Some great news..... and validation for CodeChix ! YEEEESSSSS !!!

So, the day after I arrived at Hobart after a 25 hour journey on various airplanes and airports and lightrails and cars, I got some great news via email.

Several months ago, I had been nominated for the 2013 IEEE EAB Meritorious Achievement Award in Informal Education for my founding and work with CodeChix and our mission to Educate, Promote and Mentor female engineers.

So, here I was in Hobart, Tasmania, relatively stressed about my hardware and it possibly not working during my talk and worrying about the mold removal in my garage, jet lagging like crazy (although the view from the hotel room mostly made up for that), and I get this email from the IEEE EAB.

I had been awarded the Meritorious Award for Informal Education by the IEEE EAB !!   No way!!

YeeeeHaaaa!!!!  I think I did a little dance in my hotel room when I received the email from the IEEE board congratulating me.

So, all the years of hard work, long hours after work and on weekends, building and trying to grow a grassroots presence on my own with occasional help from great volunteers whenever they had time, lots of rejections/skepticism/patronizing treatments, spending my money on all sorts of fees/food/drink/venue/speakers so that I could grow CodeChix into an organization that female engineers can turn to and rely on for growth and sustenance when they are in need (and let's face it, if you've worked in the industry for a little while, you know what I'm talking about), and to promote and showcase the terrific, versatile, super-intelligent, dedicated, resourceful, determined and easy-to-work-with mothers, friends, relatives, colleagues and all that support our cause - what a validation of my work.

IEEE EAB - thank you for validating my hard work and giving me the boost to work even harder so we can make a difference in our industry through CodeChix.

And I would never have been this successful if it had not been for significant support from key male developers and friends - A special thanks to them (they know who they are) - CodeChix welcomes supportive male developers to our workshop and technical talks and you are part of the ecosystem that we rely on.  Thank you for being there for us.

And the women and female engineers that I have had the tremendous fortune to meet and mentor and work with are the true winners.  They are the foundation of so many great companies and products and it is time to recognize them and reward them for their contributions.   I hope that CodeChix will be able to give them the education, encouragement and guidance whenever they need so they can reach for the stars.

And may the code always be with all the great female and male engineers who support and encourage us in our mission.