On the show, you were talking about choosing the best language for the job. For example, sometimes you’ll choose Rails, sometimes Python, and sometimes Node. Can you give me some real-world examples of what you mean? I am familiar with PHP and Ruby on Rails and I know what Python and Node are. I just don’t understand when one server-side language/platform would be better than another.

First of all a very important aside – any of these tools only matter if you have a clue how to use them. For example, I don’t know Scala (yet!), so I’m not going to say it’s a viable option to build anything big on.

Anyway, here’re some examples of things I’ve done, to answer question: what are some practical examples of choosing a tool for the job?

Problem: I have a dataset that I need to massage or load into a database with some care and then do X with it.
Tool: Python and Django. Python because I can do data massage well with it, Django because if I’m going to put it on the web, it gives it a great structure really fast, and it’s very explicit about what’s happening (very Pythonic), something I care about a lot with data.

Problem: Build something to engage a community around a topic, expose a limited (smaller) amount of information to them.
Tool: Rails, because we can build it fast and get it out in the field, there’s probably gems/libraries for any community engagement stuff I want to build, and there’s also not too much ‘stuff’ in the background to worry about. For Rails, it is my humble opinion that the acrobatics that people have done for security/scaling don’t make it worth doing large projects (and I’ve worked with big Rails … it gets hairy).

Problem: Build a site that’s essentially static, maybe with some user interactive on the front end.
Tool: This is where I might use Node. The main programming I need is the interactive, so the other bit is how to serve it. Definitely not an impressive use of Node, but Node/Express can be even easier than Flask for some of these problems, if you like just shipping it all in JavaScript. For me, Node is also great for apps mainly interacting with JSON APIs (well, that’s most APIs, right?) without much backend, because you can make what-have-you on the UI layer and serve it in JS as well on the back-end.

More abstractly — if you’re a polyglot, or trying to be, be sure to know the strengths and weaknesses of your tools. I personally find Rails slow, which can annoy the heck out of me on a project; I find it very annoying to have to work to speed it up, rather than using say, Django, where I know if it’s slow, it’s my own damn fault, because my code explicitly includes everything when it includes it (namespaces, let’s do more of that). At the same time, Django doesn’t really have much on Rails in terms of going 0 to 60 when you use some scaffolding to cheat to win.

I’m not going to tell you what to use, but I will tell you to get better at the choosing process, which is another blog post.

I know a lot of developers who teach themselves more languages — but I think it’s only fun if you actually use them. I also think there are some developers who are too dogmatic about their own tool. If they never stick their head out of the sand, how will they drive their own community forward? And with that, I leave you with two silly tweets I wrote after being frustrated with some of these ostrich developers:

Any time I see “and never looked back” I think they’re missing out on a good adventure – sticking with one thing forever sounds awful!

— Pam Selle (@pamasaur) March 9, 2013

Note: This is true of programming languages, frameworks, and cities. Not true of my husband.

— Pam Selle (@pamasaur) March 9, 2013

The post Choosing the best tool for the job appeared first on Pam The Webivore.

When did you start coding?
I’ve always dabbled in web development, mainly frontend, since 2005, but I didn’t really get serious about it until 2007. That year, my junior year in college, I was introduced to a professor who started what he called Web Design Bootcamp. It was myself and 5 other students studying under him, 9 to 5, 6 days a week.  Three months had passed, and I got my first job, a part time minimum wage job working for the same professor. He supplied us with a year’s worth of hosting out of his own pocket, domains to build our portfolios and brought us clients and work under the company name Subsidiary Design. My senior year, I was working part time, interning at Spike (formerly Spike TV) and going to school. I graduated in May of 2008 and landed the Marvel gig in June.

Tell us about the tech scene in Las Vegas? What’s happening over there?
Las Vegas is slowly, organically becoming something more than the party town the media has forever portrayed it to be.  This year, Vegas Tech celebrated it’s 2^nd anniversary and it’s on its way to becoming the next Silicon Valley. In fact, we call it the Silicon Strip.

