We’re pleased to officially announce the launch of a new meetup: Durham Women in Tech (DWiT). Through group discussions, lectures, panels, and social gatherings, we hope to provide a safe space for women in small and medium-sized Durham tech firms to share challenges, ideas, and solutions. We especially want to support women on the business side in roles such as operations, marketing, business development, finance, and project management.
A small group of us at Caktus decided to start DWiT after being unable to find a local group for those in similar positions to us: we work on the business side and, as part of a growing company, wear many hats. Our roles often include implementing new processes and policies, tasks that influence culture and corporate direction. We have a seat at the table, but it’s not always clear how to help our companies move forward. How do we work towards removing the barriers women face in the tech industry within our roles? How do we help ourselves and our teams when faced with gendered challenges?
By pulling together a group of similar women, we hope to pool everyone’s experiences into a shared resource. We’ve seen the power of communities for female developers through the organizations Caktus supports internationally and locally with mentors and sponsorship, including, amongst others, Girl Develop It RDU, PyLadies RDU, DjangoGirls, and Pearl Hacks. We’re looking forward to strengthening the resources for women in technology in Durham.
Our inaugural meeting is on Tuesday, May 26th at 6 pm. We will be discussing imposter syndrome, a name given for those unfortunate moments where one feels like an imposter, despite external evidence to the contrary. RSVP by joining our meetup group.