According to Bob Sutton’s blog, Work Matters, a new article in the Harvard Business Review by Professor Boris Gryosberg states that further research on a past article that superstars aren’t portable shows that while male superstars may show a decrease in performance at a new firm, female superstars continue to shine after changing companies. Two possible explanations listed:

• Unlike men, high-performing women build their success on portable, external relationships—with clients and other outside contacts.

• Women considering job changes weigh more factors then men do, especially cultural fit, values, and managerial style.

I have always held the belief that when I am interviewing for a new position at a company, they aren’t just interviewing me, I am also interviewing them. Turning the tables on the interview not only gives me more confidence and helps to reduce my nerves but it also reminds me to ask important questions and be honest in my expectations with the company.

I have had the experience of starting with a company that I always thought I wanted to work for and I was so star struck I didn’t ask everything I should have. I took the position and it ended up that the company was awful to work for. I spent the rest of my time there planning my exit. Not getting the offer or even a call back isn’t necessarily a rejection of your skills or talents but a sign that you two don’t fit and can sometimes be a huge favor. Women tend to take this more into account than men and it helps them to succeed in the positions they are in and the companies they work for. I don’t believe in working at a job that makes you miserable all the time, we all have miserable duties sometimes, but there isn’t anything worse than dreading getting up in the morning.

Your eyes are not deceiving you, Linuxchic.net is running yet another new theme. This one is special and different from all the other mood changes; this month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Linuxchic.net is going Pink for October.

“About 178,480 women in the United States will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2007. About 40,460 women will die from the disease this year. Right now there are about two and a half million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

“The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35. Breast cancer death rates are going down.”

-excerpt from the American Cancer Society  

Here are some things you can do:

• Get regular exams and screenings. Learn more about the importance of early detection and sign up for free mammogram reminders via email.
• Learn more about breast cancer and share what you have learned with others.
• Become a volunteer, donate money, or participate in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

No free time or cash? Volunteer your website and go Pink for October.

From Entrepreneur.com

“Just like in the 1990s, today’s coverage of web companies like Facebook and YouTube dominates the media. But just as it was a decade ago, the faces behind the Web 2.0 wonders are mostly male. Are women not running technology companies–or are they simply not getting media coverage? Statistics on the number of women in technology are difficult to come by. Many women in tech believe their numbers are growing, but that they’re simply not getting much press.”

Read the rest of the article…

YourOnRamp is a new community designed for women looking to re-enter corporate America.

For women that have taken time off of work, often to raise children, many find that coming back to the work world is difficult, and is often hard to find companies that are family-friendly, and equally as difficult to find a balance between work and family. YourOnRamp is looking to be an online resource for these women, offering news articles and other editorial content, along with a career coach and a social network for the purpose of getting women back on track. Most of the basics are present for typical social network functionality, including personal profiles, blogs and forums.

Read more about this at Mashable

From SocialTech

Found this list via the Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs) group over at Facebook - an amazingly well connected group. As an aside, they also have a Join a Startup group for people wanting to join or recruit into startups, and a brand new sub-group, Web T.e, for experienced programmers, founders, developers & designers.

Anyhow, the call was for a list of female founders of web2 companies - it’s a respectable list but considering the number of 2.0 startups around there must be a few more to add. Check it out.

Technorati Tags: web2.0, women

Since returning to the Kansas City area I am met with a wall of internal frustration. Where did all the women’s user groups go? Where are all the pro science, math, and technology girls programs? I used to run a local Web Girls chapter and attempted to keep a local group of women’s linux users afloat, but they seem to have all disappeared. I really thought things were changing. It seemed that everytime I turned around there was a new summer or after school program for girls elementary through high school age doing something with math or science or computers. As a Girl Scout leader the opportunities for my girls were endless! Girls were the majority of my enrollments in the College for Kids computer classes. It was exciting and I had great hopes.  I moved away three years ago confident that the trend had finally turned.

Where we have been residing for the last several years science class isn’t even an option until sixth grade! I moved my family back to Kansas City not only for my love of the area but for the opportunities my daughters and sons would have here. Unfortunately I have been met with huge disappointment. Reading a KC parenting magazine I picked up at a restaurant today the only classes I could find for the girls were ballet, gymnastics, cooking, and scrapbooking. Ack! Were has all the science gone?!?! As far as I could tell from the end of the school year we don’t even have Science Olympiad any longer and I discovered my children had never even had a field trip to the Kansas City Science Museum.

I am at a loss. What can I do to reverse this new trend?! I will begin by contacting the local colleges about College for Kids courses again and looks like I will start developing some new material. I will put out a call for a few new users groups even if it means that between all this I won’t have weekends to myself. There appears to be women in business and women as business owners organizations and events here but that just isn’t specialized enough. What we need are more events for women in technology and not just computer technology, we need to include all sciences. Where do I start? I cannot just sit here and do nothing.

Any ideas my visitors and readers can offer will be greatly appreciated. You can post a comment or email me directly at linuxchic@alternageek.com.

The dearth of women in math and science has been discussed frequently. Computer science and programming is part of that same picture. It is obvious to everyone that the ratio is seriously lop-sided. But determining exactly why and what, if anything, we can do about it is not as obvious.

….

Ruby on Rails Podcast — Roundtable: Women in Development

• • Part I (MP3, 26 minutes)
  • Part II (MP3, 20 minutes)

The podcast is a round-table discussion on the state of women in open source programming. It features Jen May Wu, Dr. Ana Nelson, Liz Summerfield, Sandy Metz, Carmelyne Thompson, Cynthia Kaiser, and Desi McAdam, and it is moderated by Geoffrey Grosenbach. To share just one insightful tidbit from their discussion: they mention how many technology companies only give out men’s t-shirts and how much they appreciate companies that bother to stock both men and women’s t-shirts. A great point.

Read the entire post