The Vegas tech scene caught my eye long before I moved here from New York. I spent 3 months researching the who’s who of Vegas tech and used Twitter and the hashtag #vegastech to connect with people. I was just looking for a job before I got here but what I found was so much more–a community, strong and progressive with a hunger for growth, learning and opportunity.

A week after I got here, I went to a WordPress meetup, a Ruby meetup, then the brand new NodeJS meetup. There’s never a dull moment in the Downtown community! And it’s always buzzing with chatter of the next best thing.

Developers, designers and entrepreneurs gather every Thursday at the Usr/lib library above The Beat coffee shop to talk shop, share ideas or hack away at their latest project.  It’s a community that’s become a big part of my life. The Las Vegas community is small in numbers, but huge in heart and spirit.

Tell us about Startup weekend. Why do you love it?
Startup Weekend is a 54 hour, adrenaline-fueled frenzy that poses the question: “Can you start a Startup over a weekend?”

Designers, developers and entrepreneurs gather at a venue, pitch their ideas, build relationships and hack away all weekend to make it happen.

I got involved with Startup Weekend when I volunteered to help during the last event in January. I handled social media during the planning phases and throughout the event as well as designed the t-shirts, posters and stickers.  Once it was over, I felt that post-partum depression that women say they feel after they give birth. The fun is over, back to reality! It’s hard to come down from that high that Startup Weekend provides as there’s just so much positive energy in the room.

So I immediately grabbed all of the organizers from the previous event and started planning the next event.  The 5^th Startup Weekend Las Vegas happened on May 3^rd to the 5th at the InNEVation Center, a co-working space brought to the community by Rob Roy, the founder of Switch, which is a technology ecosystem offering data storage and high-speed Internet access.

Who are your heroes?
First of course is my mom. She raised me by herself and I hope to be as strong as she is one day.

Second, would have to be Dale Partridge, CEO and Co-Founder of Sevenly.org, a California-based company that sells amazing tshirts and other apparel for great causes. Seven dollars of every tshirt sale goes to the charity of the week and the screen-printed shirts are only available for seven days, hence Sevenly.

Third, would be Vanessa Hidary, Def Jam Poet, who mainly writes and speaks about being a Jewish girl from Brooklyn, somehow that speaks to me. Being myself a Jewish girl from Brooklyn, I can’t imagine why I identify with her. I recently devoured her book and then licked all my fingers after I was done. It was that good!

If you had all of the time in the world, what would you want to learn?
First, I’d start with learning every web language: Ruby, advanced PHP and Python. I’d then move on to native OS and Android app building.

What advice do you have for people just starting to learn to code HTML & CSS?
My advice for those starting out is to pace yourself, don’t give up and have patience with yourself. Find what works for you in terms of what applications you use, coding styles, etc. Of course, stick to web standard methods but don’t be afraid to adopt your own personal style. Also, web languages are like cookies, you can’t learn/eat just one. You have to stay code hungry to stay current.

(Yes, it's one of those corny 'unhappy couple' photographs)

According to my next guest, sexuality counselor, midwife, and author Evelyn Resh, many of them do not. Or at least not enough to sustain a healthy relationship. 

The next episode of The Broad Experience will cover ground that is hardly ever discusssed, at least openly. How many really successful women have healthy marriages or relationships? Lately I've been reading a lot of articles about female entrepreneurs as well as autobiographies of highly successful women. I admire these women's commitment to their jobs, and feel exhausted as I read about some of their schedules, tearing around the world doing good work, or helping run a corporation and sustaining a family life at the same time, which usually seems to involve having dinner with the kids, and, after putting them to bed, getting back online till you fall into bed yourself (then getting up at 5a.m. to start the whole thing over again). I've come away from more than one of these books or articles wondering: do these women ever manage to have sex? Frankly, with the schedules they describe, I don't know how they'd fit it in. Maybe at the weekend?

