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What does it mean to be a woman in tech? For starters, a woman in tech knows that she has to go the extra mile or at least has had to, traditionally. A woman in tech knows she must build her own support system in a traditionally male-dominated domain. A woman in tech has extraordinary resiliency to stay the course against all odds. Women are unstoppable when they continue on their paths despite failures, setbacks, and doubts. The fields of science and technology have historically placed several barriers to entry and advancement for women, and yet women overcome them too. But do all women overcome these barriers? Is the road to success in technology now a smooth one for women? Do women feel safe opting for a career in technology? How do women in tech brace themselves for the challenges ahead? These and many such questions have buzzed in my head for a long time and coaxed me to read innumerable articles carrying stories of women’s resilience. Reading articles alone was not sufficient, so I decided to contact women and know their side of the stories.  I had the good fortune of connecting with some women who have been working in the field of technology for a substantial period. This article outlines some of the key points I gleaned from the articles I read and the women I contacted. The lack of confidence in self It sounds surprising, doesn’t it? We are talking about women’s resiliency at one end, and then one of their main challenges is overcoming self-doubt! The doubt, however, is an outcome of years of conditioning. Nishi Churiwala, ex-Head of Technology, ParentNetwork.io and current Engineering Manager, Glance, says, “Women should be taught how to be braver and pick up opportunities and roles even if they do not know a domain or have not had much experience with some things. We tend to be underconfident in our skills.” Nishi is not the only one who feels that. Sheryl Sandberg has said in her book, , that women hold themselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising their hands, and by pulling back when they should be leaning in. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead Impostor syndrome refers to the feeling that one does not belong or does not deserve to be where they are professionally compared to others. While impostor syndrome is common across men and women in technology, women are 22% more likely to be suffering from it, as per a by TrustRadius. 2020 women-in-tech report Where does it all stem from?  Not seeing enough women in leadership positions, seeing women struggle to get equal pay, being continuously reminded that they are women and that they do not belong in technology, and their ideas being dismissed and their contributions not recognized - have all ingrained a sense of insecurity in women. The need to constantly prove that they belong Tanvi Kumar, a software engineer with 14 years of experience, says, “The biggest challenge for women in tech is making people believe that being a girl, getting married, or having a kid doesn’t stop us from learning new things or delivering our work. If we take responsibility, we can finish the work, drive the project, take care of family, and attend parent-teacher meetings. When I had my baby and even now when I tell people that I have a kid, people sometimes feel bad that I am leaving early to pick up my kid, but I ensure I am available when need be; I am available for a night release. At the time of work, work is my priority, and at the time my family needs me, I will give them the time.” Hemanginy Anand, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at a leading automobile company, says, “I'm a woman in a man's world. So, the biggest challenge was to prove to a male chauvinistic society that females are equally competent, and I'm dealing with it by taking challenges as opportunities and delivering the output with full conviction.” Perhaps, the most annoying thing for women in tech is the need to prove themselves constantly. This, despite a gender-diverse companies outperform industry standards by 15% and ethnically diverse companies do 35% better than their competition. The study presents a strong case for diversity and inclusion. It shows that the most diverse companies believe that I&D enables radical growth and creates value. However, it also points out that adopting diversity has been slow across nations and industries. Adopting minimum standards of 30% women representation on boards has not yet been achieved and displays a missed opportunity. research that McKinsey According to the , 78% of women in tech feel that they need to work harder than their coworkers to prove their worth. This statistic is disheartening. Women across all job levels feel the pressure to prove themselves, though the women in leadership positions feel the maximum pressure. Interestingly, men at C-level positions tend to feel less pressure! 2021 TrustRadius report To compete with their male counterparts and constantly prove their worth, women put in extra hours or do extra work. Women also work harder to get equal recognition and compensation as their male peers. And yet, the representation of women in leadership positions is not very encouraging. The study by LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company shows that while the overall representation of women in the American workforce has increased between 2016 and 2021, women, especially women of color, are still underrepresented in leadership. Women in the Workplace 2021 While several studies put forth a compelling case for diversity and inclusion, numbers such as the above prove that there is still a long way to go. Lack of role models Meghann, a fine-arts major, who is currently living and working in Japan, and working towards a shift to web development, says, “I think personally getting over my own idea of someone who works in tech and not being able to imagine myself, as a woman, being able to become a professional in that field. Most people I hear about are men, and most of the women around me in my life are not interested in that field, so I didn't have any encouragement or support to pursue a career or hobby in technology.” Many women have a similar concern. They see a lack of support as well as a lack of motivation because of a lack of role models in technology. I recently attended a #WomenInTechWeek event organized by Turing Community, where Amanda Renteria, the CEO of Code for America, said, “if we don’t have women at the table, we simply won’t be our best as a country, as a world.” She added that she thought diversity was essentially four things - “an absolute responsibility for people who are leaders; a requirement; an opportunity to reconstruct who we are as an organization, an industry; and more fun with different people who bring different perspectives and life experiences to the table.” I loved the perspectives of all the panel members, primarily female and leaders of their organizations. Most of them resonated with the sentiment that there hasn’t been a better time for women in technology. Xiaoyin Qu, the Co-Founder of Run The World, said that the sky is the limit for women today as there is money available for female entrepreneurs. While the number of women donning the entrepreneurial cap has been increasing in the recent past, a large number of women still don’t feel motivated enough to take on leadership roles. The main reason most women in my personal interactions cited for this was a lack of role models. The field of tech is still largely male-dominated, and hence, women feel uncomfortable bringing up problems that may not be big but can still stunt women’s growth. For example, Xiaoyin mentioned that women could talk to her about their periods and how they didn’t have the energy those couple of days in the month, but they would find it difficult to have the same conversation with a male boss. Similarly, all women may not have the same experience during their pregnancies. Some women have a more difficult pregnancy than others, which is not part of regular conversations. Accordingly, some women may need a longer maternity break than others. However, having a child does not take away their competence at work. Since leadership positions are teeming with males, most females assume that women who make it to the c-suite are either super talented or just lucky. It is not often that they come across a woman at that level who goes through pregnancy or shares her struggles with the menstrual cycle, or menopause, or managing her child while taking care of the demands of her important position at the office. Xiaoyin also talked about encouraging male employees and leaders in her company to learn the nuances of working with women, to understand the problems they face, and how they juggle several hats. An interesting thing she shared was how 12 noon is sleep time for kids and hence, having meetings with parents who work from home may not be suitable at that time. At the same panel, Jonathan Siddharth, the CEO of Turing, said that he felt diversity was important for two main reasons. One that a company with a diverse workforce gets diverse perspectives that can help solve problems better and build better products catering to a broader customer base. Two, it’s only when a company has a diverse team that they can recruit amazing people from a diverse pool. This kind of thought leadership is needed across the board in tech organizations. If men understand the needs of women at work and also that those needs in no way diminish their capacity to perform, and women see the environment and the dialogues at the office evolve to become more inclusive, and they see more women in leadership to emulate, the current problems can be overcome. The leadership landscape is changing, and more women will hopefully be role models for the future crop of women in tech.

How Women in Tech Brace for Challenges and Overcome Them!

¡Cómo las mujeres en tecnología se preparan para los desafíos y los superan!

Comment les femmes de la technologie se préparent aux défis et les surmontent !

टेक में महिलाएं कैसे चुनौतियों का सामना करती हैं और उनसे पार पाती हैं!

テクノロジー業界の女性はどのように課題に立ち向かい、それを克服するのか!

Como as mulheres na tecnologia se preparam para os desafios e os superam!

Phụ nữ trong lĩnh vực công nghệ vượt qua thử thách và vượt qua chúng như thế nào!

