, the lower the proportion of real value-adding work that usually is seen as a satisfying activity (C). The higher the number of features/user stories and the higher the number of source code directories or programming languages, the lower the developer’s focus (A), whereas the Bus Factor also indirectly reflects his workload (B). Figure 1 shows the Bus Factor, i.e. the number of key developers for the Django open-source project. It can be seen that their number has increased from 4 to 7 developers from 2019 to 2020, and about 12% of the developers are considered mission-critical and contribute to the Bus Factor. The loss of one of these developers is always a project risk. Since these key developers also usually have the highest workload and responsibility, they are particularly at risk for burnout. Thus, the Bus Factor is also an early indicator of the number of employees at risk for burnout. If a developer is recorded as a Bus Factor for a longer time, project management should try to rebalance his load and reduce his/her high level of continuous high importance for the project(s). We have already addressed the causes of category D from the previous section (problem of poor cooperation) in several blogs. Under [6] and [7] we have explained that it is not the star soloists, but the team players that matter in order to limit the stress level in the team while still improving productivity and quality. Software Due Diligence – Developers and their Cooperation in Focus The Diffusion of Responsibility Phenomenon Analyzed: Unravel the Truth Conclusion: Developing software is challenging and the risk of burnout is real Developing software is an intellectually challenging process for many brilliant minds. given the challenges and pressure in software development projects. We strongly recommend identifying burnout indicators early on or even better continuously to minimize the risk of employees dropping out for months due to overwork or dissatisfaction. Software companies are, therefore, “people” companies. The risk of burnout is real and present Cape of Good Code has developed an analytical, software-based approach to identify indicators that describe the risk of burnout of an individual caused by working circumstances in software engineering. By using DETANGLE® regularly, . Each indicator gives specific hints of where the stress could come from. This allows project managers to . By speaking with the employee one can definitively clarify how stressful he/she perceives the work circumstances and whether he/she can further handle that stress level. project leaders can gain insight about the work-induced stress level within their team reach out to that employee and discuss individual countermeasures Links [0] Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels [1] Burnout Prevention for Software Developers [2] How Not to Burnout: Guide for Software Developers [3] Beware Burnout [4] 7 Reasons why programmers burn out [5] Only You Can Prevent Tech Burnout [6] Software Due Diligence – Developers and their Cooperation in Focus [7] The Diffusion of Responsibility Phenomenon Analyzed: Unravel the Truth Also published at: https://capeofgoodcode.com/2021/09/10/burnout-syndrome-why-it-hits-software-developers-so-often/