Resh, who practices in Massachusetts, says she's seeing an epidemic of extremely busy professional women with non-existent sex lives. These women tell her that between work and, usually, kids, they just don't feel like having sex. Here's a quote from our interview:

"The fact is, more liberal thinking, well educated, scholarly professional women who are in marriages are not having sex in large part. And they see sexuality within the context of that relationship as a chore, an obligation, one more thing to do on their to-do list, and actually an imposition that’s brought into the marriage by unthinking, uncaring, demanding men."

In case you're thinking this comes from someone who's extremely conservative in her views, you'd be wrong. Resh has been a working mother herself, and her life doesn't fit everyone's idea of conventional. But she is a big advocate for healthy sex lives as a vital part of relationships and overall good health. She says too many professional women are ignoring sex altogether. What women need to do to get their sex drives back, she says, is begin to cultivate a new attitude to pleasure - to actively pursue pleasure, whether that is a strong cup of coffee, savored rather than drunk on the run, or a pedicure, or simply reading a novel instead of only reading stuff for work. Pleasure, she says, begets pleasure. The other part of this problem is women's tendency to feel we *have* to do everything for everyone - prove ourselves as stars at work and prove ourselves to be stellar mothers as well. By the time we've taken care of all those obligations, the last thing we want to do is leap into bed - except to sleep.

Tune in next week to hear much more on women, work, success and sex. You can check out Evelyn Resh's book, Women, Sex, Power & Pleasure here.

The event was unbelievably fun (totally punk rock, one might say) and we are now busy brainstorming ways that we can bring Ladies Hack Day to ladies (and gents) all over the country.

Did I say country? I meant, world!

But before we can enact our plot for world domination, we wanted to share with you what worked, what didn’t work & our tips for how to host a Ladies Hack Day of your own.

Step 1: Make yourself accountable to a bunch of people
When Martha thought of the idea for Ladies Hack Day her very first step was to pick a date & announce the event to the Nashville tech community.

This move was actually quite risky since she hadn’t lined up anything: no speakers, no venue, no sponsors, no nothing! What if it all fell apart?

But what she did was publicly commit to making the event happen, and there is nothing like being held accountable to an entire community to light a fire under your a**.

Step 2: Line up a venue
Thanks to her contacts in the tech community, Martha was able to secure a donated space at Emma’s headquarters, an email marketing company based in downtown Nashville. The space was huge, beautiful, and since it was a tech company, already equipped with wifi and all of the other things you need for a hack day.

Even if you don’t have access to a local tech company with a large meeting space, there are tons of community organizations and schools who will be happy to donate space in exchange for mention as a sponsor.

Step 3: Get the word out
Ask anyone who has organized an event or tried to start a company, marketing is always the biggest challenge. When it comes to marketing there is no silver bullet, or at least, it’s hard to know what will be the silver bullet until you have tried it.

So a wide sweeping approach is the best way to go until you find what works. We suggest you try: reaching out to your friends & colleagues via email, announce the event on social media, get listed in the paper, post flyers on the street…seriously, no idea is too smalll, too big, or too silly.

Step 4: Line up sponsors
Insider tip: often the only thing you have to do to get money is ASK. And the good news is that people and businesses love to support women learning more about tech. So give all your local tech businesses a ring and see if they won’t throw a few hundred dollars in the pot. Just make sure to thank them at the hack day and on all of your marketing material.

Step 5: Creature comforts
Then use those funds to buy yourself and all the participants some good grub! Seriously, there is nothing like stale pizza to ruin a perfectly delightful hackday. In Nashville Martha was able to feed 75 people a healthy lunch of salad and quiche for only $300.

Step 6: Curriculum
We are here to learn something after all!