科技界的女性如何迎接挑战并克服挑战！

When building a startup, you have many options for software development. Whether you hire a team of developers, outsource to an agency, or find a CTO. While all of these options are viable, if you find a CTO with the right tech expertise, you’ll have gained a key player to help you succeed. But remember, if you pick the wrong CTO you won’t survive long — you may not even make it to launch. I bet you keep hearing that “Finding your dream CTO is not easy”. It’s true; it takes a lot of time and commitment. That’s why many founders spend years looking for the perfect person for the job, myself included. When I first started founding startups, I experienced the hurdles of finding a CTO first-hand. Over the last 14 years, I have built many projects. It took me more than 30 months and more than 300 headaches before I found the right guy for the job. But when I found him, he nailed it. And he kept on nailing it. Usually, the conflict is: You want to start building your MVP as soon as possible, so you might feel tempted to commit to the first decent option you find. On the other hand, you know this is one of the most crucial decisions you will make as a non-tech founder. There are certain traits to look out for as you try to find a CTO. Many wannabe CTOs will display the same characteristics. This includes overpromising and underdelivering on a massive scale — but more on that later. I’ve taken my experience building six startups, advising dozens and , and identified the vital qualities every CTO should embody. working with many startup founders at Altar.io Before I list said qualities, it’s important to point out that of them are vital. The fact is, your Robin needs to have it all, not few or most, but all. all Here is the structured process that will help you find a CTO for your startup: 1. What to look for in a CTO Passion Responsibility Tech Expertise Commitment Founder’s Alignment Leadership Skills Management Skills 2. Where to find a CTO 3. Alternatives To Finding a CTO What to Look for In A CTO Passion Your Robin should be more passionate about your idea than you are — or at least come a close second. To be sure you’ve found your CTO remember: passion is an essential trait highly correlated with the tenacity needed to traverse the dark alleys of the startup journey. Every startup faces hurdles. Unless you find a CTO that has a passion for your company; during the storms, you will be navigating the challenges alone. Before I move on, it’s essential to understand the market dynamics. We are currently in reversed HR dynamics as it pertains to finding CTOs and developers: the talent picks the company — not the other way round. This is due to more demand than supply. For example, last year for every five developer job postings, only one was filled. So, if you find a CTO who’s good at what they do, chances are he’s already in a job, earning well. For example, A typical CTO salary in the US is between per annum (as of April 2020 — before bonuses & benefits). $204,957 and $285,891 Given this, you get my perspective when I say: Your CTO will most likely be taking a considerable salary; working on a project they enjoy. You will be asking them to drop all of that for your early-stage idea. It’s what you have to do. But there is no way they’re going to give up a lucrative job for your startup unless they’re genuinely passionate about your idea, I mean obsessed-passionate (otherwise he’s just crazy or faking it). It’s even harder to find someone at the right time who will drop their lucrative position and work just for sweat equity, no salary. If he’s willing to do this, it shows how passionate about your vision. My Advice: Be sceptical about a seemingly good candidate that doesn’t put up a good struggle to leave their position and join your crew — they may be overstating their worth. Be prepared that it’s going to take time to find a CTO with this level of passion; the odds are slim, but not impossible. I spent six months trying to find a technical co-founder. The closest I got was Tom. He wasn’t a CTO but had the 5 years of experience I was told a co-founder needed. He was very busy, when I asked him to leave his job if I secured investment, he had second thoughts. Whilst he wasn’t a CTO on $244k, even the average developer salaries often are too good to give up! Dudley Gould Founder & CEO Audapio Responsibility Passion is great but can make people blind. Make sure Robin is still sober enough to make responsible decisions. With great power comes great responsibility. It’s important to find a CTO that is a responsible professional before onboarding them as your partner in crime. My Advice: Test your potential CTO by asking for a simple deliverable. It should be something not too complicated, and you should give them a feasible time frame (again, if you are not sure on this, ask an unbiased techie friend). It could be a piece of a technical challenge, but it could as well be a roadmap, budget estimate etc. If they don’t deliver, it’s a huge red flag. It brings into question the trust you can give them with your business — from both a responsibility and commitment perspective. Tech Expertise Make sure you’re talking to a real Robin; you may find an inexperienced guy behind that mask. You will find many wannabe CTOs. Your CTO must have the depth of knowledge to make the right technical decisions for your startup. This requires evaluation. Of course, if you don’t have a technical background, you think, “Ok, but how do I evaluate the tech expertise”, don’t worry I have a precise way to deal with that (which I will go into later). Remember the importance of this point: — such as incorrect or substandard code and unwise technology choices — to name but two. if your CTO lacks expertise, it can lead to bleeding ‘technical debt’ You should find a CTO who is, at the very least, as good at their job as you are at yours. You should be equals, working in different disciplines, towards the same goal. My Advice: Study your potential CTO’s portfolio and ask an unbiased expert (who is exempt from your search) to validate the quality of their previous work. Ask your candidate to elaborate their tech rationale on technologies, architecture and infrastructure. Alongside this, ask a . Some agencies will give you their insights on which technologies, architecture and infrastructure you should follow at a lead stage — without any cost. Benchmark: software development agency to do the same thing Commitment Can you imagine a part-time Robin? Me neither! You and your CTO will face many hurdles together on the road to success; if they don’t fully commit, your success will get further and further out of reach. As I’ve talked about in a previous article, there is nothing worse than “getting married” to a CTO or technical co-founder who’s not fully committed. You will end up living in the “mistress syndrome”. This occurs when your CTO has another full-time job and ends out treating you and your startup as a “side-gig”. This will result in you committing to your company more than them— creating an imbalance in your relationship that is harmful. My Advice: You should have a CTO that is prepared to commit as much as you. You should coordinate with your CTO and make sure you agree on the business’ milestones: the deadlines on the creation and delivery of your MVP, product iterations etc. It’s essential to reach common ground before you plan "the wedding"! Founders’ Alignment You and your Robin should agree on a plan before taking justice to the streets; you don’t want to face the Joker unprepared. This point is highly relevant if you are bringing your CTO on board as your technical co-founder. You will spend many hours working directly with your technical co-founder. So it’s crucial that you first like the person you onboard. Secondly, you should be able to trust this person with your money, ideas & business. It really will become a “business marriage”. As I mentioned, it may take years to find a CTO for your startup. If you think you’ve found them, your expectations must be aligned. You should agree on: Product/company roadmap Co-founder equity split & salaries Work culture You will both be responsible for balancing the needs of the business, technology and even product; now and as your team grows. Therefore the overall paths you both envision for your startup have to coexist. By no means will you agree on everything 100% of the time, which is why it’s essential to have those lines of communication open. Conversely, you don’t want someone who “sweats the small stuff”; when you and your CTO discuss every minute detail. I like to call this an “atomic relationship". In my experience, it will result in using all of your energy and time discussing the wrong topics, taking attention from those that do. My Advice: Discuss all the mentioned points (Product/Company roadmap, equity split & salaries and work culture) before you make any kind of commitment. As in any relationship, be ready to discuss contentious points and, at times, prepare to compromise. Don’t waste your time with someone who gets stuck in the unnecessary details. As much as we would all like to admit, myself included, that energy is infinite, it is not. Leadership Skills It’s important that Robin leaves the Batcave and can assemble a league of citizens to help clean up Gotham. There are many , and a few stereotypes to boot. One of the most popular being that they share a disposition for sitting alone in their “cave” accompanied exclusively by seven monitors, a coffee machine, half a dozen red bull and very little light. archetypes of developers For developers, these archetypes are ok; your CTO, however, is a different thing entirely. You need to find a CTO that can strategically build, grow and lead the technical team in-line with the company’s goals. Excellent leadership skills are vital if they’re going to inspire and motivate your technical team. You could have the best technical talent on the planet but, as with most things, if the leadership isn’t there, the team will be ineffective. Keep in mind that great developers don’t always make great CTOs. There is a famous occurrence in IT teams where, through promotion, you lose a great developer and gain an awful boss. You need to know if your potential partner has the soft skills to be a great leader. My Advice: Ask them about the skills they want in their team. If they only reply with hard skills and machine-related soft skills, treat it as a red flag. Someone that only looks at hard skills will never be a good leader. The right leader knows that: People are at the centre Healthy communication is vital for a healthy team Wrong communication skills will undermine your team’s performance If your potential CTO only focuses on technical skills, they’ll never be a good boss. Management Skills Robin has to commit to results, but if he makes promises he can’t keep, your credibility will be at stake. Equally as important as leadership skills are management skills. What I mean by this is your CTO’s capability to evaluate the timeframe and effort needed to build your product. Most developers are very, and when I say very, I mean optimistic, about the time it takes to build a product. very In my life, I’ve seen crazy things like projects taking 500% the estimated time and cost. You must find a CTO who is realistic, or you will end up with considerable deviations in deliverables as you build the product — resulting in an increased time to market and unexpected costs. This allows you to discover your potential partner’s ability to forecast time to build; as well as their ability to spot the . These are the points in the web development cycle where it’s more likely to “hit an iceberg”. Talented CTOs and developers should, almost instinctively, identify these critical points. critical points My Advice: Ask your candidate to estimate the time to build, without bringing the idea of “critical points” to their attention. Alongside this, ask a . Most agencies worth their salt will offer this service in the form of a free quote or similar. software development agency to do the same thing There are two red flags to look out for here: The first is if the agency spots the critical points and your potential CTO doesn’t. The second is if your potential CTO’s time has difference from that of the agency. Anything 50% is acceptable as it’s not an exact science. more than 50% up to If they fail this small test, it could point to much more substantial time management issues; as well as pointing to a lack of experience. Where to Find A CTO For Your Startup The dark streets of Gotham can get lonely without a partner in justice. It’s essential to find a CTO with the above qualities, but it’s also crucial to look in the right places. There are two paths to looking for a CTO, the and . offline approach online approach Offline For the former, you will see many suggestions to attend as many tech meetups as possible. You should pick your meetups wisely. If you go to every meetup with the word tech or startup in it, you will waste valuable time and energy. My Advice: It’s better to pick meetups based on your niche and industry (for the sake of energy and time management). As a non-tech founder, you need to be careful when talking to potential CTOs. As with developers, they’ll often drop buzzwords and jargon into the conversation, making them look like geniuses. You must have to translate the industry language. enough tech knowledge Online There are also some online platforms dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs and tech professionals, here are a few to get you started: CoFoundersLab AngelList Indie Hackers Co-founders subreddit Co-founding threads on & Discord Slack I see these sources as a way to grow your network, but as any other online community, you can get easily lost with the amount of content and opportunities. My Advice: Try this approach if you couldn’t find the right person in the offline world (or if a global pandemic hits). I would recommend limiting your time on this research (a reasonable 15 days max). Otherwise, you might fall into the infinite net-abyss. Alternatives To Finding a CTO For Your Startup You may not have found your Robin yet, but don’t worry; there are other superheroes out there who can help you serve Justice. As you’ve followed, it’s fair to say it ain’t gonna be easy to find a CTO. There are many successful startups, however, that build their products before onboarding a CTO. You can fully outsource your MVP to an , for example. agency Or you could try to find a where you bring on an experienced freelancer to act as your CTO. This method will give you more time to find a CTO that is right for you. “CTO as service” They will give you precious help on strategy. As well as helping you build and manage your team. Honestly, both outsourcing software development and CTO as a service are . As I’m sure you’re aware, time to market matters. If you lose momentum waiting for the perfect CTO, you risk a competitor taking your place on the market. viable options to consider Wrapping Up Despite its challenges, finding the dream CTO is by far the most idyllic option as you build your startup. While there is no formula to find a CTO, there are specific steps you can take to put yourself in a position to succeed: Tap into your network to try and get a warm introduction Find someone as passionate about the project as you are Check they don’t become “passion-blind and is responsible enough to take charge of your startup’s tech decisions. Make sure they have the right expertise for startup. your Ensure they’re committed to the project and aren’t treating you as a “mistress” to their real job Align your expectations; make sure you like them and can trust them. Don’t just hire a great developer, hire a great leader. Make sure they’re is realistic in terms of how long it will take to build the product and that they can identify the critical points. If you can’t find a CTO for your startup, don’t panic. There are plenty of startups out there who didn’t start with a CTO. Consider: to get started (ensuring you ). Outsourcing to an agency choose the right one Building a team of developers yourself (just make sure you create a ). balanced team with diverse personalities Finding a CTO as a service Finally, don’t rush into a marriage with a CTO. Finding a CTO is a critical business decision, and you need to be sure you’ve picked the right person — I hope this article has given you some clarity on the process. Good luck! This story was originally published here .

