I’m thinking of writing a (hopefully both fun and useful) listicle with advice from “women who have been there” for spotting companies that really mean it when they say, “We want more geek women here.”
There’s lots of articles about negative things that should scare you away. What are your POSITIVE signs that the company is welcoming to geek chicks? Let’s help other women recognize them (or highlight them to enlightened hiring managers).
These can be (and probably are) small things you notice, even when you’re interviewing. For example:
* The t-shirts they give out are available in women’s size small
* Your interview schedule includes more than one woman, and nobody thinks to point it out as exceptional
* The company benefits include on-site child care, extensive parental leave, or other family-friendly things
* They actively recruit at women-in-tech events such as the Grace Hopper conference
I’m not planning to quote anybody; it’s the takeaways that matter, not sources. The most I might do is a first-name-anecdote (“Irene once interviewed for a programming internship, where this happened…”). I’ll take hearsay too (“My friend applied for a job where…”), because again I think it’s the “good ideas” that matter rather than fact-checked attributions.
What should I include? And why would you consider that item a heartening sign?
—Esther