Diversity in the technical workforce is a valuable asset for all companies, because it encourages different types of thinking and taps into the full potential of your team. Come learn from one AWS organization how a fast-moving, fast-growing team has put in place a "diversity circle" for personal and professional development. This program provides a peer mentoring group that builds skills and establishes informal networking support. The host and active participants of this two-year program will share tips and best practices for running a diversity peer mentoring group that spans engineering, product management, and operations.
"I see eyes in my soup": How Delivery Hero implemented the safety system for ...
Women in Technology: Supporting Diversity in a Technical Workplace
1. Women in Technology: Supporting Diversity
in a Technical Workplace
Neha Sherpa, Software Development Engineer, AWS
Amy Therrien, Senior Software Development Manager, AWS
July 13, 2016
5. Amazon S3 Women’s Circle
Membership selection (17 members)
• Common
• All women (inherent)
• All part of the Amazon S3 organization (acquired)
• Diverse
• Diverse levels of experience (acquired)
• Diverse roles: managers, product managers, software
engineers, systems engineers (acquired)
• Diverse cultural backgrounds (inherent)
6. Two circle starts
AWS S3 Women’s Circle
• Common
• All women (inherent)
• All part of the Amazon S3
organization (acquired)
• Diverse
• Diverse levels of experience
(acquired)
• Diverse roles: managers, product
managers, software engineers,
systems engineers (acquired)
• Diverse cultural backgrounds
(inherent)
AWS Platform Circle
• Individual mentor-mentee relationships
• Aggregation of established relationships
• Common organization
8. Facilitating trust
Safe environment for learning
Strong relationships keep circles
together
Make it fun!
• Blackberry picking
• Happy hour
• Lunches
9. Facilitating a structure
• Monthly meetings on topics covering experiences and
knowledge
• Amazon S3 topics are defined by the circle: negotiation,
leveling the playing field, communication, confidence, work
life balance, etc.
• Establish role models
• Individual mentoring for the first role models
• Leverage existing career development techniques and
resources
• Guest speakers, published resources
• Provide feedback, encouragement
11. Sample meeting
Knowledge sharing
• 10 minutes: Grab lunch &
greet/mingle
• 30 minutes: Video on “Leveling
the Playing Field”
• 40 minutes: Interactive
worksheets, open discussion
• 10 minutes: Planning next
session
Experience sharing
• 10 minutes: Grab lunch &
greet/mingle
• 5 minutes: Introduction of guest
expert on “Confidence”
• 60 minutes: Pre-prepared Q&A
with guest product manager
• 10 minutes: Planning next
session
12. Logistics
Do’s
• Stay connected to participants’
managers
• Advocate for your circle
participants outside of the
circle
• Make time for retrospectives
Don’ts
• Get into expanding circle churn
• Feel like you need to limit this
to women
• See this as a replacement for
all other mentoring