Startup Founders: Finding the CTO (Robin) to Your CEO (Batman)

The Axial Age saw the independent rise of multiple societies, each with their own set of religious and cultural practices. The silk road arguably marked the end of the Axial Age, connecting these previously isolated cultures together in a network that traded not only goods and germs, but also ideas. And the door was forever opened to the challenges of multicultural exchanges. It’s obvious that the digital age has done something similar—connecting the world’s societies in unprecedented ways. It’s enhanced our ability to exchange goods and ideas too. And we’ve felt the excitement as well as the growing pains along the way. For several years now, artificial intelligence has promised us new possibilities—a lighter burden with greater resource efficiency. But this is against the backdrop of an internet that has turned out to be a tool of social interaction. Computers are of course computing, crunching numbers and executing tasks humans aren’t so good at. But it turns out that these computations are meant to enable our sociality. Computers don’t just crunch numbers, they crunch numbers to figure out who to connect with whom, what prices to set on goods, how to get people from point A to point B, which crowd-sourced entries are true or false. It is inevitable that in mediating social processes, AI must make ethical judgment calls. And it is also clear that AI simply reflects the values inherent in its datasets and imbued by its programmer. We now layer on top of this that only a very small fraction of the population today will program AI, that only a very small fraction of those algorithms will wind up being used in production, and that only a very small number of those will be used in the tech monopolies which serve the vast majority of the population around the globe. This means that the values of a particular subset of people will be making ethical judgment calls for others who may not share those ethical principles. Do we care that Silicon Valley, arguably one of the most liberal places in the most liberal countries in the world, and Chinese giants, like WeChat and TaoBao will be systematically arbitrating the world’s values? How do we begin to deal with these digital multicultural exchanges? Anthropologists have had to create their own frameworks for understanding and evaluating cultural differences. They provide helpful tools for beginning to think about these tough questions. First, we must begin with trying to understand how we make sense of other cultures. We can all recognize that we are biased observers, we have been raised in a culture which evaluates other cultures through the lens of our own. At least for those of us in the West, anthropologists have identified at least three main ways to compare cultures and their values: universalism, evolutionism, and relativism. Each have their strengths and weaknesses. Richard Shweder and Edmund Osgood Universalism Universalism is a mode of thought which makes sense of cultures by finding and highlighting similarities. This is naturally attractive, because if we can find common ground, perhaps our cross-cultural difficulties will evaporate. We can create AI that will operate based off of universally agreed-upon principles. The difficulty with this approach, however, is that identifying universals involves looking at higher-order similarities, and discarding evidence which indicates that cultures are meaningfully different. For instance, psychologists have noted that fairness and justice are values in every society. That may be so, but psychologists mean this rather abstractly. Justice does not play itself out in the same ways in every culture, and so the very concept of justice comes to be vacuous in a universalist respect. Americans pride themselves on their pursuit of equality, and may shudder at the concept of a caste system. Yet other cultures may be quick to note that we deny minors the right to vote, and defer many of their medical and social decisions to a designated guardian. Anthropologists note that to other cultures, the difference between castes may seem as obvious to them as the difference between children and adults does to us. Justice may well be in every culture, but the universal concept of justice is so abstract, that it is meaningless until particular cultural practices provide us a working concept of what is meant by justice—a point at which our elusive similarities slip between humanity’s fingers. Even within the same country there is vast disagreement about how to implement moral principles. As I have , algorithmic fairness is troubling partly because common ideas about “fairness” have been proven mathematically incompatible with one another. written before Algorithms which predict recidivism in order to aid in rehabilitative sentencing can either have equal risk score cutoffs across races and genders, or their predictive errors can be equal across races and genders. But both cutoff scores and error rates cannot me made equal simultaneously. Which algorithm is most “just?” Can a universally, ethically-acceptable algorithm exist? It seems dubious, at best. Evolutionism At the realization that universals may rarely be meaningfully implemented, some might be tempted to take an evolutionary stance with regard to understanding cultural ethics. That is, some might be tempted to say that one culture’s values are more “correct” or morally “right” than others, that the favored morals have emerged because the society or culture is more advanced in some way. Certainly, many Silicon Valley companies, whether wittingly or not, take this approach. Hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation, skin color, gender, or religion is identified by these companies as wrong—while the definitions of hate speech and the groups protected from hate speech privilege progressive American values. Sharia law which condemns homosexuality and which promotes violence against homosexual and non-binary individuals clearly operates out of an alternative ethical framework from the liberal individualism expressed in the US. Twitter, Facebook, Google and the like suspend accounts and flag content which promotes these ideologies. They are taking a moral stance, one which suggests that these tech companies believe their moral ideology is superior. As a citizen of the US, I strongly disapprove of Sharia law—but how do I defend that my position is the right one? Likewise, China’s social credit system is heavily criticized in the United States for the presumption that the government’s values are superior in some way. Although we rarely blink at the removal of hate speech online, many of us in the US think that China’s sort of algorithmic moral babysitting is the stuff of dystopic movies. It beckons recollections of atrocities that occurred under authoritarian regimes, like Stalin’s or Hitler’s. I don’t need to spend much time explaining why the evolutionary approach to programming ethics into AI is as appealing as it is problematic. We think some morals are better than others, they just happen to be our morals. Relativism The third main way we tend to make sense of other cultures is to think of them relativistically. That is, to presume that no one culture is better than another—they are simply different but equal. This kind of an approach is attractive to postmodernist mindsets which like to use phrases like “my truth” or “your truth,” as though what is right and good for one person does not hold up universally. Again, this approach is both useful and problematic. It is admirable to be able to recognize the dignity of each culture, and it’s attractive to be able to respect rich histories of ethics and morals of others. It also rescues us from the moral colonialism which is the natural extension of evolutionary approaches to morality. That being said, this position means we also cannot take a hard moral stance—we cannot claim that one culture’s morality is better than another. In terms of our AI, this position is likely to allow cultural norms to dictate which ethics are implemented in a given circumstance. One highlights these differences. driverless car dilemma study In eastern countries, let the self-driving car kill the young just as much as the old, and kill the unlawful while sparing the lawful. In southern countries, let the self-driving car kill the obese and spare the fit, and kill the homeless and spare the wealthy. In the western countries, let the self-driving car stay its course, killing whoever is in the way and sparing whoever is not—unless of course, there are different numbers at stake, in which case kill the few to spare the many. But there is something nauseating about the thought of calling all these ethical algorithms different but equal. Something about their moral implications draws us to claim that we think some of these moral values are better or worse than others. And here we find ourselves at the beginning, hoping to grasp onto some sort of a universal value set. And indeed, sometimes we can find a fruitful point of agreement. Most people value human lives over the lives of dogs and cats. Most people value more lives over fewer lives. And yet, these pieces seem to be a drop of water in the ethical ocean AI is facing We know that the vast majority of algorithms are not universally morally palatable. Additionally, these decisions are happening behind the protection of tech monopolies’ NDAs. We often don’t know the ethical fabric of AI unless someone happens to audit a specific algorithm, an employee whistle-blows, or someone brings a lawsuit for discriminatory treatment. Who’s watching the watchmen? I'm building out the infrastructure of the dWeb with ERA . If you enjoyed this article, I'd love to connect with you on Twitter !