Ladies Hack Day consisted of three learning modules:

1. 1. Learn how to build a simple e-card (a la Paperless Post) in HTML & CSS
2. 2. Learn how to make that e-card interactive with a little bit of JavaScript
3. 3. Learn how to build a twitter bot for good, in Python

Martha did a few things right here: she created attractive, clear projects that everyone could get something out of. The e-card was a project that was easy enough that it was doable for absolute beginners, while being fun enough that everyone got something out of it. Moreover, the twitter bot was cool enough to keep people engaged, even though they were learning some pretty complex programming stuff.

In addition, it worked perfect to have the material get more difficult over the course of the day–its natural for there to be a little bit of a drop off in participation as the day goes on, but those hackers that stick with it get rewarded with some seriously awesome tech know-how.

If possible, we recommend that you get a different teacher to teach each module. The reason for this is simple: it’s just plain hard to teach all day!

Further Resources
Some great resources to use in your Ladies Hack Day:

• #ladieshack day spotify playlist

• Download our HTML Cheatsheet. Print it out…it’s not bad looking if we do say so ourselves.

• Download our HTML5 Cheatsheet. Print it out and keep it next to the HTML one.

• 10-day email bootcamp (great as prep work for the hack day)

• Download Sublime Text 2 or any other code editor

• Download Firebug

• All about HTML, CSS, JavaScript & PHP courtesy of GirlDevelopIt

Have you run a hackathon in your community? Do you want to? Tell us what you are thinking!

In a recent newsletter I mentioned that I've never had a mentor (sniff), and asked people to tell me whether they'd had good experiences of mentorship. The more I read, the more importance mentorship seems to acquire in terms of our ability to have a successful career. And mentorship for women gets special attention, because traditionally women have been less likely than men to be able to find a mentor in the first place. I heard from a few people in response to that newsletter and am including some of what they said below. Everyone who wrote was writing from the perspective of being a mentee rather than a mentor, and they were very glad they'd had the chance to be mentored. I recently wrote a short piece on how to find a mentor for Metro, which came out earlier this week. Some of what I wrote was cut for space, and that missing stuff dealt with recommendations such as, as the mentee, not to expect the relationship to be all one-way (i.e. don't just suck everything up without giving anything back), and another tip from Sheryl Sandberg, which I thought was sensible: don't ask a mentor questions you could find the answers to online. I guess Sandberg herself gets asked a lot of repetitive questions. I can pretty much guarantee that Mrs. Moneypenny, who features in the latest show, would concur with that no-nonsense advice. For more on how to set up the mentor/mentee relationship so that it's effective, here are some tips from Careerstone Group.

And here are a couple of responses from listeners:

"I got involved heavily in Missouri state politics when I ran for office in 2010 and have been able to move up fairly quickly in the field ever since. I would not have been able to do it without many helpful mentors along the way. For me, it hasn't been just one person. Instead, it has been multiple individuals who I have come into contact with that have helped me learn new methods and have recommended me for higher positions. I could never have done it without them, on top of, of course, putting in a lot of hard work on my own in learning the field."

That speaks to something Tiffany Dufu of Levo League told me during our interview for Metro - that women need multiple mentors, partly because there may not be one person at work who fits the bill, so you have to look outside, and to have male and female mentors. You could easily argue the same for a man, but in general each sex sees their ideal mentor as someone of their own gender (and I suspect this is especially true for men). It's a lot harder for women to find female mentors than it is for men to find male ones, simply because there are fewer senior women to tap.

Here's a listener and friend of mine who works in a male-dominated industry - construction:

"Reading this reminded me of a female mentor I had at my first architecture job after grad school, and it's *also* reminded me that without her I doubt I would ever have been interested in going into construction...while I'm proud of being a female in construction, and I'd like to think that I got to this point because of talent and skill, I can't forget that a lot of my strength and faith that I could do something like this probably came from seeing this woman do it back in New Jersey ten years ago, very much in a man's world."

All of which sounds pretty inspiring. I must get to work on finding one myself. 