Why Burnout Syndrome Is More Common Among Software Developers

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2021 List}

Github has revealed that throughout 2019, the coding hosting platform took down more than 14,300 projects following DMCA complaints. Of the total notices received, only a tiny proportion was contested via counter-notice. Interestingly, the Microsoft-owned platform also reveals that one copyright complaint cannot be detailed as it's the subject of a gagging order. Code development platform Github is home to a staggering 40 milliondevelopers worldwide, most of whom use its world-class features without much outside interference. Occasionally, however, code published to the site can attract the negative attention of outside parties, some of whom believe that it somehow infringes on their rights. The reasons for these claims are varied but most commonly on TF we cover copyright infringement issues. Recent examples can be found in a notice filed by the MPA which of ‘pirate’ app TeaTV or when Instagram requested , ostensibly to protect its users’ copyrights. targeted the repository code to be removed In common with platforms like Google and Reddit, Github publishes an annual transparency report, which offers additional information on how the company responds to requests for user information and removal of content. Its latest, the sixth since 2014, reveals that in response to copyright complaints, Github permanently took down 14,320 projects. “14,320 may sound like a lot of projects,” says Abby Vollmer, senior manager of policy at GitHub, “but it’s only about one one-hundredth of a percent of the repositories on GitHub at the end of 2019.” Since multiple projects can be targeted in a single DMCA notice, the actual volume of notices processed by Github is much lower, 1,762 valid notices to be precise. The company handled just 37 counter-notices, which are sent to Github by users requesting that content is reinstated due to the belief it is non-infringing or has been incorrectly targeted. The counter-notice figure provided by Github also includes DMCA notice retractions, where the submitter withdrew their original complaint. The company does not track incomplete or insufficient notices, so these are not detailed in its report. Github acknowledges that it has seen considerable growth in the volume of DMCA notices submitted to the platform over the past several years. However, the company highlights that the increase in repositories affected is somewhat in line with its surging userbase. “Based on DMCA data we’ve compiled over the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in DMCA notices received and processed, trending with growth in registered users over the same period of time, until this year,” Vollmer says. “However, if we compare the number of repositories affected by DMCA notices to the approximate number of registered users over the same period of time, then we see an increase this year that correlates with that of GitHub’s community.” While most copyright complaints are filed by companies, their agents, or individuals, Github said that this year it needed to add a new category titled ‘court-ordered takedowns’. Github says it received a single order in 2019 that was about copyright but wasn’t a regular complaint. Unfortunately, however, it’s not allowed to provide many details. “We received one this year and interestingly, it was about copyright but not under the DMCA. Since it was a gagged court order, we weren’t able to provide our usual transparency to the user of sharing and posting the notice, but we are able to report on the fact that we processed a takedown on this basis,” Vollmer concludes. Overall, the number of copyright complaints received by Github is relatively small considering its size. It’s unlikely that leading rightsholders see the platform as a major problem but over the years many have had projects taken down, including , , the body in charge of , and . Nintendo WinRAR HDMI administration Grindr A pirate site even got in on the act, but that was a . clear anomaly Github’s 2019 Transparency Report can be viewed in full here Originally published as “ DMCA Notices Took Down 14,320 Github Projects in 2019 ” with the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license