Ethical AI: Who Watches the Watchmen?

In , we looked at the macro trends that make tech debt inevitable. However, even though tech debt is a fact of life, technical bankruptcy doesn't have to be. So this time, let's look at the methods we can employ to avoid technical bankruptcy and save everyone a lot of grief, time, and money. the previous article Technical debt doesn't necessarily lead to technical bankruptcy. But it is where we'll end up if we don't fight the micro-trends that push high-growth software companies towards it. Companies typically don't take the right measures to avoid technical bankruptcy. They simply accept that it'll happen one day, and that when it does, they'll refactor their entire codebase in a giant project to deal with it. But, of course, these projects rarely go according to plan. Even though there is little we can do about the macro trends that make tech debt inevitable—we cannot change the laws of physics, as a fictional Scottish spaceship engineer might've said—there are plenty of ways to avoid the dreaded technical bankruptcy. To separate effective from ineffective solutions, we need to gain a deep understanding of the forces at play and their roots in sociology, criminology, and game theory. The micro-trends pushing us towards technical bankruptcy The Broken Window Theory Visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. Wikipedia For our purposes, we can boil things down to this: . Tolerating even the smallest of offences will lead to it becoming acceptable behaviour and it will spread to the rest of your codebase like a crimewave. technical debt breeds more technical debt As we learned in , software entropy is forever increasing in any growing system. Therefore, so is technical debt. This makes it extremely hard—even impossible and unwise—to fix all the broken windows in your codebase and prevent a tech debt epidemic. The simple reasons tech debt is inevitable ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ and ‘The Prisoner's Dilemma’ The tragedy of the commons is an economic problem in which every individual has an incentive to consume a resource at the expense of every other individual with no way to exclude anyone from consuming. It results in overconsumption, under investment, and ultimately depletion of the resource. Investopedia Software engineering teams are typically rewarded for delivering as quickly as possible on the tasks they were assigned. The resource they consume is . They're incentivised to go as fast as possible and therefore often take shortcuts, thereby creating technical debt which subsequently becomes everyone's problem. time However, since everyone is incentivised to keep shipping new features at pace, engineering teams won't have any incentive to step up and pay back tech debt. It's the prisoner's dilemma. The prisoner's dilemma is a paradox in decision analysis in which two individuals acting in their own self-interests do not produce the optimal outcome. Investopedia Both concepts are cases of self-interest harming the common good. Combined, they explain why tech debt usually remains unaddressed until it causes the whole software development machine to grind to a halt. ran through an interesting simulation of this problem in his article " ". Peter Merel The Tragedy of the PMO Once they go technically bankrupt, companies have no choice but to pay back technical debt, and because they didn't repay it continuously as they were shipping new features, they have to do it all in one massive project . . . or throw the code away and start from scratch. The problem with this approach is that the more complex and larger a project is—especially when it's riddled with technical debt—the harder it is to accurately estimate tasks. has written a great piece to help you tackle this: . David Bailey What NOT to do When Rebuilding your Tech Why typical solutions to this problem don't work Technical debt doesn't arise out of malice. And incompetence isn't as big a contributing factor as you might expect. We can't just tighten the screws on our engineering team and expect tech debt to go away. You probably know someone who's tried this approach and failed. In fact, none of the typical solutions to tackle tech debt work. Here's why. Tech debt isn't only engineering's problem to fix: Conway's Law Organizations which design systems [...] are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations. Wikipedia We expect software engineers to manage tech debt properly. Yet the systems they design are constrained by the company's org structure—which they have little control over. Any changes in company structure and the way it communicates have to come from the very top, and if we're lucky, the people at the very top understand tech debt and take it seriously. But if they're like most people and they don't get it, we're in trouble. Add to this the fact that companies often suffer from organisational debt, which , and it's clear why engineers are set up for failure. Steve Blank deems even more deadly than technical debt Tech debt isn't always a bad thing: Knuth's Optimisation Principle [...] Premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming. The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth Knuth's principle was originally concerned with the time code takes to run, but it is also a foundation of the Lean Startup and Agile methodologies, applied by so many modern engineering teams at high-growth software companies—and rightly so. It explains why taking on tech debt to avoid the horrors of premature optimisation is often the right choice, a topic you can dive into with our article about . But tech debt needs to be managed carefully, especially once a company reaches product-market fit. how to define effective tech debt budgets Timely optimisation is fantastic but it's also extremely hard to do when every incentive pushes you to quickly ship new features instead (see ). previous article Breaking the vicious cycle of tech debt Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives. Charlie Munger The laws, rules, principles, and theories we've discussed all have one thing in common: they describe a set of existing incentives and their consequences. But the solution to the vicious cycle of tech debt is to fix a very specific set of incentives, to turn the tide in our favour. Use the Pareto Principle to prioritise tech debt It's likely that around 20% of the tech debt in your codebase accounts for around 80% of your problems (e.g. bugs, outages, etc.). As revealed in our article about , Microsoft Research has shown that while active files only make up 2–8% of the total systems, they are responsible for 60–90% of all defects. how to define your tech debt budget In other words, you don't need to tackle all your tech debt at once. Heed Linus Law carefully (he’s right, again) Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. Linus Torvalds Keep pull requests small so they're easy to review, and make sure the code is reviewed by enough of the right people (hint: probably ). That way, you'll catch most bugs before they even make it to production. people who own this code Celebrate tech debt heroes This one's simple. During Friday demos, don't just applaud the engineers who shipped new features. Cheer for the unsung heroes of tech debt: the people who refactored this nasty function, fixed that bug, reviewed these pull requests, and saved you from the seemingly inevitable destiny of technical bankruptcy. It's one of the stops on . your journey towards an engineering culture of ownership, and a healthy codebase Talk about tech debt across the company Company leadership needs to understand how tech debt impacts the whole company and the role they have to play in it. Only then will they take it seriously. As software engineers who understand technical debt, it is our responsibility to communicate it across the entire business. We'll talk about this in an article very soon, but in the meantime, take a look at Martin Fowler's excellent piece, ' '. Is high quality software worth the cost? The power of habits Notice how none of the advice above requires additional engineering work. In fact, it breaks the tech debt problem down into smaller habits that, if properly followed, will make everybody's job easier, faster, and more enjoyable. Champions don't do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they've learned. Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Change small habits over time and your engineers will ship better code faster, you'll have happier customers who'll refer more leads . . . and you'll beat your competitors. To help you acquire these good habits, we built a free VSCode extension to continuously track and pay back tech debt. Get started now before it's too late!

