Meet Geek Girl Sue Malomo
Sue Malomo will be teaching workshops on: Using a Mac: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Advanced Google, and jQuery. - See all workshops here
1. How and when did you become a Geek Girl?
Fresh out of college (with a degree in Political Science**) I took a job as an administrative assistant with an architecture firm in Boston. That was my first introduction to the Mac and I never turned back. I happened to fall into the admin position that required Adobe Photoshop and Pagemaker, as well as FileMaker Pro, a desktop database for the Mac. I quickly discovered that I vastly preferred the computer end of my job over the administrative end (answering phones and filing are NOT my strongpoints!). When I left that job I enrolled in a CIS degree at a community college in Programming and found my true calling.
** When I was in high school, debating what major I wanted to study in college, my mom urged me to “go into computers” and I did the typical teenage eye-rolling. “moo-om, computers are so boring. I could never imagine just sitting at a desk typing all day!” Um, obviously you know how this turned out, so clearly my mom was right in the first place. As usual.
I’ve taught CIS courses for several years through Bristol Community College and when I first saw Geek Girl being advertised on the Cape, I knew it was something I wanted to be involved in. I emailed Leslie offering my services and she graciously accepted my offer. Since then, I have met some amazing people through Geek Girl and am so fortunate to be a part of such a great group of women.
2. Technology is so big, so diverse: in what parts are you an expert? in what realms are you still learning?
I do a little bit of almost everything but my main areas of expertise are: Mac software, databases, and HTML/CSS/Javascript and web development using Open Source technologies (such as PHP and MySQL). I’ve taught Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, InDesign and web development courses through Bristol Community College. Someone once asked me “There’s so much to learn, how do you know when you’re done?” and I was shocked. I’m NEVER done learning and it will be a very sad day if I ever decide I’m not going to learn anything new. I’m constantly exploring new programming languages or techniques, new software, etc. This industry is constantly moving, advancing, and expanding. Some are content to sit on the beach and look at the ocean, but I prefer to be right out there in the waves, getting wet.
Did you have an experience growing up or as an adult where you felt the huge divide between women and technology?
NO! I was extremely fortunate to have a mom who taught me there wasn’t anything I couldn’t achieve if I set my mind to it (THANK YOU MOM!). I was a geek girl before I knew what being a geek meant – taking AP physics and AP calculus in high school, and graduating in the top 5% of my class. I took a variety of foreign language courses in high school and college (at one time I was taking German, Japanese, Italian and American Sign Language simultaneously) and a CIS instructor casually commented that foreign languages were very similar to computer programming languages and suggested I should look into it and then I was hooked.
4. If you answered yes, how did you handle it?
I answered no, but… I never considered that girls were any different from boys when it came to what I could do or accomplish. It simply wasn’t within my comprehension that I shouldn’t try certain things – from playing rugby, running a table saw, learning how the engine in my car worked, or excelling at calculus and physics.
5. What was your favorite part of Geek Girl Camp 2009?
Seeing women get excited about technology and learning new skills. My favorite part of teaching is watching someone get the “ah HA!” moment when they figure something out on their own. I hate seeing women give up before they even try something new, just assuming they won’t be able to succeed. Geek Girl is all about helping women build their confidence and get over their fear of new technology so they can go home and learn something new on their own.
6. List 3 ways that women (or you specifically) can have an impact on technology.
- I think women bring a variety of skills and expertise that complement those of men. Areas such as usability, user interface, and accessibility need to have balanced representation in order to create technology that is accessible and usable by everyone.
- Women have been responsible for many great discoveries and inventions – getting them more involved in technology can only lead to more and greater advancements for technology in general.
- Women who sit by, passively waiting for technology (or society) to adapt to them, are going to be left behind. You need to get out there and make your own advancements – BE the change you want to see. Don’t like something? Change it and blaze your own trail.
7. If you could change one thing about the world (and we know you can) what would it be?
Definitely the gender gap – the perception that women are worth less than men, ability- and salary-wise. It’s 2010, not 1950! Women are out there in the workforce right alongside men and earnings should be based on performance, not gender. Reading stories such as this from James Chartrand: “Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants” and Whitney Johnson “Can “Nice Girls” Negotiate?” should make *everyone* outraged, not just the women who are being discriminated against. What type of message are we sending our daughters when we allow manufacturers to discriminate against girls with pink toys being lesser quality than the blue ones? Whether it’s a microscope or handtools, the color (or gender of the intended audience) shouldn’t dictate the power or quality, as indicated in this article on “Careful, Girls! That’s Too Much Power!”.
8. What is your desire, wish or goal for Geek Girl Camp 2010?
For each woman who attends to go home after the Bootcamp and feel confident that they can learn/do anything they set their minds to. And for each of them to convince 5 other women to attend a Bootcamp and feel the same way!
9. If the Geek Girls could have 1 minute to talk to the world, what would we say?
We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere. The time has come for equality. Women of the world: you have a responsibility to yourselves and future generations to stand up and take the initiative if you want things to change.
Sue Malomo’s Bio:
Creating her first professional website in 2000, Sue finally decided to stop doing websites “on the side” and created Falmouth Design, a web design and development company, in 2007. She’s been teaching CIS classes as an adjunct for Bristol Community College for 6 years and now teaches web and multimedia courses online as part of the distance learning program. She’s excited to be part of such a great group of Geek Girls for her second Geek Girl Camp!