GHC: Senior Women's Summit

The day long session started out with some great tips from Jo Miller, both talking about our brand again and got us brainstorming about what things we think are holding us back. Jo had a recently published article on the Anita Borg site that talked about the difference between a sponsor and a mentor. A sponsor or advocate is someone that stands up

After lunch, we sorted ourselves by industry and academia, as well as by goals (Industry Individual Contributer vs Executive tracks), and I had a tough call to make. Do I want to pursue the DE track? Or management? Then Jo Miller reminded me that this is just a networking and learning exercise - why not get exposure to people I don't have access to now? So, I sat down with an executive from American Express. :-)

Then we got a wonderful panel of very senior women that told us about their paths.

Moderator: Sabina Nawaz, Executive coach and organizational development consultant; CEO, Nawaz LLC

Panelists:

• Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President, Big Data, Social Design and Marketing, Intuit
• Jamie Erbes, HP Fellow and Director, Services Research Lab, Hewlett-Packard Labs
• Ann Gates, Associate Vice President of Research and Sponsored Projects, University of Texas at El Paso
• Leah Jamieson, The John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University

Leah Jamieson has been the Dean of Engineering as well as a professor at Purdue University for 5 years, and has found it to be a rewarding and demanding task - she's had to learn how balance looking forward and looking up, while still taking care of everything beneath her - as Dean, there are a ton of responsibilities.

Ann Quiroz Gates talked about making sure you stay active in your communities, for her that means IEEE. You need to be able to articulate what you need, and be ready to make a case for what you bring to the table. Don't just be the squeaky wheel - show what someone is going to get in return.

Nora Denzel said she actually had a really fast rise into the executive ladder - just 15 years! HP actually sent her back to school to get her MBA. Her advice? "I strive to make sure I'm not the smartest person in the room - be comfortable with being uncomfortable." How else can you grow? She believes that sometimes the biggest thing that holds us back is our own minds - grow your network, worry about doing a good job and not necessarily make everyone like you.

Jamie Erbes said she thought she herself is her biggest roadblock sometimes. For example, at HP you have to apply for fellowship - and she kept not doing it. One year, as the deadline approached, executives and other fellows kept coming to her and asking her why she hadn't submitted her application, yet. She didn't think she was worthy, but after enough people asked her

Jamieson marks the import of picking a clear communication style and make sure it works for the job you're aiming towards.

Several of the panelists mention how times were rougher when it came to networking in the 80s, like Erbes being left in the car when the rest of her co-workers went to strip club. Fortunately, that type of thing would not be considered acceptable behaviour.

Denzel and Jamieson both stress how important it is to show agility. While working for the same boss for 10 years may show your loyalty, it doesn't necessarily show your ability to learn new things quickly. This is a weird one for me - I've worked in such a large company for so long, but my job is always changing. My LinkedIn profile is full of all sorts of different jobs, even though it was always the same person writing my paycheck. Does that show agility? Does the fact that I like a steady paycheck and stability of having health insurance mean that I'm not willing to learn new things? Probably not, but it's something to be sure that I can present well that it's not just one job.

Advice from the panelists on your brand (after being asked by the audience what their brand was) was to do a "360 review" and see what people think your brand is - it could help you better align what you're doing, or motivate changes if it's not something you like.

After the panel, we all got to sit down at a table with a senior executive from major companies and ask anything we wanted. I even got to practice my elevator pitch with an exec from Adobe, and she gave me some great tips to improve. Then we did some more speed networking, then through our biggest "want" on the wall and people signed up to help us. I definitely have things to follow up on here!

More on that later!

This post syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

GHC: Thursday Keynote Sheryl Sandberg

Our keynote speaker is Sheryl Sandberg, from Facebook.

Sheryl Sandberg has the tough balancing act between providing connections and protecting privacy. Best career advice she ever got came from Eric Schmidt, after she was leaving government and entering industry, and he offered her a position as general manager of Google. To Sandberg, that GM position was nothing, and she didn't want it. Schmidt tolder her "Stop being an idiot, all that matters is growth. If you go to a comapany that is growing, it doesn't matter what you're doing."

In the US, we have a huge unemployment rate, with fears that this is not a temporary problem, but Sandberg doesn't see this in tech. She said every technology firm she knows is hiring and growing. Technology jobs are the exception.

Sandberg admits that she's not a computer scientist, not even very technical, but she is a woman, so finally decided she felt qualified to do the keynote at Grace Hopper. She said she would be better at her job if she were more technical, and doesn't think that someone could do her job in the future unless they were technical.