I have a few meets set, but I’m putting it out there — if you’re doing something cool, I’d love to chat about it (and if you allow me, I’ll probably write about it here!). I’ll be in the city the 23rd and 24th, around over Memorial Day weekend, and I’ll be at Fluent the 28th through the 30th. And speaking of — not too late to join me there: Fluent Conference 2013. I’m speaking late on Thursday, so please stay for the whole event!

If you’d like to meet in SF, probably the easiest way to get in touch is to just use the contact form on The Webivore, or @ mention me on Twitter.

Now, back to trying to get everything done before I head out West!

The post Meet me in San Francisco? appeared first on Pam The Webivore.

This weekend we had the pleasure of heading down South to attend Ladies Hack Day, an event organized by our good friend and fellow lady hacker Martha Girdler.

• Find out what inspired Martha to host Ladies Hack Day (we are so glad she did)
• Get inspired by Jessica Moffat, who only started coding a week ago, but is already using her skills to soup up her Tumblr blog!
• And learn the key mistake that beginners make when it comes to learning to code so that you will make sure not to make it

Watch out for Friday’s newsletter where we will discuss the steps Martha took in order to bring Ladies Hack Day to the women (and men) of Nashville, and we will inspire you to host a similar event in your area!

"I have people that come to me saying, 'I haven’t made partner in my law firm.'  And I have to say to them, 'Do you wear that much cleavage at work? Because if you wear that much cleavage at work, I'm not surprised you haven't made partner.'"

- Mrs. Moneypenny

Our appearance has an affect on the way others see us, whether we like it or not. Most successful women spend a significant amount of time thinking about the image they present to the outside world. Some even dare to flout expectations occasionally (see Hillary Clinton, below). And while there may be endless emphasis on women's appearance, it's not as if men don't have to worry about this too. The power of image runs deep.

This episode features Financial Times columnist Mrs. Monepenny (alias the impeccably turned-out Heather McGregor) and chemical company engineer Amy Johnson (right - forget the hairdo and makeup), with a fleeting appearance from McKinsey and Company's Joanna Barsh. 12 minutes.

Show notes: You can find the US version of Heather McGregor's book, Mrs. Moneypenny's Career Advice for Ambitious Women, here.

This is the column by Financial Times fashion editor Vanessa Friedman that got me thinking about this whole topic of appearance, and wondering why Sheryl Sandberg didn't touch on it in Lean In. It's called 'Sheryl Sandberg's Mistake'. 

Sponsor offer: Go to Squarespace.com/broad to get a free trial, and use the offer code 'broad 4' if you decide to sign up - you'll get a 10% discount.

A very Happy Mother’s Day to all the fabulous moms out there!! We hope you are all celebrating your moms and spoiling them in whatever way you possibly can. Below, a few words of wisdom from our moms and some of the most inspiring women in history.

Skillcrush moms

“Scientists found that babies in Russian orphanages who were not held would die even if they were fed enough. Humans need affection, come give me a kiss!” - Inga Dora Bjornsdottir, Mom of Skillcrush CEO Adda Birnir

“Your task is to become your best self. One of life’s gifts is the joy of trying again, no failure needs to be final.” -  Brenda McGee, Mom of Skillcrush CCO Kate McGee

“All of life is an educational opportunity – we’re supposed to learn from our own mistakes but life is way too short to make all those mistakes yourself! Pay attention to the mistakes of others and do your best to learn from those as well. Share what you’ve learned with each other along the way.” - Surina Kapila, Mom of Skillcrush Instructor Deepina Kapila

And now, some more inspirational quotes from a few of our favorite women in history:

I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody. -Lily Tomlin, Comic, Actress, Writer, Producer

Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one’s superiors; care for one’s crew. - Grace Hopper, Computer Scientist, US Navy Rear Admiral

I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it’s necessary. - Madeline Albright, first female US Secretary of State

Have a bias toward action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away. - Indira Gandhi, third Prime Minister of India

The air is the only place free from prejudices. - Bessie Coleman, first African-American female pilot

We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters. - Gloria Steinem, Journalist, activist

Education should no longer be mostly imparting knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentials. - Maria Montessori, Educator

The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration. - Frida Kahlo, Artist

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me. - Simone de Beauvoir, Writer

All our problems, all our disputes, all our disagreements can be resolved quickly to mutual satisfaction if we address the question. - Benazir Bhutto, 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan

One of the best things about JavaScript is that it has a super low barrier to entry, particularly if you make use of the vast sea of jQuery plugins.