DMCA Notices Took Down 14,320 Github Projects in 2019

General Introductions to Remote Working (... you can ). contribute here OMG I’m working remotely, now what?! 🔗 omgwfh.com 🗣 http://www.benedikt-lehnert.de/contact Best practices and tips to help you stay sane, focused and boost your productivity while working from home, a coffee shop or really anywhere in the world, because distributed teams are a reality and remote work is the future Distributed / Remote Working 🔗 https://edgeryders.eu/t/distributed-collaboration-manual/11263 Edgeryders’ guide to Distributed Collaboration Open Data Institute Remote Working Resources 🔗 Open Data Institute - Resources to support working, collaborating and training remotely - #PUBLIC CAST/Catalyst guide to remote working for charities/nonprofits 🔗 https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/voices/how-to-work-remotely-in-a-time-of-coronavirus.html How to work from home 🔗 www.theverge.com/2020/3/11/21171349/remote-work-how-to-home-coronavirus-quarantine-productivity-tips 🗣 kim.lyons@theverge.com Working Remotely in Slack: Getting Started (webinar) https://slack.com/events/webinars/working-remotely-in-slack-getting-started Basecamp book on remote working https://coronavirus tech handbook.com/ 🔗 https://basecamp.com/books/remote Nb Basecamp have offered to refund any purchases of this book, as a contribution to the group effort - see for more information and discussion. this tweet Activities to do with kids while parents work remotely 150+ Enrichment Activities for Children While Parents are Working Remotely 🔗 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KCFnWreu4v7VoO3NbgP-Qcq2LyE1FvliYSoiTLRY7Qg/edit?usp=sharing Remote work advice 1. If you've been commuting, keep a percentage of your commute cost for "nice things" at work - whether that's a great lamp for your desk, an image you love in a frame, some plants or a set of 20 Sharpies in different colours. Put the rest of the money into your savings if you don’t need to use it for other essential costs. 2. The presenters on Radio 5 Live (or your station of choice) are a big part of your life but they are not actually your real friends. Talk to some real people each day as well as the radio/the cat/the dog. 3. Routine! Get up, wash your face, stretch. Be sure to set times around to stretch, do a little exercise, drink water, eat nourishing foods, and when to turn all the tech off. “I am only working from 8-4, an hour for lunch, and 4 mini-breaks for stretching and water.” Remote Design Kit Help designers find jobs, inspiration and design specific remote advice 🔗 https://docs.google.com/document/d/11gU0KThfomgY-697xsBi26s_P_5tOpYfV0y4IeluhRg/edit?userstoinvite=anton%40designcalendar.io&ts=5e70e650&actionButton=1#heading=h.szqjw0pbtjee Doist’s Twist Remote Work Guides 🔗 https://twist.com/remote-work-guides?utm_source=doist_blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=remote_work_guide Trello’s Remote Work Guide 🔗 https://info.trello.com/hubfs/How_To_Embrace_Remote_Work_Trello_Ultimate_Guide.pdf 1Password’s Remote Work Guide 🔗 https://blog.1password.com/remote-work-tips/ Notes on hosting virtual meetings 🔗 https://docs.google.com/document/d/11EEmovZLlILjm0j2V3MGTVvwB_3L39I-63xB9wpvSiE/edit# 🔗 Abby Cabunoc Mayes on Twitter: "Online meeting tips 💻 With more meetings moving online to prepare for #COVID19, I thought I'd share lessons we've learned running @MozOpenLeaders (online cohort-based training & mentorship) over the years. A thread 👇" Note: Where possible use voice only for conference calls (with a profile pic) as it’ll improve call quality by reducing the bandwidth required for the call. 90 minute interactive workshop on remote teams 🔗 https://www.daoleadership.com/managingremoteworkforce/ Free 90-minutes interactive workshop on how to manage remote teams during Coronavirus pandemic. https://www.daoleadership.com/managingremoteworkforce/ Remote Management So you’re now running a remote team… what do you do? [I thought we should have this as a section!] Gitlab Guide to having an all remote company & remote work emergency plan 🔗 https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/ 🔗 https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/remote-work-emergency-plan/ Remote Working Tools Producthunt Library of Remote Work Apps 🔗 https://www.producthunt.com/e/remote-apps Meetings / Video Conferencing tools Encourage meetings via videoconferencing. Invest in a proper webcam/speakers/microphone. is a very popular option. It is free for up to 100 people for up to 40 minutes (you can then restart the call - time for a coffee!) Zoom is the amazing one that enables you to set a video conference within 2 clicks in 3 secs. Without requirement of registration or download. Totally free for up to 65 mins and 20 members at the moment. Tico Powercall - video conferencing Skype has made their video call background image finder free for sixty days. Works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other video chats with virtual background support. Jingle - instantly shareable video via browser. Seamless screen, mic, and camera recording for Chrome. Reduces need for meetings or long emails. Free for Teachers and Students. They’ve also increased their free plan during the pandemic. Loom.com helps you keep track of all your meeting notes across all your projects - and it is entirely free during this time of crisis. https://untwist.io/ for live transcribing video meetings into audio+text notes that you can playback, search and share. Integrated