STEM jobs pay more across the board, but women still only make 86 cents per dollar for the same job, compared to men with the same qualifications.

In order to have leaders in the future, we need more women to join STEM careers. But, in order to do that, we need to attract them to the programs and make sure they stay in. This has been accomplished at Harvey Mudd - gone from 12% women in CS to %40.

But, we're losing ground in leadership roles. Women are not getting promoted, women are losing seats in congress.

Seventy percent of the people in poverty are women. Women are still the property of their husbands. This type of thing just cannot go on.

Sandberg has 5 pieces of advice for staying ina career in CS and in a career in
general.

1. Believe in yourself

The best talk she'd ever attended was "Feeling like a Fraud" (Imposter Syndrome, now). When she mentioned it to male colleagues, they didn't get why it would be interesting. Men, time and time again, overestimate their achievements - women undervalue. Men attribute success to themselves. Women, to working hard, help from others, and being lucky.

Raise your hand, even when you're not sure you can do it - because there's a man next to you that is raising his, and he's not necessarily anymore qualified then you are.

You need to sit at the table, or opportunities pass you by.

When Sandberg gave this talk at Facebook, she said she had time for two more questions as they were short on time. Later, a woman came by her office and said she learned something. Sandberg felt pretty awesome, so asked what it was. The employee said, "I learned to keep my hand up". Huh? Well, Sandberg said she'd only take 2 more questions - so after the second question was asked, all the women put their hands down. Because there wouldn't be anymore questions. But, that's not what actually happened - Sandberg continued to take more questions - from the men. Several more.

Sandberg noted that if she didn't notice this, as a woman while giving this talk, how could we possibly expect our peers, managers, leaders to notice us if we aren't raising our hands?

2. Dream big

We have an achievement gap - until we close this gap, we won't have more women in these top fields. As men get more successful, men and women like them more. As women get more successful, men and women like them less! Huh? So, we, as humans, want to be liked. so may not be as ambitious - may not seek those top positions. What if we had 50% of power positions filled by women? We couldn't possibly dislike 50% of our leaders. Sandberg believes that the solution to this problem is simply more women in computer science, more women at the top.

3. Make your partner a real partner

If you want to succeed - you have to have a real partner. You can't rise to the top and still be in charge of the majority of the house work and parenting. Sure, date the wrong guy in college, have fun - but marry someone that's going to be a partner. Just like with work achievements, most men overestimate how much time they spend on parenting as well!

4. Don't leave before you leave

Women leave jobs piece by piece. For example, if she is attending medical school, but knows she will be in charge of raising the children - she might pick a less interesting field. If she turns down an interesting job, because she's thinking of having children - she'll feel undervalued and regret missing that opportunity later.

"Lean forward. Always lean forward."

Tech jobs are the most flexible, so they tend to attract women who need the flexibility.

5. Start talking about this

I know what it's like being the only woman in the room. You don't want to rem
ind people about this. "I spent the majority of my career fitting in". Men are
jumping at the opportunities, women wait to feel comfortable with the idea of the new career.

Sandberg was advised against doing TED talks about being a woman in tech, told it would ruin her career if she dared to say that men and women were different. In fact, it didn't - it did lead to more women applying for jobs at Facebook.

Sandberg used to work 7AM-7PM, but that's just not possible with children. Sandberg is always home for dinner at 6PM - yes, she's checking email later at night than she used to, but she is doing it.

We need to talk about it - if we don't, things won't change.

"I'm older than most of you in the audience, by decades. I want to tell you something - my generation is not going to change this. You are the promise for equality, and equality is what matters."

What if men were half of the stay-at-home parents? What if we had more women CEOs?

"What would you do if you weren't afraid?"

What an amazing talk - so inspiring!

This post syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

GHC: Workshop: Building Your Brand as a Technical Expert or Leader

I love Jo Miller. She has an excellent grasp of personal brand. And not that cheesy brand thing you hear every one else talking about, but what do you want to be known for - what do people come to you for. Being well branded helps you to make connections and help others make connections.

Jo gave us a goal to come up with what we want our career niche to be, create a personal brand statement and figure out how make our brand visible. And this has to be something we can really use.

How does one figure out ones ideal career niche? Well, first, I should stop writing like I'm the Queen (as she's already got her niche figured out for her :-). Really, what are you passionate about, what are your skills and talents, and what does your company need/value? If you can find a place where those things intersect, you may have just found your niche!

