I am a well-known speaker, writer, open source advocate and technologist with over 20 years of experience in developing apps for the web. I have been focusing on software development with Ruby and Rails since 2008. I work diligently to promote diversity and inclusivity in open source and the tech industry. I was recognized for my work with a Ruby Hero award in 2016. I am best known as the creator of the Contributor Covenant, the most popular open source code of conduct in the world (with over 35,000 adoptions including Golang, JRuby, Swift, F#, and Rails.)
I am the co-author (with Naomi Freeman) of the upcoming book The Compassionate Coder, a guide to practicing empathy as a software developer. Slated for release in late 2018, you can learn more about the book at compassionatecoder.com.
I serve on the board of directors for Ruby Together, a non-profit that funds development of critical Ruby infrastructure like RubyGems.org and RubyToolbox.com. I was formerly on the board of RailsBridge, an organization that teaches marginalized people web development with Ruby and Rails.
I record music in my home studio and have released three albums, all available widely on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Google Play. You can hear samples and get links to listen or buy at alittlefirescarecrow.com.
I started my gender transition in March of 2014. I am very public about my journey in the hopes that I can make the way easier for those who come after me.
If you appreciate my work in the community and want to show your support, please consider supporting me on Patreon.
Download Resume
I have extensive experience extending and refactoring monolithic
Rails applications. This includes refactoring to preserve the
value and enhance the extensibility of legacy code bases, and
in some cases transforming legacy apps into SOA architectures comprising
APIs and messaging queues.
My past projects included Leviathan, a system to record streaming event messages across a service-oriented architecture. Its interface provided access to aggregate data and included tools for longitudinal analysis, cohort tracking, multivariate testing and optimization.
I created an application called Cerberus, at the heart of which was a parliamentary voting system comprising several machine learning algorithms that tied into the customer onboarding workflow. The system was able to predict with 85% accuracy which new signups would convert to customers and estimate their relative value.
At GitHub I was the senior engineer on the Community and Safety
team. Our charter was to make open source a more inclusive environment
by building community management and practical anti-harassment
and privacy features into the GitHub platform. I am an expert in
identifying and eliminating harassment vectors in large-scale
applications that feature user interactions.
In addition to contributing to high-visibility projects like
Rails and RSpec, I am the author of 25 Ruby gems
ranging from API helpers to object relation mappers to code analysis
tools. Giving back to the community through open source is one of my
key values as a developer.
At Stitch Fix I work on the team that supports warehouse
associates across the country by creating and maintaining
software that is used on a variety of devices, from native macOS
to iOS to browser-based applications. Our goal is to reduce
friction and empower employees to be as happy and productive
as possible. Our typical architecture involves a thin front-end
client that communicates with a backend service, and we write in
Ruby, Swift, and Go.
Technical Expertise
Legacy Applications
Operational & Business Intelligence
Machine Learning & Predictive Analytics
Building Diverse & Inclusive Communities
Abstracting Reusable Code into Open Source Libraries
Logistics and Process Automation
I am a frequent speaker at Ruby, Rails, and open source conferences
and events. I have spoken across the United States and on three
continents. My talks range from technical topics to open source
citizenship to explorations of the way that we think and model
the world around us.
I have been recognized for my work in the press and have been
interviewed for print/online articles and podcasts on topics
including diversity, open source, and mentoring. I’m also the
author of several articles on these topics.
The world’s most popular open source code of conduct,
Contributor Covenant
has been adopted by tens of thousands of projects and, thanks to
community contributions, is available in over 20 languages.
I am a founding panelist on the Greater Than Code
podcast, a popular program that focuses on the human elements of
software development.
I have been contributing to open source since the mid-1990s,
when several of my projects were featured on the Perl library
archive CPAN. I also had an open source intrusion detection
system that I wrote featured in 2600 Magazine.
My first Ruby contributions were to Rspec and RCov and I have
created a number of open source Ruby applications since 2008.
I am the organizer of
Distributed Denial of Women,
a project that represents a belief in our collective power to
effect change. The project aims to spread awareness of the
pay disparities and other challenges that women and non-binary
people in tech face. In 2017 DDoW organized a strike that
women in the US, South America, and Europe participated in,
staying home from work and absent from social media.
I created OS4W, a resource for
connecting women and non-binary people to open source projects
that are welcoming, inclusive, and appreciative of diversity
in their contributors.
Community Covenant
is an open source code of conduct specifically designed for governance
of online communities. Community Covenant was created based on
both Contributor Covenant and the LGBTQ in Tech Slack community’s
code of conduct.
I volunteer as a mentor to early-career developers, helping them
grow their technical skills, develop strategies
for overcoming bias and discrimination in the industry, and
manage their careers and public profiles.
The people I mentor are chosen exclusively from marginalized populations,
including cisgender and transgender women, non-binary people,
and people of color.
Making an Impact
World-Class Speaker
In the Media
Contributor Covenant
Greater Than Code
Open Source Projects
Distributed Denial of Women
OS4W (Open Source for Women)
Community Covenant
Mentoring