A New Kickstarter Funds a Book Aimed at Inspiring Women in Technology

The project harnesses insights from a number of female industry experts, including local game developer Brianna Wu.

The diversity gap in tech is nothing new—but it’s an issue that has been increasingly difficult to ignore. According to research by GigaOm, employees at Cisco and Intel are 77 percent and 76 percent male, respectively. Meanwhile, Twitter’s technical staff is only 10 percent women, and Facebook and Yahoo aren’t much better at 15 percent. Out of the 22 thought leaders that delivered a keynote speech at CES earlier this month, only three of them were women.

And if you try searching for books about women succeeding in the industry, the options are slim. In fact, no one has apparently written a book called “Women in Tech”—until now.

A new Kickstarter book project from Tarah Wheeler Van Vlack, CEO of Seattle tech company Fizzmint, will alternate between career- and skill-building advice and personal accounts from women who are already trailblazers in tech. So far, the campaign for “Women In Tech: The Book”—which aims to raise $28,800—has gotten $5,707 in commitments, from 104 backers, with 28 days to go. And the odds of reaching that goal look promising, considering the fact that Van Vlack has successfully funded two Kickstarters: One for an audiobook of “The Ruins” by Count Volney and another for LadyCoders, an all-female tech training seminar.

“We’re all working against an unconscious social bias that tells us that women aren’t a good fit for tech,” she wrote on the Kickstarter page. “We will help in a practical way by teaching you what you need to know to get into tech, and interspersing instructional chapters with amazing and inspirational autobiographies by hugely successful women telling you how they overcame their obstacles and what they love about technology as a career field.”

One of these successful women is Brianna Wu, CEO of Arlington indie games shop Giant Spacekat (and notable GamerGate target). Wu wrote the entire Gamer chapter, and a $350 donation will get you a 30-minute video chat with her.

Other contributors to the book include Hackbright Academy Vice President and Women 2.0 founder Angie Chang, Code Fellows CEO Kristin Toth Smith, and UrbaneSec managing partner Erin Jacobs.

Backers who give $24 will get either a physical or digital copy of the book, which is estimated to ship in November.

Image of businesswoman via Shutterstock.

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