Want to add a fart joke to your website?

Download Fartscroll.js and add this link right before your </head> tag:

1

<script type="text/javascript" src="fartscroll.js"></script>

And these three  line of code at the bottom of your HTML document:

1
2
3

<script type="text/javascript">
fartscroll();
</script>

And voila! You are in the farts, without really understanding how JavaScript is making that fart sound happen.

Solution: Roll your own JavaScript
Yes, this will take longer, but challenge yourself to build a simple JavaScript feature (like a slideshow) from scratch. Learn how to instantiate an array and fill it with a dynamic set of HTML elements. Learn how to step through an iterator and how to build the logic of a slideshow loop.

Mistake #2: Not taking the time
to learn JavaScript fundamentals

Developer Martha Girdler says that there are a few basic mistakes that she sees beginning JavaScript programmers make over and over.

“When you are just getting started it’s hard to understand the difference between some basics of the JavaScript language. For example, the difference between writing a function and calling it:

1
2
3

var kitten = function() {
  console.log('mew');
}

vs.

1

kitten();

Or the difference between parameters and arguments:

1
2
3
4

var kitten = function(parameter) {
console.log(parameter);
}
kitten("this is an argument");

Arguments: allow you to put any data within the function when you call it.”

You should also make sure you understand what the DOM (Document Object Model) is and how you can manipulate it!

Solution: Reading & practice.
Sexy, we know.

If you are looking for online options we recommend JavaScript for Cats and Girl Develop It’s presentation on JavaScript fundamentals. If reading books is more your jam, we recommend grabbing a copy of JavaScript: A Visual QuickStart Guide.

Mistake #3: Fearing Regular Expressions

Alright, at first glance, Regular Expressions are definitely intimidating. But just remember, they are a formula and you just have to understand how they get pieced together.

And the payoff is BIG. Regular Expressions let you know all kinds of things from making sure someone is submitting a valid email to responding to specific words, phrases, or code snippets that your users are inputting (Regular Expressions power our HTML Awards game).

Plus knowing your way around a Regular Expression will give you some seriously cool street cred.

Solution: Read up on Regular Expressions & lots of deep breathing

Check out Mozilla’s introduction to Regular Expressions and download this handy JavaScript RegEx cheat sheet.

Mistake #4: Thinking that JavaScript is a
lightweight programming language

JavaScript may be a good programming language for beginners, but that doesn’t mean its not a major player when it comes to programming for the web.

The last few years have seen an enormous developments in the JavaScript space. Projects like Handlebars.js have made it possible to create frontend templates using JavaScript and JSON, frameworks like Backbone.js and Ember.js are powering the development of thousands of super powerful web applications, and Node.js is even making it possible to build servers out of JavaScript. So watch out!

Seriously, if you are going to be on ONE horse, JavaScript is the horse to bet on. And as a side benefit, as we mentioned in our video on Tuesday, once you’ve mastered JavaScript, you are going to find learning new programming languages much easier.

Solution: Rest assured that JavaScript isn’t just for kiddies (although kiddies like it too!)

Mistake #5: Not subscribing to Peter Cooper’s
JavaScript Weekly newsletter

Alright, so this is less of a mistake and more of a direct plug. Peter Cooper’s JavaScript Weekly newsletter is the best way to keep up-to-date on what’s happening in JavaScript. Where else could you think about how Ernest Hemingway would write JavaScript or  learn what 5 things you need to stop doing with jQuery?

Solution: Go sign up!