with Zoom, Dropbox, and Google/Microsoft calendar and contacts. Otter.ai Online conferences/events with breakout rooms where participants can move themselves using Zoom + Google Docs + user profiles: example event on QiqoChat is similar to Zoom and completely free but has some browser limitations with Safari and Firefox ( ). Jitsi link now own Jitsi and works similarly 8X8 Unhangouts, out of the MIT Media Lab, has breakout rooms, lobby for conferencing: The team tested this a few years ago during the Google Hangouts on Air period. Still around apparently. https://unhangout.media.mit.edu/ Peeragogy.org Unconference: https://unconference.com/ is in beta but claims to work on all major browsers without requiring downloads, has nifty “agenda” and “notes” features, is free for up to 15 people Team.video Microsoft Teams is free for up to 300 people: https://products.office.com/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software https://www.hugo.team/ Google Hangouts/Meet will work for smaller teams (generally up to 25 teams) but bandwidth overload if too many participants. Google’s JamBoards are good for virtual ideas sessions is an easy alternative. Whereby.com is a browser based video conference tool. Completely free until 1st June. Vectera.com is an online conference platform, launching soon. Konf.co Slack ( ) is a good platform for distributed companies to message, call, share screens, share docs https://slack.com/ Cisco WebEx is free for personal use as of 3/12/2020 https://www.webex.com/pricing/index.html Nextcloud talk has video conferencing and is self-hosted https://nextcloud.com BigBlueButton is open source web conferencing app designed for learning situations https://bigbluebutton.org/ Wikipedia has a nice comparison list of web conferencing options https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software Talky.io An update from us regarding COVID-19. Discord - a collaboration platform similar to Slack for small teams (upto 50ppl), has given their free account subscribers access to live streaming/ screensharing/ teleconferencing tools. To learn more about their Go Live feature you’ll find info on the support page: https://dis.gd/golivescreenshare Note: Where possible use voice only for conference calls (with a profile pic) as it’ll improve call quality by reducing the bandwidth required for the call. The nonprofit Citizens Foundation now offers free hosting and support for any nonprofit that wants to engage citizens online or do internal idea generation work remotely alongside video conferencing. Check out the Getting Started tutorial! https://citizens.is/getting-started/ Leave Tracking - An easy way to manage leave within your company. Perfect for remote teams in multiple locations. Integration. Vacation Tracker Slack Blog articles on Nonprofit Resources for Remote Work Nonprofit Resources for Remote Work During the COVID-19 Outbreak https://blog.techsoup.org/posts/nonprofit-resources-for-remote-work-during-the-covid-19-outbreak Key Tips for Working Remotely for Your Nonprofit https://blog.techsoup.org/posts/key-tips-for-working-remotely-for-your-nonprofit Understanding the Videoconferencing Tools Available to Your Nonprofit https://blog.techsoup.org/posts/understanding-the-videoconferencing-tools-available-to-your-nonprofit For non-profits, programs or advocates working with victims and survivors of sexual violence or domestice violence, more resources can be found at : CoronavirusTechHandbook.com/isolation Asynchronous Collaboration Tools Email Transparency Tools that allow companies to make some or all email threads searchable within their company, which is especially helpful in remote work situations where you can’t just turn to the person next to you to ask for help. is a tool for reading, searching, sharing, and discovering the most useful email discussions happening within your business. FWD:Everyone is a tool for sorting and storing knowledge within email by team, project, or topic. TopicBox is a tool for turning your internal email into a company knowledgebase. CopyIn Qiqo Chat 🔗 Tool for building online communities (web conference, live events, discussions, newsletters,...) https://qiqochat.com/ Kialo 🔗 https://www.kialo.com/ Useful tools for collaboration, brainstorming and debate whilst remote working. Enables you to visualize discussions as an interactive tree of pro and con arguments. Benefits of use over social media to crowdsource stakeholder views is that you can create either public or private debates. Work in the time of Corona 🔗 https://blog.alicegoldfuss.com/work-in-the-time-of-corona/ 🗣 https://twitter.com/alicegoldfuss Some assurances and tips for maintaining your mental health while adjusting to this new life. Leapers 🔗 http://leapers.co/go/coronavirus A community supporting the mental health of the self-employed is gathering and sharing resources on positive mental health around remote working, working under isolation, and the challenges of coronavirus for the self-employed, who may have loss of business as a result. Combating burnout, isolation, and anxiety in the remote workplace https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/mental-health/ https://www.mhe-sme.org/covid-19/ 9 Ways to Make Working At Home More Joyful https://www.aestheticsofjoy.com/2020/03/9-ways-to-make-working-from-home-more-joyful/ ✏️ Edit this document to make it better ✏️ Join the Whatsapp Chat for deep dive discussions: ”Remote” CoronavirusTechHandbook Whatsapp Chat this is a part of coronavirustechhandbook.com

