Composing a Functional Community

Katie Miller (@codemiller)OpenShift Developer Advocate at Red Hat

Let's Write Some Code

Retrospective

Composing a Functional Community

Key Idea

All of us are responsible for sharing the lambda love in an effective way to help compose a bigger, more diverse functional programming community

Outline

Background
Problem/Motivation
Solution Structure: Inputs, Outputs, Method
Testing

Background

Who I Am

Australian
Former journalist
Haskell fan
Active participant in many language communities
OpenShift Developer Advocate at Red Hat
Co-Founder of Lambda Ladies
Co-Organiser of the Brisbane Functional Programming Group
A woman

Who I Am

Australian
Former journalist
Haskell fan
Active participant in many language communities
OpenShift Developer Advocate at Red Hat
Co-Founder of Lambda Ladies
Co-Organiser of the Brisbane Functional Programming Group
A woman

What I Am Not

Representing the opinions of all Lambda Ladies, female programmers, or women
An expert on diversity/community building

Source: http://xkcd.com/385/

What I Am Not

Representing the opinions of all Lambda Ladies, female programmers, or women
An expert on diversity/community building

Let's Start a Conversation

Problem/Motivation

Problem #1: Community Size

Why Growth Matters

Problem #2: Community Diversity

Defining Diversity

Unconscious Bias

Women in IT: Some Facts

In 1985, 37 per cent of US computer science undergrad degrees were awarded to women, compared with 18 per cent in 2010
In 1987, 42 per cent of US software developers were women; today, it's around 20 per cent
A 2013 survey found women make up 11 per cent of the open source software community
Global figures released last month showed 17 per cent of Google's technical employees are women
More women are leaving the industry than men; 41 per cent of technical women are gone after 10 years and 56 per cent after 10 to 20, more than double the 'quit rate' for men
There is no biological reason why women should perform worse than men at mathematical tasks

Women in FP

Women are definitely underrepresented in FP compared to programming in general, based on my personal observations at FP conferences in Europe and the US, as well as local communities across Europe

I attended one of the London [FP language] meetups a couple weeks back, and out of about 100 attendees I think I may have been the only woman present. I've never actually felt acutely out of place in an FP community until then.

[In] the Erlang community, in which I know there is a vast under-representation of women...

Why Diversity Matters

Innovative Thinking

Why We Might Have This Problem

#1: FP's Negative Image

The functional programming community is deeply academic [I]n many FP communities there's a strong vein of elitism [I]t can give a sense of protectiveness, clubhouse-style It seems to create a culture of intellectual territoriality, and it's unfriendly to outsiders

[T]he functional programmer stereotypes are pretty unappealing to women - the whole neckbeard/beard thing. I think it's harder for people to identify with that sort of culture. [S]ince FP tends to be sold in a hyper-intellectualized manner, this evokes the 'math is hard' brand of anti-intellectualism. ... [I]t has a differentially powerful impact on women due to the way we gender the sciences. That is, FP propaganda has a habit of taking the things which cause women to be underrepresented in STEM generally, and then cranking them up to eleven.

#2: Community Can Be Unwelcoming

They [FP meetup members] seemed to pride themselves on not even trying to make the titles of the talks accessible and kind of saw that as a barrier to entry that they wanted [There were] no women there. That was bizarre and made me feel very uncomfortable. I'd go to conferences, and, literally, no one would talk to me unless I was very forward and grabbed people's attention.

There's simply always too much showing off and never enough treating people with respect Countless monad jokes were told. To be honest, I felt pretty conflicted after that evening. On one hand, I really enjoyed the talks; on the other, I felt completely disassociated with the community itself.

#3: Lack of Support for Learners

They are not welcoming or encouraging to beginners. Despite what many of them say, they are the nerdiest of the nerds and on some level they want to keep it that way.

If my story is anything to go by, it takes a lot of privilege (and luck) just to get to the point where you discover FP. After that, then you add on all the issues about maintaining community involvement. Most of the inroads seem to be academic and require a great deal of proactiveness (which takes confidence) and the privilege for someone to be willing to mentor you.

Structure of a Solution

Inputs

Those who have never programmed
Programmers not yet exposed to FP
Members of the FP community(and those who may have left)

We're All Responsible For Change

Outputs

More functional programmers
More people in FP from different backgrounds
Happy FP community members

Method

My Story

#1: Education Providing Motivation

#1: Education - Inputs

Beginners
Underrepresented groups
Other programming communities

I think a lot of people are scared of functional programming and that's definitely a barrier. I definitely think it was helpful that women were specifically invited. ... I feel like I have a decent grasp on monads now, and I'm wondering what all the fuss is about!

#1: Education - Inputs

Beginners
Underrepresented groups
Other programming communities

#1: Education - Outputs

Achieved learning goals
Motivation to continue learning

#1: Education - Method

Curricula/pedagogy
Language choice
Tools
Focused events
Onboarding
Positive approach

Not starting with all your languages suck was pretty compelling

#2: Creating Safe Spaces

The Role of Lambda Ladies

It's a space where you don't always have to be on your guard against harassment. It's a space where you don't have to worry about how you present yourself, don't have to worry that femininity will undermine your credibility, don't have to worry about how asking 'stupid' questions will affect the way people think of women as a whole. Just seeing other women is energizing, and keeps me interested in being out there as part of the general FP community

Understand that women create their own spaces to create tech because all the existing tech spaces are for men *by default* It makes me feel less isolated Women's groups, ultimately, are not insular; they exist to strengthen members' resolve so that women can both achieve individual success and bring progress to the programming community as a whole.

#2: Safe Spaces - Inputs/Output

Input: Those who may not otherwise participate
Input: Everyone in the community to make it a safer space as a whole
Output: Comfortable community members focusing on FP itself

They [men] seem to feel powerless to do anything about the state of affairs, and yet, they have power: they can let men who make these comments know that sexism isn't okay. ... Countering sexism requires courage and moral stamina. It is work that largely needs to be done by men...

- Tim Chevalier

#2: Safe Spaces - Inputs/Output

Input: Those who may not otherwise participate
Input: Everyone in the community to make it a safer space as a whole
Output: Comfortable community members focusing on FP itself

#2: Safe Spaces - Method

Codes of conduct
Inclusive language
Haskell Symposium suggestions: speak up, listen, support one another, take care of ourselves

#3: Mentoring

Input: Anyone one step ahead
Output: Mentees become mentors
Method: Friendly, encouraging, and willing to truly listen

More Method Ideas

Setting up communities which aren't so hyper-intellectualized is a big step. Getting rid of all that propaganda and just treating FP like any other paradigm...it's probably the easiest thing we can tackle. Get more women featured on YouTube series such as Numberphile, Computerphile, haskellcast, and Microsoft's Channel 9 Outreach, training, scholarships for conferences

Educate everyone...about the ways that tech culture enforces power dynamics that disadvantage people who are female, trans, not white, poor, disabled, queer, etc.

[R]each out to organizations that focus on improving the experiences of women, people of color, and those who are LGBTQAI. ...[S]eek advice regarding codes of conduct, marketing, and other aspects.

Composing a Functional Community – Let's Write Some Code – Composing a Functional Community

codemiller

Composing a Functional Community – Let's Write Some Code – Composing a Functional Community

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