 4 Simple Habits For Engineering Teams To Beat Technical Debt

The Effective Tech Lead is a 100x Engineer

Finding trusted mobile app development companies to grasp the most desirable service is as hard as deciding your app idea. This might be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s true that out of every 10,000 mobile apps developed, only 1 or 2 will win while the rest 99.99 percent will go puff into oblivion. For an entrepreneur, this means that market odds and competition are greatly stacked against you. But don’t let this bog you down. Define Your Business Needs It is only ill-planned apps that will fail. Evans Data Corporation estimates there are around 23 million people working as mobile app developers worldwide. So, if you pick one of them without putting effort into it, you’ll harness your efforts and business. By any stretch, it’s not hard to make the right choice you need to see many options for mobile app development companies on a single list to compare and make an informed decision. Because of the nature of the mobile app development process, the best mobile app developers can be found scattered across the globe, from the USA to India and South East Asia. No matter how you look at it, mobile app development is all about arming yourself with the industry knowledge, having a solid marketing plan & strategy. With that being said, here are some key points for finding the best mobile app development company and safeguarding your app from becoming part of the 99.99%. North America and India, are the most popular outsourcing destinations for your app development. Let’s take a closer look at them. India is a well-known outsourcing destination. Business there is concentrated in so-called IT clusters, which include the local Silicon Valley of Bangalore. According to Evans Data Corporation, by 2023, India will overtake the US by the number of developers. Outsourced App Development Outsourcing your development project is a common practice today. A report by GSA shows that 70% of businesses want to outsource more in the future. The main advantage of outsourcing your mobile app development is that you can hire top mobile app developers from all over the world and recruiting will also take less time. You can quickly replace mobile app developers working on your project without paying an additional cost. You don’t need to spend on setting up the office space or costly equipment, leading to a higher quality of final output. Most mobile app development companies providing outsourcing services in India and the USA offer structured communication system and dedicated teams to work on your project. You can choose this option if you want to automate your app development process web and mobile app development process. How to choose better among all mobile app development companies in the world? If you want to hire the most reliable and best established company among all the mobile app development companies, this list is the best to take a look. I have selected the company among the numerous parameters that include Google search analysis, clutch and goodfirms rating, customer satisfaction rates, work history, current portfolio, mobile application solution quality and development costs. So, Let’s have a look at brief summary of all these mobile app development companies 1. : Most Entrusted name in mobile app development companies in India. Offers unmatched mobile app services. ValueCoders 2. : Second in the list of top mobile app development companies due to the full combination of knowledge with innovation. IntellectSoft 3. : Standing in third position for delivering high-quality applications. ISBX 4. : Focus on implementing flourishing and retention strategies for improving the execution of developed applications. 5. : A one of the leading mobile app development companies in India. WillowTree Arctouch 6. : An Esteemed mobile app development company in India. Improving its position in the list. Fingent 7. :  Reputed mobile app development company by delivering high-quality applications to the clients businesses Volare Systems 8. : A web and mobile application development company based in India. Zymr 9. : Provides best mobile and web apps for both entrepreneurs and startups. Reinvently 10. : Determined to deliver amazing solutions to their customers/ partner businesses. Zealous System : Also Read Startup Centric Top Web Development Companies in India (A Survey) Now, Take a Deep Look to The List of 20 Top Mobile App Development Companies in the USA and India (An Entrusted Name For Mobile App Development Company In India) 1. ValueCoders one of the . ValueCoders is the preferred most software development and IT outsourcing company in India to obtain all IT-based solutions and services. Since its founding in 2004, it has provided different IT services to its clients around the world. ValueCoders best mobile app development companies in India ValueCoders has over 2,500+ happy and satisfied customers across the world. In addition, ValueCoders is certified as CMMI and ISO IT outsourcing company.ValueCoders has more than 450 dedicated experts and developers since its main objective is to always focus on providing a good amount of value to other companies and customers. In addition, they have experience in the business for more than 13 years. In addition, they offer a 100% money-back guarantee if customer satisfaction does not exist and also provide the trail developer for 2 weeks and a fast TTM. (The Best Mobile App Development Company in India) 2. IntellectSoft a custom software and mobile app development company with headquarters in Palo Alto, US. Founded in 2007, the firm paved a long way by serving many brands such as Nestle, Harley Davidson, the London Stock Exchange, and others. IntellectSoft team of more than 200 employees have expertise in different domains of software development such as Mobile App Development, Enterprise solutions, Blockchain Solutions, iOS and Android development, Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), UI/UX Design, Cloud Computing, Product Design and Engineering, IT Strategy Consulting, Testing and QA, and IT Infrastructure Management. IntellectSoft (A Large Choice Among The Top Mobile App Development companies) 3. ISBX a Los Angels based one of the best mobile application development companies that create and deploy apps for big & small businesses. With the team of talented software developers, designers they have set an impressive mark on companies it worked for including Apple iOS & Android app, Warner Brothers, L’oreal, Red Bull, Sony and others. ISBX (Most Trusted Choice For App Development Company In the US) 4. WillowTree is a US-based app development company with over 300+ employees. The company focuses on creating a better mobile and app development strategy, research on native (iOS and Android), web app development, mobile optimization and workforce augmentation. With 11 years of span on the market, WillowTree served many Fortune 500 companies such as BabyCenter, Regal Cinemas, Wyndham Hotels, GE, PepsiCo, AOL, and the University of Virginia. WillowTree (One of the Best Mobile App Development Companies in India) 5. Arctouch a San Francisco, California based mobile app development and web design company. With a team of 50+ employees and 10 years of experience on the market and software & app development expertise to build Android, iOS, and Xamarin apps. Arctouch also builds smart bots for platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Facebook Messenger. They are focused on enterprise grade software development, app development, and aim to help startups and SMEs to get better development solutions via mobile apps, AR/VR solutions, and IoT devices. Arctouch (Best App Development Company in India) 6. Fingent is a mobile app development company with headquarters in New York, US. With over 15+ years of experience on the app development market, Fingent allows its team to leverage the app development experience to work on app development and mobile based projects. Fingent is also known for delivering high quality products for iOS, Android, Hybrid apps, IoT development, VR/AR, and software development. Fingent (Among The Best Mobile App Development Company) 7. Volare Systems is a renowned app, web app, and custom software development company based in Denver, Colorado. They have a team of expert mobile app developers that builds high quality web and mobile web apps that run fast and look great on every device. Since their inception in 2009, Volare has been delivering the enterprise-grade app and software