Our March meetup celebrates International Women's Day. This is especially for our women meetup members, and male allies!

AGENDA:
17:45 - 18:00 - Food and drinks are served, get comfy and prepare yourself to learn some new things!

18:00 - 18:15 - Welcome to GDG!

18:15 - 18:55 - From Strangers to Team Players - Ridhwana Khan

I started my career in corporate, co-founded a company, moved to freelancing and now work in a startup, whilst running an NPO. As my journey continued, I began to realise that the success of the products that I worked on, as well as my professional fulfilment, were influenced by the dynamics of the teams I work with. There are many factors that help teams to be effective, conducive to growth and perform better overall. During this talk, I’d like to explore some of these elements.

Bio
Ridhwana Khan is a Software Engineer at DEV (https://dev.to/) where she is able to fulfil her passion for building communities, learning and sharing with others and software engineering.

She is also an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the tech space and she is working towards fulfilling her dream of making an impact to students lives in the education sector in South Africa. Ridhwana has co-founded a Non Profit Organisation called Kasi Maths(http://kasimaths.org/) which empowers students in under-resourced areas to pursue an interest in STEM.

18:55 - 19:00 - Small Breather

19:00 - 19:40 - Pink Hardhats and Other Anomalies - Claire Wood

Did you know, a diverse team is 35% more likely to produce above-average results? From the science behind why diversity boosts performance, to why being the only woman in your project team is more of a problem than you might think, this talk takes a closer look at the realities of inequality in our industry, how each one of us has a role to play in the solution and what we should be doing to move our industry forward.

If you’ve ever wondered about how we improve diversity in software engineering, or if you’ve never wondered, then this is the right room for you.

Bio
Two decades of creating software in financial services and the thrill of seeing solutions come to life is still there. Enthusiastic champion of gender parity in STEM education, and inclusion in software development. She once built a LEGO Death Star.

19:40 - 19:55 - Giveaways and Thanks!

WHAT TO EXPECT:
Lots of great content and smart developers! (Oh! And some awesome prizes to be won)

WHAT TO BRING:
Yourself, and maybe a friend if you are shy to chat to people (don't be shy!)

Please remember, we have a code of conduct at our meetup. Everyone is welcome and if you feel uncomfortable please let any of the organisers know.