The Crowdsourced Guide to Remote Working in the Age of Coronavirus

What Future Holds for DevOps in 2020: A Complete Guide

Is EOS Overtaking Ethereum? A Deep Dive into Network Activities

Top Custom Software Development Companies

The 2018 Black Women in Tech to Follow On Twitter List

Excerpts from my experience at the AWS Summit in NYC! As a fresh Computer Science graduate working at a , attending my first ever tech summit was a pretty big deal. This article isn’t a step-by-step guide to those attending their first conference, but I hope my first experience can help you in preparing for yours! startup I traveled to New York City for the AWS Summit on 14th August 2017, along with my mentor and ’s Chief of Engineering . Since ’s infrastructure runs on Amazon Web Services, we thought this seminar would be a good way to quickly augment my AWS knowledge, and grasp new concepts and practices which may enable us to optimize our usage of AWS offerings, and build better solutions. You may want to pick your conferences based on the scope of your work and personal/professional interests. You can find most upcoming tech conferences around you on Eventbrite! BioBright Ryan M Harrison BioBright future Talks & deep dives at the AWS Summit. One of the most important aspects of a conference: the sessions, deep dives, and hands on labs. There are always multiple sessions at the same time, and if you go in unprepared, you are probably gonna miss out on some great talks and workshops. It’s important to go over the schedule, pick the talks you want to attend, and read up on topics you’re interested in learning about. The AWS Summits App(most tech conferences have their own apps) helped me go over the summit schedule, add particular events to my calendar, and set neat reminders. If you’re attending as a team, it might be a good idea to attend different talks which occur simultaneously. I attended sessions on Taking Apps from Monolith to Microservices by , EC2 Instances, Performance Optimization & Best Practices by Adam Boeglin, Object Storage: Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier by Marc Trimuschat and Thomas Fuller, and a Deep dive on Amazon Aurora by Kevin Jernigan. You can read more about these talks . Abby Fuller here A lot of techies may opine that the most important aspect of these conferences is the opportunity to network. For a first-time conference attendee, this might seem intimidating. I have never been comfortable walking up to people and starting conversations, and there I was, a recently graduated Software Engineer walking among experienced engineers, solution architects and tech evangelists, and I had to try and speak with them?! I found that it wasn’t as terrifying as I visualized it, but it was still pretty nerve-wracking to begin with. I initiated conversations with fellow attendees at the very first session, and “small talk” was my savior. The ‘fresh graduate eager to learn’ card helped me a few times, and I ended up having meaningful conversations with most senior developers I approached. I also happened to visit a few vendor stalls at the summit, where I often asked the representatives to direct me to their engineers/architects. I had great conversations with people at , , Chef, and . Some of them even took the time to demo their products and give a brief overview of how these initiatives might help us at BioBright. What’s easier than talking to experts who were there just to answer questions from people like you? At the end, you walk away having learnt something new, and also some cool ! The AWS Experts booth and the Dev Lounge proved to be great platforms for junior devs like me to learn more about best practices, AWS offerings and their use cases, and certifications paths, directly from members of the Amazon Web Services team. MongoDB Redis Labs Datadog HQ swag A long day full of sessions, deep dives, hands-on labs, and other events came to an end with the happy hour, where people unwind and talk freely about work, life, beer, and all things tech. This is where you really get to connect with people, and learn more about their work, ideas, and passions. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet experts who are more than willing to drop some ! knowledge bombs All in all, the experience was quite awesome. With the exception of a , most senior techies are quick to empathize with junior developers, since most of them have been in your shoes. Use this to your advantage, but don’t be naive. Build meaningful conversations with the intent to learn, exchange ideas, and people will reciprocate. When it’s all said and done, write your first Medium post describing your first tech conference, then go plan and prepare for your next one! After all, it’s only gonna get better with each experience. I mean, it’s got to, right?! few

What to expect from your first tech conference?