solutions for its clients across the U.S. Volare Systems (Most Recommended App Development Company) 8. Zymr a California, US based mobile app development firm with two offices in India and in Europe, Finland. Zymr offer the best-in-class app-based and cloud solutions for enterprise mobility and apps. They hold expertise in app development and worked with corporate giants such as Vodafone and Cisco.With more than 5 years on the market Zymr Inc. have worked these years and managed more than 70 app development projects successfully. Zymr (The Best Company to hire Indian app developers ) 9. Reinvently a US based mobile app development & design firm that provide services to small and medium size companies, as well as big corporate brands. Its app developers and software team software hold  engineering expertise from iOS & Android app development, Machine Learning, AI, Wearables to software testing. Among the company’s top clients are: LiveNation, MyBreath, Looksery (owned by Snapchat), Men’s Wearhouse, Qcare, and others. Reinvently (Best Place to Hire App Developers) 10. Zealous System is a known app development and software development company that hold expertise in mobile app development for various platforms such as iOS, Android as well as in all the latest technologies including Kotlin, Swift, Java, Xamarin, React Native, and Ionic. Zealous System With years of experience in mobile app development, Zealous System got many awards & recognition such as has been awarded as one of the top IT Companies by GoodFirms 2019 and awarded as a Top App Designing Company by GoodFirms 2019. With a wide-spread client base, they have clients such as Civica, JMB Consulting, Neil Patel Digital, AgLive, Audi, MySUB, and more. (Result- Driven Mobile App Development Company in India) 11. Dev Technosys is an ISO 9001:2008 certified firm in the sphere of website & mobile application development with head-office in India. The company has ISO & NASSCOM certifications. It also has a team of over 70+ employees. With 8 years of experience on the market, it managed to complete over 950+ app and web development projects. The lineup of its clients are Mobile Binary Signal.com, The Best of Maui (Tourism), The Dhobi Dry Cleaning, and more. Dev Technosys (In the List of Best Mobile App Development Companies) 12. Zco Corporation a mobile app development and software development company established in the year 1989 in New Hampshire, US. It’s one of the best and known Enterprise software developer firms in the world with expertise at developing custom mobile apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, hybrid app development, and AR/VR software development. With the span of more than 25 years in mobile app development, it has developed a number of best apps for businesses and generated millions in revenue. Its client portfolio includes BBC, Verizon, Microsoft, Samsung and Motorola. Zco Corporation ( The Top Most Choice Among the Best Mobile App Development Companies) 13. Eleks a well-known mobile app development firm based in Ukraine, Kyiv. With more than 1,000 employees and 25+ years of software and mobile app development experience the firm develop best quality mobile apps for startups and SMEs. The company’s app development offices are located in Ukraine and Poland. Eleks (A Trusted Choice for Mobile App Development Company) 14. Keenethics is a Ukraine-based app development company with extensive experience & expertise in mobile and desktop software development. For the last 4 years the company completed dozens of mobile app development projects including web app, mobile app, desktop development, as well as AI, Machine Learning, UI/UX design, CTO as a service, software testing, and tech support consultancy. Keenethics One of the features that sets the Keenethics apart from its competitors is its commitment to follow high ethical work norms and users privacy. (A Top-Notch Mobile App Development Company) 15. Cleveroad is based in Ukraine and known for providing best quality mobile and web development services. Since 2014 it’s managed to expand its work on multiple locations based in the US, Canada, and Poland. On top of that, its in-house software and mobile app development offers expertise services to bring quality work at mobile and desktop software development to companies looking for the software and app projects. Cleveroad The services Cleveroad provides mainly include app design, app development, security & compliance, wearable tech, QA & testing, Cloud computing, iBeacon software development, ongoing tech support, Ecommerce & CMS, 3D & VR software development. (A Name for the Top Mobile App Development Company) 16. Intelegain Technologies is an innovative mobile app development IT outsourcing company with more than 15 years of experience in IT outsourcing services. They have more than 350+ clients in more than 25 countries. They are also known to provide tech engagement and business values ​​to small scale businesses and start-ups with the help of various software services such as cloud applications, enterprise mobile applications, web applications and much more. Intelegain (A Reliable Place to Hire Best App Developers) 17. Konstant Infosolutions is one of the best IT outsourcing and mobile app development companies providing a range of quality IT-based solutions. Since its inception in 2003, they are currently in the US. UK, and India. In addition, they are mostly known for their better development in mobile and web applications. Konstant Infosolutions Konstant Infosolutions has a qualified team of IT professionals who are completely focused on providing the best IT services to their clients. In addition, they solve all the problems of their clients by understanding and analyzing adequately all the needs and requirements. ( Most Trusted Mobile App Development Company) 18. Cabot Technology Solutions offers the best IT outsourcing services to several companies. Some of their IT services are web application development, mobile application development, e-commerce development, and IoT. Its experienced IT technical team is complemented by an equally excellent management team, known for spending more than a decade working in countries such as the USA. UK, and Canada in a wide range of management skills and analysts. Cabot Technology Solutions By observing their experience, they quickly provide an appropriate context for all business requirements and offer an ideal and sustainable IT-based solution. (Trusted Place to Hire Indian App Developers ) 19. Clavax Technologies was established in 2011 and is known as one of the best IT outsourcing firms for providing cutting edge technology services to its clients and businesses. Clavax Technologies They use state-of-the-art technologies based on information technology and have knowledge of various business domains. In addition, they have more than 170 clients and have delivered more than 500 successful projects. This company is an ideal option for many companies and clients when it comes to the development of any IT service, such as desktop, web or mobile applications. (Best Indian Mobile App Development Company) 20. Techuz is one of the most trusted and reliable mobile app development companies in India to hire the best software and app developers. Techuz started by a group of companies with the technological vocation that focus on creating world-class web development and mobile development solutions that take advantage of advanced technologies. Since their inception, they have grown 300% annually and have created an authority on Angularjs, Nodejs, Laravel, iOS, Swift and Android technologies. Not only are they experts in solving business demands, but they have also focused on the unique and growing requirements of start-ups. Techuz Final Words After you’ve carefully analyzed all the top mobile app development companies, it’s time to make up your mind. I hope you find the best programmers for your project. Here’s a bit of final advice for you. Keep a note of all your findings. Sometimes, the list of mobile app development companies is too long, so it’s hard to include every name on the list. I recommend creating a list of companies and criteria to pay attention to. Don’t jump to conclusions; clarify the points with your potential team of developers. Try to ask as many questions as possible to define whether which company can solve your business problems. It would be great to know what you think about this article and if it helped you figure out how to find an app developer and the best mobile app development company for your next project.