When you know your sweet spot, it's easier to choose assignments, mentors and sponsors.

For me, I've been in my field for more than a decade. Back in the late 1990s, early 2000s, I was the firewall expert. I knew all there was to know about the complicated protocols, ins and outs of PASV FTP (passive file transfer protocol, used by browsers), and I rearchitected the SunScreen firewall NAT (Network Address Translation) component. I was nicknamed the Goddess of NAT.

But, as the years have gone on, I've become much more general - focusing on more connecting technologies, like the Oracle Solaris Cryptographic Framework. I'm not a cryptographer, but I know the basics and I know the standards. I'm a great public speaker, all the acting I've done really helps with that. I'm great at making connections and helping people to solve their problems, even if I can't solve it myself. I write good code and debug problems. I design software. I am an expert in defect tracking. Certainly those are useful skills? How do I make that a brand?

It may not be as bad as I think, as when I asked a fellow conference attendee what my brand was, she said: "security, beer and bicycling". Well, that does sum up my passions!

Jo Miller also talks about what happens if you've somehow ended up a negative brand? One example was a woman who was branded as "high maintenance". The woman was a QA manager and thought she taking care of problems. She needed to change from being the complainer, to the partner in helping people to solve their issues. Something definitely to think about. (side thought of my own: do men have to worry about this?)

Another place you can get caught is as an entry-level or mid-level type person, which makes it hard to get promoted.

While you're still in school, it's easier to create a brand - work hard and get good grades, and you're branded as a good student. But how does that work in the real world? How do you take results and get to reward and recognition? You've got to add visibility!

How can you do this? Jo Miller's first step, strangely, is work less! Huh? Well, if you're always working and never telling people about what you're doing, nobody will notice. This doesn't mean spend 95% of your time evangelizing yourself - you have to have something to evangelize after all. Just spend 5% of your time doing this.

She asks us to write a "30 second commercial" for ourselves. Mine would be, "I'm Valerie Bubb Fenwick, Principle Software Engineer in Oracle Solaris. I'm known for security, beer and ...." oh, wait. Gotta tweak that. "I"m known for security and as the bug queen. Come to me when you need help learning about security, defect tracking, or finding the right person to help you in the Oracle Solaris organization." "and, we can talk over a beer" :-)

So, that just gets us through the first two steps. Once we pull this all together, we need to have a career-planning conversation with our leaders. Yes, that includes your manager, but others in your organization. Show them your value in the thing you're interested in. And, once you do that - you need to ask for help. Just something as simple as, "Is there anyone else you think I should talk to about this?"

The fourth step sounds so simple: work hard, but on the right projects. How do you know what the right projects are? Something that aligns with your brand or where you'd like your brand to go. And deliver. If you don't deliver valuable results, no matter what else you do, you aren't going to get anywhere.

When picking the project, look for specific roles (as opposed to general), push the cutting edge in your field of expertise, executive special projects, projects that directly support your organizations strategic plan, exposes you to a new department and demonstrates higher level of technical, business or leadership skills.

Now, on to speed network!

This post syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

GHC: PhD Forum 1: Hardware and Security

Intelligent Cache Management for Reducing Memory System Waste

Presenter: Samira M. Khan (University of Texas at San Antonio)

Caches are just not efficient, if there's a cache miss hundreds of extra cycles of delay are added. Processor performance is doubling every 18months, but memory performance is only doubling every 10 years! It just can't really keep up.

Most of microprocessor die are is cache, but they aren't efficient. Using the cache efficiently is important to improve performance and reduce power. The problem is dead blocks - not even getting used. Up to 86% of blocks in the cache are dead at any one time.

This is caused by the most recently used cache management policy, so many blocks just simply go unused. Khan's research was based around predicting which blocks were going to be dead and take advantage of them and changing the replacement policy, reducing power requirements of the system.

Usable Security and Privacy Policy Management

Presenter: Maritza L. Johnson (Columbia University)

Johnson's research is around access control and policy management. She started out with some real world examples, like how all of us are wearing Grace Hopper Conference badges, which grants us access this session.

Johnson's next slide was the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability triangle, while she discussed the balance while talking about read write access to files, an every day problem in shared environments. To properly approach this, there needs to be a constant cycle of evaluation, analysis, and design. You can't just come up with a design and be unwilling to modify it, as needs and usage may change.