There’s been a lot of press lately about that’s taking Silicon Valley by storm. Stories of sexism and outrage. Of and on the VC side at all. At last count, fewer than 7% of investing partners at VC firms are women. the culture of harassment women receiving less overall funding for their businesses than men fewer opportunities to have a seat at the table It’s been a poignant topic for me personally, in the year-and-a-half since I started working at a VC firm, Union Square Ventures. This is hardly the first time in my life when I have experienced being the only woman in the room, but it is the first time that I’ve witnessed an industry’s culture vehemently reject the implications of this behavior. I’m proud that our position in the tech industry uniquely positions us to effect change. So I think it’s important to talk about what’s going on and better understand the historical context that led us here. While I am a part of the investment team at a VC firm, I’m not an investing partner. I spend most of my day-to-day focusing on nurturing and growing the strength of the 65+ active investments in our portfolio network. It’s my job to build the strongest network possible and facilitate fast and direct introductions to people in and out of our portfolio to expose our companies to new people or ideas, ultimately helping them save time, save money, and build better businesses. It’s a newer job niche within the VC community, one that USV was among the first to introduce . Since then, we’ve conservatively hosted more than 250 portfolio network events and engaged 3,000+ people in everything from in-person network events to online Slack discussions and direct one-to-one peer connections. back in 2010 Unlike investing partners, I can’t measure my success in terms of dollars and cents of capital returned from an investment. Instead, I ask questions like: How much time did I save someone who was looking for advice on SEO strategies by referring the right agency at the right time? How can I quantify the impact of getting a new VP of Product candidate a job at a company right at their inflection point? How valuable is it, exactly, to bring together a dozen people from a dozen companies and watch them connect the dots as they recognize for the first time that they all share similar problems? Needless to say, the impact of the work I do can feel a bit “squishy.” Over the past year, I’ve met dozens of people at other firms who have similar job titles as I do — Network GMs or Heads of Platform or Talent Partners or Community Managers. Most of them, like me, wound up in this industry through an unexpected entry point. Most of them, like me, encounter challenges in communicating the value of the work they do, testing out how much autonomy and authority the industry and their firm will allow them. Most of them, like me, are women. It doesn’t escape me that in an industry dominated by men, it is mostly women who tend to be the ones taking on these more nuanced, softer touch, community-focused roles. How did we get here? The VC creation story The creation of the modern-day industry goes a little like this: story venture capital Back in 1957 when the post-war economy was once again beginning to pick up, a small group spun out of Fairchild Camera and Instrument that set out to make semiconductors out of silicon transistors. Two years later, this new business, Fairchild Semiconductor, became the first venture-backed startup in history. The backers at the time, Rockefeller Brothers Inc. (which later became Venrock Partners), paved the way for the future of a now-prolific industry in which . Venrock went on to invest in more than 400 companies (Intel and Apple among them) and just this January at $450M. millions of dollars are invested almost daily closed on their eighth fund At the helm of that 1959 Fairchild Semiconductor deal was Laurance Rockefeller, the fourth child of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who had encouraged all six of his children to take advantage of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 by investing in venture deals. This high-powered team of eight partners included all four of Laurance’s brothers, a scientist, a lawyer, and their sister, Abby (whom they all just called “Babs”). Yes, you read that right. The very first venture-backed startup was funded by a firm named Rockefeller Brothers, on which their own sister was a partner. And thus, the very first venture capital Boys’ Club was born. Who Tells Your Story? Earlier this year, I met a barista in a San Francisco coffee shop who, in her spare time, produces a podcast with the goal of bringing women’s voices back to the retelling of history. “Whose stories do we hear about the most in history class?” she asked, giving me that knowing, girl-to-girl look. “Men.” She continued: “And who do you think wrote down all of this history into the very books that molded and shaped our views of society?” Newsflash, she said: Also men. That conversation stuck with me. Since then, I’ve thought a lot about those quick few moments — taken a bit aback by a question that I admittedly hadn’t considered much before. Has our history