20 Top Mobile App Development Companies in 2019-20 | Complete Guide for Startups

I have this unexplained urge to write. I sometimes feel it’s the only way I can express myself. But this has been a recent development, 2 years in the making. What gave it depth, was my unknown, self-drive to find out more about Blockchain Technology. I struggle to pass an article and not read it, I must say a lot faster these days and sometimes skimming to get the gist to assess where I can use or store it. Added benefits, of course, has been an improved vocabulary and to my wife’s happiness improved spelling 😊 Not something I planned and certainly not something friends and family expected from me. Building up the knowledge base gave me the power to write about a subject I am passionate about — Decentralization. Blockchain is the vehicle that will drive this concept and as I continue learning about the subject, find it has a resounding effect on a borderless network of possibilities forward. Before you think this article is about me, my point here is, don’t wait for something to come to you, don’t think someone owes you something, don’t think about the money you should be earning for all the hours you put in. Rather think about the contribution you want to make, like a friend said, “think about what you can bring to the table”. I can carry on with cliché’s and I’m not a ‘feel good quote’ kind’a guy, but it really is about how I think business ethics will change and how up and coming generations should embrace this opportunity, this gap they are being given to change the status quo. “This way the money will follow you” Women suddenly have this upper power… yes, the young generations coming through the ranks have an incredible independency value to them and this challenges all the perimeters. The knowledge that women need today to be equal to ‘men (if you know what I mean) is equally accessible and the job requirements are no longer fixed, (rather, remote…, and will become more so as automation evolves). This series “Women in Blockchain” is to uncover just that, open up seemingly difficult to reach career area’s and explaining a new industry that will see a career path into a very bright future. My first interview then is with Jillian Godsil Jillian Godsil: Conference Chair, Broadcaster, Journalist, Author, Keynote, Author, Homeless Advocate, ran the EP14 Race, Law Changer Q&A Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency? “For the first time in my working career, my age and gender is an advantage. I’m a woman and I’m in my fifties (early :) in charge of my destiny for others.” Hi, I’m Jillian Godsil co-founder of Blockleaders.io and Editor in Chief. I have managed some great achievements with EOS in Dublin, named in the top 50 Women in Blockchain Technology and in general busy with my passion, the media. I am a freelance journalist for the Irish Times, the Irish Independent and many more broadsheets and business publications. I am an advisor for a number of companies working in the Blockchain industry and travel the world speaking and chairing Blockchain conferences. I host two weekly terrestrial radio shows, DubinCityFM and East CoastFM, and was nominated for a national radio award, an IMRO, in 2019. It wasn't always like this, a few years ago I lost everything and had to start from nothing with my two girls. I had to crawl my way back into society, but with a redefined purpose. I remember fighting for my rights in the constitutional court and winning! By doing so, I ran in the European Parliamentary elections in 2014 and while she did not win a seat I earned 11,500 votes. This is where blockchain started for me. By September 2017 she was travelling the world, speaking and chairing at blockchain conferences, not just for me, but for humanity. 2) Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to? I am co-founder and Editor in Chief of Blockeladers.io — and have been awarded the 2019 AI and Blockchain Journalist in London last month. Here I do video and written articles/profiles on all things blockchain-related. I do a weekly podcast for EOS Doblin. I work as a consultant and PR adviser to a number of projects in this space. I chair, moderate and keynote at blockchain events around the world — love this side to my career I have two terrestrial radio shows here in Ireland that has nothing to do with blockchain — although I do manage to sneak a lot of blockchain data into them lol — DublinCityFm and EastCoast FM. And this year I was nominated for a national radio award from IMRO. 3) If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on? Well, my kids might say the financial side — it’s taken me 12 years to turn the financial corner but finally, finally it is happening as I start to earn money again. Hurrah! 4) What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years ) today especially young women about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology? It doesn’t matter what you do — blockchain is like the internet — it is going to be pervasive in all our lives but to young people I point to the thinking in the blockchain which is exciting in this very broken world of ours. The thinking is disruptive, the thinking is innovative and the thinking is based on making a better world. So it doesn’t matter what a young person or woman wants to do — blockchain will be in their future. My only exhortation is for young people to own this — like they now do with climate change — and make sure the old fools don’t screw it or the world up. 5) What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants? Same as any other industry — enthusiasm, intelligence, creativity, problem-solving skills — all laced with kindness and a concern to make the world a better place. 6) Blockchain to me is a forward-thinking force of snowballing Technology, but where I’m from a lot of people still see Bitcoin as a scam. How do we bridge the gap between the Technology and people that are skeptical about it? We just keep showing up and talking. That for me is what I am put on this earth to do — talk and communicate endlessly about blockchain. And have fun too — much easier to persuade people to look at new opportunities if the people involved are enjoying the new world. 7) Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article desires to find out more about Blockchain. Well it’s actually over in the UK but two companies to watch are Cointelligence which runs an Education Academy and CoinBurp that are doing education videos featuring Calum Best (George Best’s son and influencer) In terms of reading — please visit my website http://blockleaders.io/ Or EOS podcast — https://eosdublin.podbean.com/ Or my new ICO SOFA channel https://www.icosofa.com/channel/jillian-godsil/?view=about Or my DublinCityFM radio show https://www.dublincityfm.ie/shows/making-a-difference/ 8) What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets, ( Cryptocurrency ) market and share with us your opinion on where you think this technology will take us? Tokenise everything! Digital Assets have existed for a long time but now they are moving into blockchain technology which is very exciting. It’s the future from property, DNA, music etc etc 9) What new exciting projects are you currently working on or planning? I am working on a very serious project called Europechain which offers GDPR compliant blockchain — really cool project. 10) What is your favorite Blockchain project and why? CoinBurp — they are great guys but they have recruited Calum Best as an ambassador. I have to admit to having a girl crush on Calum. So that makes CoinBurp my favorite project. What an amazing story and again it shows to me what humans are actually capable of when they are confronted with difficult circumstances or when they follow their passions. Either way, for me #havefunwithit is my ‘take-home’ and you know it becomes easy to talk about something we enjoy, that energy is contagious and in the Blockchain community at large a contagious Decentralized network is spreading because of woman like you Jillian. My next guest is Maria Grazia Maria Grazia Vigliotti, Ph.D: Cybersecurity Expert, Blockchain, Audit of Smart Contracts, Author “The Executive Guide to Blockchain” Q&A Give us a summary of your background and how you got into Blockchain & Digital Currency / Cryptocurrency? Thank you for this question. I have studied Computer Science and I have Ph.D. in Computing from one of the most prestigious Computing Departments in the world: Imperial College London. I carried out exciting research at Imperial on both cybersecurity and cryptography, and it was a small step to learn about blockchain in general. In short, I could see how with my set of skills I could positively influence the technology. 2) Tell us about your current position, responsibilities and some day to day activities that you look forward to? There are not many women in technology, so in 2017 I decided I wanted to make a mark and I set up my own company, Sandblocks Consulting. At the same time, I started to work on an extraordinary start-up Gradbase, that inserts academic qualifications on the blockchain. Both companies have grown enormously, and that has given me the time to write a book on Blockchain “The Executive Guide to blockchain”, which will be published by Palgrave in February 2020 -see The goal of the book is to explain blockchain technology to everyone who does not have a technology background, but an interest in understanding the principles and the applications of blockchain. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Executive-Guide-Blockchain-Contracts-Currencies/dp/3030211061 Going back to my typical day at work, because I run businesses, I do not have a typical day. Every day is different, and I personally love it. Some days I meet customers to understand what they need, or I lead my technical team to ensure deliveries of projects. I also participate in meetings, conferences to deliver thought leadership on blockchain. I run training sessions for executives and technical teams. I always need to make time to plan future activities to keep the companies afloat and understand where the market is going to remain relevant. ? 3) If you had to be critical about yourself, which part of your career would you like to improve on When I started my career, I wish I had more confidence and I had been more assertive about advancing my career. Women tend to be overcritical about themselves and do not put themselves forward. We are making disfavor to ourselves and to other women: there are fewer role models and mentors that will help women to advance. Advancing the career does require to ask for promotion rather than waiting to be recognized. One needs to feel confident that promotion is deserved. Women mentors can help other women to increase the confidence and to find ways to ask for promotion. 4) What advice do you have for children/youth (10–18 years ) today especially young women about the Blockchain world? How do we nurture interest in this new Technology? My best advice is do not be afraid to try something new, even if it feels alien. Technology will become part of your life one way or another, learn to understand it now and you will be in a great position to make it work for you at a later stage. I also would encourage young people to have a look a free resources where they can learn technology in a way that suits them. Have a look at some amazing free resources: — This website is full of interesting courses that if I had the time, I would take myself. It has been done with the help of great engineers, and it only requires an internet connection! https://studio.code.org/courses — This is a fantastic project where young people can learn to build their own computers. It requires to purchase some hardware. https://www.raspberrypi.org — Another great online resource for young people to learn about coding from MIT. http://appinventor.mit.edu It does not matter where they start: what matters is, that they start now! 5) What kind of skill set would you be looking at in job applicants? Beyond the specific skills of the job, the most important skills we are interested in are good communication skills and independence. Being able to clearly communicate with others eliminates friction and makes work more enjoyable. I do not micromanage people, I expect people to be able to sort out problems or to come back and tell me what they need to sort out the problems in their job. That is independence for you. In my view, these skills must be part of every employee to become a successful company. 6) Blockchain to me is a forward-thinking force of snowballing Technology, but where I’m from a lot of people still see Bitcoin as a scam. How do we bridge the gap between the Technology and people that are skeptical about it. I think the best way to gain a balanced view of the technology is to learn more about it and deploy it in some way. Let’s consider a similar problem in a different situation. If you only have used a horse to travel, any modern city could look scary and dangerous. But once one learns how to drive a car, and what are the rules for driving on the road, then the perspective completely changes. Similarly, learning about cryptocurrency and blockchain will help people to understand how technology can be used, and skepticism will disappear. 7) Can you please provide the details of an educational facility that is in your area or country if anyone reading this article decides to find out more about Blockchain? I teach about blockchain at TechUK ( ) in London, which is an organization with 850 companies from around the UK. I offer a one-day overview about the technology and its deployment. There are several online courses that people can take, and some of them are also free, for example, .so a great place to start. https://www.techuk.org https://www.edx.org/professional-certificate/uc-berkeleyx-blockchain-fundamentals 8) What is your current opinion on the Digital Assets, ( Cryptocurrency ) market and share with us your opinion on where you think this technology will take us? The cryptocurrency market is overcrowded at the moment, according to Coinmarketcap ( ) there are over 4904 cryptocurrencies at the moment. I believe that similarly to the Dot-com bubble, in the next five years, we will see what projects will survive and these will shape the future market. https://coinmarketcap.com 9) What new exciting projects are you currently working on or planning? Currently, I am working on ensuring more women take part in blockchain projects. I am working on creating training for those women. 10) What is your favourite Blockchain project and why? I have two favorite projects: are Algorand and Elixxir . These are two projects that deploy blockchain in a way that is useful to society, and they are very robust from a technical point of view. https://www.algorand.com https://elixxir.io Thank you, Maria, what a wealth of information. I’ll be sure to look into the courses and sharing more information on them and I like your analogy of the horse and car, (I think of it as a wheel, it still stays round, but we improve the rim and tires or change them to suit the road conditions), educating yourself beyond what is expected of you, will define your pathway into the technological future. I still think there will be some great power struggles between up and coming students, women and the current upper-level C-Suites, unless they take to book and adapt, (fast). “Women in Blockchain” articles from Morne Olivier LinkedIn Writer | Marketer | Blockchain Consultant Morne Olivier #Disclaimer LinkedIn Medium Hackernoon Twitter Telegram Telegram for Passive Income Uptrennd Steemit FaceBook Designs in Canva

