During the month of October, FINN.no has announced the nominees for the brand new award: Female Developer of the Year. We have received many eminent nominated tech women, and based on these we have selected the top three candidates. But between us, they are all winners ⭐️ All of them are strong role models for this work field and they inspire other women to work with technology. Therefore, we want to share the complete list of all nominees at the bottom of this article.
But firstly, please meet the three finalists. We have selected one as the winner, and two for a shared second place.
Patricia Aas, Principal Consultant & CTO @ TurtleSec
You are the winner of the female developer of the year 2021, how does it feel?
I'm very honored, but most of all I'm looking forward to future winners. I feel it's way overdue to shine a light on female devs in Norway, unfortunately, too much focus has been spent on women in management, and that has left women working hands-on with tech with few role models. I hope this is a step towards highlighting the work in tech done by folks from underrepresented groups, so that others starting out can see people like themselves succeeding and thriving.
What are you working on for the moment?
For the past few years, while at TurtleSec, I've been working for clients doing everything from embedded development to public policy work. Mostly in the intersection of programming and security. I teach a training in Secure Programming in C++ and more recently a training to teach C++ to programmers of other languages. When I'm not busy with client work, I work on my side-project TurtleBrowser which is a (very much pre-alpha) browser, and probably my favorite thing to work on.
Who is your role model in technology (who inspires you)?
I have a lot of people I look up to, often folks that are from groups that are underrepresented in tech: queer folks, women, non-binary folks, trans folks, people of color, black folks, disabled folks ++ In my experience, people that are marginalized by society in general, and tech in particular, are doing some of the most exciting things in tech, and are bringing completely new perspectives to problems in society in general. I hope to see way more of that in the future.
Anything you would like to share with other female developers?
I wrote a twitter thread, which became a blog post, which became a talk, that might be useful for women and other groups that experience workplace marginalization in tech, it's called "Survival Tips for Women in Tech": https://patricia.no/2019/09/12/survival_tips_for_women_in_tech.html
More than anything I hope that it will help reveal some of the challenges we need to work on in tech to make it more inclusive to folks from underrepresented groups.
Nora Tomas, Developer @ Vipps
How does it feel to receive this nomination?
It feels amazing to receive the nomination! If Nora from many years ago, who was struggling with her computer science studies, knew this would happen, she would have been really surprised and pleased. I am honored to receive the nomination, especially considering how many amazing female programmers I know. To be recognized as part of that group makes me feel super-cool!
What are you working on for the moment?
Currently, I am mainly working on creating a new, super-quick Bank ID that uses biometrics. When the project is finished users will be able to scan their fingerprint or Face ID for almost all types of Bank ID transactions, instead of only having the longer Bank ID flow that we use today. This work involves paying a lot of attention to security, which is one of the reasons why I love it! I enjoy working on systems that have high security requirements, so that I always need to pay attention to how the system can be broken into, in addition to building it.
Who is your role model in technology (who's inspires you)?
My role models in technology are all the amazing people I work with day to day. I am especially inspired by the preseverance that many programmers show. Programming is the type of profession where things always change. It is the type of job that turns you into a beginner again and again. The people who inspire me manage to stay in this year after year, and embrace the change. They are the type of people who are comfortable honestly saying "I don't know this", even with decades of experience. I aspire to be this type of life-long learner, who is able to stay in the chaos of change.
Katrine Dåstøl, Nordic Developer @ SATS
How does it feel to receive this nomination?
First of all, I feel grateful knowing someone took time out of their day to nominate me. I am also excited, as this award focuses on a very important topic. Technology is an indispensable part of our lives, and we need representatives from the whole society to be able to solve problems and make good products for everyone. To attract more female developers, I think role models are an important factor. As the quote from Marian Wright Edelman goes: “You can’t be what you can’t see”. Highlighting more of the amazing female developers working in tech, will hopefully make the distance shorter for those who believe programming is not for them.
What are you working on for the moment?
I work as a web developer at SATS, and my current focus is creating a solution that will make finding the perfect personal trainer easier. Projects like this, where we clearly see that the solution helps our members work out more, and thereby live healthier, are really rewarding. The tech side is also cool. We do not have a traditional split between front-end and back-end developers, which means I work on a stack ranging from a server implemented with Node running on Azure Functions, to a client with the classic React, TypeScript and SCSS-combo.
Who is your role model in technology (who's inspires you)?
I have been lucky enough to work with brilliant role models since I started as a developer. My senior developers are not only incredibly skilled in their area of expertise, but they advocate for inclusive and accessible solutions. I also have a team lead that do not only care about diversity as a buzz word, but sincerely works for a diverse and inclusive workplace. Working with people like this on an everyday basis is really inspiring.
Here is the full list of all great superstars who has received a nomination to the award:
Agnes Floa, Tjenestedesigner i Flytoget
Alice Gudem, Software Engineer @ Cisco
Annette Valde, Senior Consultant @ CGI Norge
Clara Patek - Utvikler @ Blank
Elise Johnsen, Systemutvikler @ Netcompany
Idun Regine Osnes, Utvikler @ Helseplattformen Trondheim
Ingrid Volden Smehagen, Co-Founder @ Dreamknit
Jovana Todorovic, Senior Analyst @ FINN.no
Lisa Enge Haukås, Software Developer @ Forte Digital
Marianne Grov, Senior Consultant @ Bekk Consulting
Marianne Hønsi, Solution Spesialist Data & AI @ Microsoft
Marina Santos Haugen, Software Engineer @ DNB
Mariola Nowacka, Software Developer @ RiksTV
Marit Iren Tokle, Software Engineer @ Sopra Steria
Marta Paciorkowska, Infrastructure Developer @ FINN.no
Mira Thoen Feiring, Frontender @ Remarkable
Monika Shrestha, Frontend developer @ Tappin
Nina Angelvik, Developer @ FINN.no
Ragnhild Aalvik, Utvikler @ Bekk
Sigrid Lofthus Bjørndal, Consultant @ Sopra Steria
Sigrun Melby Gjengset, Interaksjonsdesigner/Frontend utvikler, Bouvet
Solveig Maria Nes, Web Framework Lead @ DNB
Tao Yue, Adjunct Research Scienst @ Simula Research Laboratory