really been dictated solely by men? My mind jumped to memories of reading history textbooks in elementary school. In my head, I can see the black text on the page, the portraits of notable historical figures, the vocab terms defined, and there, in the chapter on the American Revolutionary War, a sidebar box, shaded in gray, taking up barely ⅓ of the page with the topic header: “Women’s role in the Revolution.” The contributions of women in the Revolutionary War and the roles they played on the “home front” secured about 350 words of real estate, compared to the pages dedicated to retelling battle stories and the generals who championed each one. Looking back, who’s to say it’s really more important for us to know all of the names of towns were each Revolutionary War battle took place than it is to understand the societal constructs that moved an entire population to eventually overthrow their government? It’s also possible that, at this period in time, women weren’t simply in positions to cause the same level of impact on historical change as (more powerful) men. It angers me now to think that, back then in 5th grade, I blindly accepted any new piece of knowledge as absolute truth. (Not that a 10-year-old learning her nation’s history for the first time would know any better.) But not only was that tiny 350-word sidebar about women vastly downplaying what I’m sure was a much more complex and important period of time, but it’s literally only one example of a constant, yet subtle nudge to all women since the day we entered the classroom: Women’s stories are sidebars. Men’s stories are the main narrative. This isn’t to say that the historians telling these stories were as narrators, but let’s be real: Unconscious bias wasn’t invented when . It’s been around all along. untrustworthy Google famously coined the term in 2014 There doesn’t seem to be any solid research on just how much this male voice has dominated our collective worldview and perspective in retelling history. But , analyzed 614 works of popular history and found that 75% of these accounts are told by men. in a recent study Slate Oh, and by the way, this data is from books published in 2015. ( .) I can’t imagine the percentage of women-authored books being larger than that in any of the preceding years — can you? You can see their full list here For another perspective, I turned to Google and typed in “women in history.” The top Google hit is , a “teacher’s activity guide” of a list of women achievers. On it, there are 39 names. this Scholastic article Seriously, Scholastic? Not to mention that the website looks like it hasn’t been updated since 2002. Is this the best we can do? Apparently there are only 39 women achievers in history… http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/women/notable.htm People Like Abby I’ve been thinking a lot about people like Abby “Babs” Rockefeller. What it must have been like, back in 1946, to be little more than a decade from investing in the enormously disruptive semiconductor industry, and what may have caused her to shirk away from diving deeper into the business that she was already so close to being an active part of. I wonder about that today, as we stand on the precipice of a potentially game-changing world of blockchain and crypto-currencies, an area of technology that has the potential to be just as disruptive. Will women be a part of this narrative? Will I? In Abby’s case, aside from a few side mentions about her involvement with the firm as a partner, any other involvement she may have had gets much fuzzier. Was she in the first meetings with Fairchild Semiconductor? Was she equally enthusiastic about the prospect of what this technology could bring to the world? Was she even invited to participate in those discussions? We may never know. Her obituary, in 1976, doesn’t mention her involvement with the firm, instead citing her as “the quiet Rockefeller.” while covered by The New York Times I can only begin to scratch the surface of the challenges someone like Abby Rockefeller faced. To be the first-born, but the only girl, inside of one of the richest families in the world. To carry the same name as your mother (Rockefeller’s wife was also named “Abby”) for so many years. Maybe that’s why, the older she grew, the more she retreated away from the spotlight, overshone by her five brothers. There certainly was no Sheryl Sandberg playing the part of coaching her how to “lean in” to the business world. So rather than pursue politics or finance (like most of her brothers), she took the safer route: philanthropy. There aren’t a lot of stories about Abby, but I’ve found bits and pieces here and there. And a few key moments stood out to me: She was described as “rebellious” and as a “bundle of nerves” growing up and made the newspapers several times for receiving speeding tickets; as someone who “speeds through everything she does and finds it hard to accept such a strictly disciplined life.” even called her out The Palm Beach Post She allegedly caused a minor societal scandal at her wedding . by removing the word “obey” from the marriage vows She later established a fund at MIT . to support a female professor in an area where women were underrepresented These anecdotes stand out to me as describing the actions of a modern woman. Let’s put this in perspective: If in 2016, it was “scandalous” for me to wear a floral dress to my wedding (sorry, Mom) and walk myself down the aisle alone (sorry, Dad), what must it have been like to make remove the word “obey” from your wedding vows in 1925?! Seriously. Talk about progressive. To say the least, Abby was not a meek woman with few intellectual pursuits. She would have been, perhaps in another time, a pioneer. Abby “Babs” Rockefeller on the front page of on March 22, 1925: The Palm Beach Post https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/133382944/ The VC Legacy How do you take a rebellious woman who moves too fast and morph her into someone who prefers to keep to herself and stray from the spotlight? I’d put my money on her getting shut down or shut out one too many times. I’m neither a historian nor a scholar. So I can’t even pretend to understand the intricacies and nuances of understanding any of this historical context. But I am part of the continuation of that same creation story. The story that starts with Fairchild Semiconductor continues on to give us the names that dominate the discussions we take part in daily: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk. And the ones that continue to enable this rise to power? They’re the venture capitalists who continue to fund these wild, far-fetched, and crazy ideas. Amid all of this lore and legacy, of all of these ideas hatched out of garages, park benches, and dorm rooms, even all of those “meeting of the minds” on Sand Hill Road and the millions of dollars that flood into this ecosystem — . it’s still predominantly men at the helm Sometimes I like to walk myself through a thought exercise, asking what could have been if things had started just a little bit differently. If, for instance, John D. Rockefeller had overcome (centuries of cultural bias) and looked to his firstborn as the one who should naturally take over and launch a new business that would continue for decades to come, it would have been Abby. If he turned to her and said, “I’d like you to think about how we can jump-start this post-war economy with investments in new enterprises that may reshape how we think about industrial and technical advancement,” would she have stepped back…or stepped up? If she stepped up, I’m fairly certain that she wouldn’t have named the firm Rockefeller Brothers, and maybe her taking the lead would have attracted the attention of the Vanderbilts, which may have inspired one of their female descendants to do the same. Maybe that “first follower” effect would have catalyzed our society into one where the wealthiest and most high-powered women are the ones who take on the tech industry, snowballing us into a world where today, the tech scene is less like a frat party and more like a high-brow, old-school women’s club, where women CEOs are more prevalent than men and where men wind up taking entry-level positions as office managers as any way possible to break into the industry and hopefully earn their way up the chain of command. had Okay, maybe this is a bit of a stretch. But the point is: Her father didn’t say that. Or maybe Abby didn’t think to do that. And so, the trend continued. Yes, the venture capital industry is steeped in a tradition of male dominance that goes all the way back to its inception. Yes, women are (for whatever reason) not yet ascending en masse to the partner level of firms. Yes, this can, and did (and still will) lead to negative consequences that result from this type of concentration of wealth and power. But this problem is hardly isolated to the venture capital industry. . It’s in energy . And healthcare . And law . And government . And yes, even theatre If you think for one second that women in any of these industries aren’t feeling even a tinge of what it’s like to be working in venture capital or in technology today, you must be kidding yourself. This historic tradition of male dominance is everywhere. Along with that comes decades worth of bias from a whole different set of characters. But….unlike all of these others industries, venture capital is also the industry that gave the world Twitter. And Medium. And so many other social sharing tools that have come to define not only our daily lives but the way we make business decisions. So, unlike all of these other industries, we have one strikingly amazing benefit: We can make a lot more noise about our problems. And I think this is a very good thing. The tech industry has always been about disruption. Today that remains true. We’re figuring out these gender-focused issues first. It can feel slow and outrageous and painful, but we’re making progress. And we’re not the only ones out there going through it. But for us, every single moment is playing out in real time in plain sight. Maybe it’s overly optimistic, but I believe that these actions and this exposure will pave the way for other industries to do the same.

Stories, News & Mentions about ABBY

Abby’s Stories on HackerNoon