PyCon 2016 in Portland, Or
hills next to breadcrumb illustration

The #ILookLikeAnEngineer Movement and Ad Campaign

Michelle Glauser, Laura Jane Watkins

Audience level:
Novice
Category:
Community

Description

Presented by the two main co-organizers of the #ILookLikeAnEngineer event and ad campaign, this poster will outline the #ILookLikeAnEngineer movement with a timeline, who related to the movement and why, where it spread to, which media outlets picked up on it, the resulting event and ad campaign, and more. We will also provide some answers to the “What now?” question.

Abstract

The #ILookLikeAnEngineer movement spread rapidly in August of 2015. By putting faces to underrepresented engineers, the #ILookLikeAnEngineer movement humanized the diversity debate and made it relatable to people in many fields. This poster will outline the following: * how the hashtag came to be * how quickly the hashtag spread on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. * who the hashtag resonated with and why * where the hashtag spread to * which media outlets picked up on the movement (including Tier 1 press like CNET) * the resulting event and ad campaign * who helped organize the ad campaign (many of them Python engineers) * who supported the ad campaign (including companies like Rackspace and individuals like the Salesforce CTO of Customer Connection) * what the ads looked like and where they were * what can be done to be more inclusive of engineers the hashtag resonated with Michelle Glauser and Laura Watkins, the two main co-organizers of the #ILookLikeAnEngineer event and ad campaign, will present and discuss this poster, with two main goals: 1. to provide info about the #ILookLikeAnEngineer movement 2. to inspire people to take steps to be more inclusive of underrepresented engineers