Women in Blockchain | Changing the Status Quo

Nationwide anxiety since Brexit has been high, and the uncertainty of Britain’s financial and political direction can make predicting the future of the labour market—specifically the tech market—less than perfect science. , the estimated 600,000 vacancies in tech roles cost the nation £63 billion a year—though . According to a study by techUK many remain optimistic for a swift recovery For employers, role vacancies can be a real problem, and lack of clarity about whether EU citizens can work in the UK or not is raising major sourcing concerns. For candidates, the tech shortage is significantly less ominous, as an abundance of hard-to-fill tech positions could mean less competition between specialized workers. But what’s behind the major tech worker shortage in high-level roles? Senior positions remain the hardest to fill looked at all UK postings on Indeed.com over the last year. Jobs that remained vacant for 60 days or more were classed as ‘hard to fill’. The results were then compared against the total number of postings for each job to determine which roles had the highest proportion of ‘hard to fill’ postings. Seen Senior positions dominate the list of careers that employers are struggling to fill. Six of the ten are advanced roles in data modeling, programming, tech consulting, back-end development, automation and test engineering. Regardless of seniority, all of the roles that make the list are highly specialized, creating unique sourcing challenges among recruiters and hiring managers who don’t have years to wait. This is great news for tech workers. Indeed.com says that “lots of tech companies are looking to hire, which makes it a great time to be a tech worker. The power lies with the job seekers, whose skills and specialisms are in demand for roles that employers are having to be patient in filling”. Across the board, there doesn’t seem to be a correlation between how difficult the role is to fill and the average salary. For example, the highest paying role on the list is Principal Software Engineer at £62,303 with a 51.6% difficulty rating. Compare this to the first place position, Senior Data Modeler, with a difficult-to-fill rating of 65.15% but an average salary of nearly half of a Principal Software Engineer. Even when you take a step back and look at the hardest-to-fill roles in the overall labour market, six of the ten are tech roles. indThe tech roles making this list are software engineer, software architect, front-end developer, system engineer, software test engineer and full stack developer, with all six on the list pulling in salaries higher than the national average of £27,600. The challenge lies with employers as tech workers gain control Experts are pointing fingers at Brexit as the primary catalyst for these sourcing challenges. According to , “given there is already difficulty in filling these roles, there is rising concern among employers that post-Brexit constraints on the ability of EU citizens to work in the UK could make it even harder for British bosses to source workers”. London Loves Business In other words, these post-Brexit policies have cut an already limited talent pool of tech workers across the UK. When it comes to hiring strategies, employers need to get creative. According to of Indeed, “finding the right staff requires a winning blend of hiring strategies. But the current jobs market has raised the bar for many employers”. This mentality underscores the fact that job seekers truly do hold the power in this scrappy sourcing environment. Bill Richards, the UK managing director Speaking on how the political and economic climate has impacted the tech talent pool, Richards continues: The Brexit connection is hard to overlook. Many of the ‘hardest to fill’ roles have historically been ones that were filled by EU workers drawn to the UK by Britain’s more abundant job opportunities. With official data showing net migration from the EU slowing, these roles are set to become even harder to fill…. Clearly, in a tight labour market like ours, much of the power already sits with the workers, but these roles that are notoriously hard to fill could prove especially fruitful for ambitious job seekers looking for a new challenge. For tech workers paying close attention, it could be a worthwhile use of time to pursue a new forte in the industry. For example, instead of a graduate using their computer science degree to jump into a front-end career path, consider focusing on a data modeling path. Tech freshers ought to keep an eye on these lucrative, low-competition roles to guide their university trajectory. Tech shortages could inspire opportunistic job seekers According to Olly Newton, Director of Policy and Research at the Edge Foundation as well as the author of the report, , “if things continue as they are, in a couple of years there will be one million tech vacancies in the UK, and yet the number of students taking IT and computing GCSEs in schools has fallen by almost 15,000 (11 percent) in the last year alone”. Skills Shortages in the UK Economy This further emphasizes the increasing demand to fill roles and the decreasing competition between job seekers to at least sustain for the foreseeable future. Opportunistic job seekers should take advantage of the occasion to land one of these lucrative roles. Still, the struggle to fill specific tech roles hints at the accelerated growth of skilled worker shortages across the UK. While the forecast looks rough for employers, these anticipated shortages in talent can lead to rising salaries to encourage a new wave of applicants. For those who are experts in data modeling, systems consulting and the like, the UK promises a thriving and lucrative future for highly specialized and senior-level tech professionals in the years to come.

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