by Uchechi | Feb 28, 2015 | Blog
#YesWeCode chat #15: Finding Mentorship and Accountability in Tech Entrepreneurship
Sunday March 1st, 2015
6pmPST/8pmCT/9pmEST
Connect with me @uchechi_writes on Twitter
Over the past few months, I’ve talked to a lot of entrepreneurs who are passionate about their ideas and ready to make them happen. Whether they’re just learning to code and taking online design courses, or they’ve got the code skills but are new to business, the biggest challenge many face is staying accountable and motivated even when things get really difficult.
So, how do you stay accountable to your work and your tech goals?
During this chat, we’ll talk about finding mentorship and accountability partners, and how that can help you go from great idea to a great action plan.
I’ve had accountability partners in the past, and what I appreciated most was that they were also trying to stay accountable in their own work, and they could see things from my perspective and help me understand what I was trying to achieve. Hopefully, I did the same for them.
Some questions to think about:
- When things get difficult in your tech/entrepreneurial work, who do you turn to for advice?
- Do you have mentors/advisors/accountability partners? How has that helped you achieve your goals?
- Are you serving as mentor for someone else? What has that process been like?
- What advice would you give to someone looking for mentorship?
And more! Join us!
by Uchechi | Jan 23, 2015 | Blog
#YesWeCode Chat #13
Sunday January 25th, 2014
*9pmCT
During this chat we’ll discuss how to go building a great tech product to figuring out what’s next. Maybe you’re next step is to start building a company or to find out if your idea brings value to your users via user testing. Either way, the goal of this chat is to help you find answers
Building a tech startup is about more than the great product you’ve created. Maybe you’ve created a new social network or photo sharing app. What’s next? From best practices to how to get noticed online, #YesWeCode chat #13 is about getting you to the next level through information, education and conversation.
- During this chat, we’ll discuss the following questions:
- After building your tech product, what’s the best way to get it out there to customers?
- What best practices are important to help you go from great idea to a startup company?
- What are some baseline things you should know (funding v. bootstrapping, accelerators, choice of technology, etc) when creating a startup?
- How can you/your startup look and be legit?
And more!
Join us on Sunday 12/28/14 at 8pmCT.
For more info on how to participate, check out the chat guidelines.
Thanks and see you soon!
Uchechi
* Change of time: The chat is usually at 8pm CT, but has been changed to 9pm CT for this one chat.
by Uchechi | Dec 28, 2014 | Blog
During this chat we’ll discuss how to go from being a code/tech newbie to landing a job or taking things to the next level.
So, you learned to code but maybe you don’t know what comes next. Becoming a web developer is about the tools you use, the connections you make, the clients you engage with and building a supportive community.
During this chat, we’ll discuss the following questions:
- After learning to code, what’s the best way to get a job in tech?
- How can I go from a newbie in tech to a junior or senior level person?
- What’s my online presence got to do with finding a tech related job?
- Are there smarter (and faster) ways to go from being a newbie to a junior or senior developer?
- What are some great online tools I should be using?
And more!
Join us on Sunday 12/28/14 at 8pmCT.
For more info on how to participate, check out the chat guidelines.
Thanks and see you soon!
Uchechi
by Uchechi | Oct 24, 2014 | Blog
#YesWeCode Twitter chat guidelines
Thanks for showing up for the #yeswecode Twitter chat, which happens every 2 weeks at 8pm Central Time. I’m excited to talk to everyone and to have you share your experiences . I started this chat a few days before the #yeswecode hackathon in New Orleans because I was participating as a mentor (and local partner via my startup) and wanted to engage the global tech community online before the in person event. I also wanted to hear what others had to say about what diversity in tech meant to them and how we could use social media to engage in meaningful dialogue.
Focus on solutions: By now, we’ve all heard the statistics about the lack of diversity in the tech industry. The questions we’re now asking are: What can be done about it? What’s already being done? Why is it so important? Where do we start? I know that sometimes talking about it get tiring. I know that we all want solutions, stat! This chat aims to answer some of these questions, create engaging dialogue and focus on solutions.