As users of Facebook, we're all access control managers, as well. Johnson and her colleagues did their research around facebook, as it's so open and available for studying.

A question the research sought to solve was Are users' Facebook privacy settings correct. This is hard to totally know what someone else's intent was, as each person has a different level of information they feel comfortable sharing.

The app they developed an application to look for potential violations between what the user intended and what they got. For example, if someone shared publicly "I'm at work. I'm just laying on these chairs until my boss..." ... should that really be public?

The research involved participants using an app that they told what type of information they wanted to share, and then it studied what happened over a period of time, and showed what it believed were violations of the policy to the users. Many of these were confirmed to be violations, yet, users still didn't want to change their privacy settings.

The ideal setting for most user is actually to just share with friends only.

Detecting Stealthy Malware Using Behavioral Features in Network Traffic

Presenter: Ting-Fang Yen (Carnegie Mellon University)

Yen started out with a great background in what a Botnet is: infected hosts with a subtle command & control system that are doing malicious activities. One single botnet has 3.6 million hosts - combined, they have more computing power than the top 500 supercomputers combined.

A botnet may have a centralized control, where all infected hosts get their commands from a central control computer, but many have peer-to-peer control.

Previous work in this area looked for a signature of a botnet to identify new infections. Similar work is done by mapping behaviour of a botnet.

Botnets are becoming more sophisticated, but our current techniques are just not keeping up.

Yen's research was around finding previously unknown bots. One way of doing this is using the research that shows that most hosts use a consistent amount of network traffic on a daily basis - if that traffic suddenly rises, or happens during odd hours, the host may be infected. Bots also use consistent payloads - so look for a lot of similar communication.

Peer-to-peer botnets tend to blend in, traffic wise, with other, normal peer-to-peer traffic. Research noticed, though, that timing of botnets packets are too regular - not being driven by a human.

This post syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

GHC: Excited about presenting!

I'm getting really excited about the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing - I fly to Portland tomorrow. I've got my schedule put together [1], and the slides for our presentation posted on the GHC Wiki.

I'm thrilled to be presenting with Radia Perlman (Intel), Terri Oda (University New Mexico), and Lindsey Wegrzyn (Adobe) - such an esteemed group of women. We're presenting on modern day security attacks and how to protect your privacy online. This isn't going to be a highly theoretical talk, but helping technically savvy people understand the sometimes tricky environment we all work in every day.

We're presenting on Thursday, November 10th 11:30AM-12:30PM Convention Center – B113-115. Come and check us out!

What talks are you most interested in seeing?

[1] Unlike most conferences where you have a choice between an invited speaker track and refereed papers - the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing has EIGHT simultaneous tracks. If you haven't spent time at least narrowing down which track you want to attend for each session, you won't really have time to figure it out on the fly and will likely end up in a track that isn't as interesting to you as some of the others. Btw, you can switch to different tracks throughout the day.

Wow, Ten Platelet Donations This Year!

And it's only just November!  I got an email this morning from the StanfordBlood Center telling me that last night's platelets donation was my tenth of the year. I still have 4 or 5 more appointments scheduled, so as long as I can stay away from sick people, hopefully I can get to 15 by the end of the year!

Why do I give platelets? First of all, I can give more often - once every 72 hours (though a maximum of 24 times a year). Platelets are also the most precious component of the blood - when they take platelets from you at the center, they use an apheresis machine that puts the red blood cells back in your body. The platelets are needed for premature babies and cancer patients, among other critical need patients.  I've had enough friends and relatives that were very sick and needed platelets, so I want to make sure the blood bank always has plenty on hand.

Unfortunately, platelets don't have as long of a shelf life as regular blood - so, it's a good think I can give more often!

I'm going again in a couple of weeks (November 14th at 5:30PM in Mountain View) - who wants to come with me? If you've never donated platelets before, you'll have to donate whole blood and get tested to see if you have enough spare platelets in your blood stream that you donate.

This post syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking!

Using Twitter and LinkedIn at Conferences

For those of you that don't also follow the Grace Hopper Bloggers blog, I wrote two posts there recently on getting the most out of LinkedIn and Twitter for conferences.

As I've been managing the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology group and the Grace Hopper subgroup for more than a year, each with thousands of members, I've come to learn a thing or two about what makes a good profile and what makes you look like a spam troll.  If you're interested, wander on over to GHCBloggers and check them out.

And what makes me an expert on Twitter? Um... 7500+ tweets?

Did I miss anything?