What “diversity in tech” means & why it’s key to innovation: When I say diversity, this is what I mean all of us. Yes, all of us. My family is Nigerian, American, Jewish, Swedish and Mexican. It means each and every one of us. It also means diverse tech skills (it’s not just about coding) and age diversity. It also means gender and sexual orientation. I do believe that your worldview is shaped by all of these things and positively impacts how you approach problem solving. And, innovation is about problem solving.
Rules:
It’s not easy to talk about race, gender, inequality, age, sexuality, etc, and how we all feel about it. After all, being vulnerable can be very scary. It takes trust, faith and the desire to have the difficult conversations that often lead to change. In order to do that, we need some groundrules to facilitate the conversation. Thanks for showing up!
1. Disagree without name calling.
2. Point out where ideas might fail, but also share what you think might work.
3. Critique the idea & not the person
4. Be Brave. Be Visible. Be You. Be nice! Be inspired! Enjoy this time!
Thanks for coming here to have this much needed discussion!
What is a Twitter chat?:
- A live, real-time discussion taking place via twitter messages
- A chat using a specific hashtag (#yeswecode)
- Each participant can contribute to the conversation by adding comments using the hashtag #yeswecode
What to expect from #yeswecode chat:
- an exchange of ideas exploring the digital divide & creative ideas to move forward
- a network of people in the tech (mentors, VC’s, Tech organizations, startup founders, entrepreneurs) space who are interested in exploring topics related to diversity in tech
- a focus on solutions and creative ways to move forward
Format:
- I will ask a series of questions during the hour long chat.
- The question format will look something like this: Q1: Why is diversity in tech important to you?
- You can respond by clicking Reply or using A1(as in Answer 1) and type in the rest of your tweet, making sure you don’t forget the hashtag (#yeswecode)
- I’ll keep the questions going during the hour, and ask each one after a round of answers have received.
- I will retweet your posts as long as they fit the guidelines (see below)
- you can also feel free to click “reply” to any tweets by me or other participants you want to respond to
Introducing yourself & sharing your ideas:
- At the beginning, I’ll ask everyone to introduce themselves & their work
- You’ll have a chance to say something like this: Example intro tweet for you & your company: We build wearable tech @(companyname) & we’re also looking to mentor tech startups #yeswecode
- At the end of the chat, I’ll give everyone a chance to mention any upcoming events they have. For example, your tweet might look something like this: @yeswecodehack happens Jul 3-6 @Essence #yeswecode
- The chat will be ongoing, so if we don’t cover something you want to discuss today, let me know and I’ll see if we can fit it in during another chat.
by Uchechi | Oct 10, 2014 | Blog
Topic: Can social capital support diverse tech entrepreneurship?
Date: Sunday October 12,2014 8pmCT
Thank you for showing up, for trusting and for engaging in these conversations. The next diversity in tech #yeswecode twitter chat happens on Sunday September 28th at 8pm Central Time. Please connect with me on Twitter to stay updated. I am so inspired by all of you.
If you’re reading this, I hope you can join us for the next one. If you missed the first chats, you can read more about them here. Before participating, please read the guidelines so you know what to expect and how to best participate.
During the last chat, we talked about VC funding and how it can be a barrier to tech entreprenurship. But lately I’ve been wondering, does it have to be? What if they there were creative ways we could all support diverse tech startups, including bootstrapping companies. Does lack of VC funding have to mean the end? What if social capital could help bootstrap tech entrepreneurs until we all got the venture capital resources we all need to go big.
Think about it! Remember the last time you smiled to yourself after your blog post got retweeted, favorited, liked or shared? It felt pretty awesome now didn’t it?
Finding backing for your project, idea or blog post is essential because it validates what you are already doing and gives you the momentum to keep going.
The truth is, we’re not all VCs and we might not all find VC funding to help us get to market. But, we all have social capital–the ability to invest in ideas with our social media networks and connections. So, what if we could use it and leverage it to support diversity in technology?
For the next chat, here are some questions to think of:
- How can social capital help bootstrapping startups get to market before receiving VC capital?
- Are there specific ways to leverage social capital towards generating more users and sales?
- How can we leverage social capital in positive ways, without it becoming more of a popularity contest?
Bring your thoughts and your great ideas. This conversation needs you!
