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Episode 4: Erika Lewis on Diversity and Inclusion, Burnout, and Standing Up for Yourself
(7:16) “I would say some struggles in terms of technology is that it moves so fast and it's hard to keep up and when you get older it's about figuring out what it is you want to keep up with. It's impossible to keep up with everything and being okay if you're behind in some technologies.” (8:26) “I would say [struggles] from a non-technical perspective, being a woman in technology is hard as any woman who works on a tech team could probably co-sign that. And being a black woman on a tech team is very hard.”
(11:44) “Through the years I became a much more vocal person. I am that person that will correct you now. That experience taught me don't be quiet, don't take what anybody says at face value, speak up and if they don't want to listen find another job where people will and that's exactly what I did.”
(17:41) “I think sometimes we undervalue the things that we are good at and I think specifically women tend to undervalue the things that we are good at because there is I think a greater expectation of us.”
(18:28) “I know that's like a huge taboo thing to talk about money with other people and I strongly believe you should openly talk about how much you make. We need to know what everyone makes and that is a way of keeping the people who hire us and the people who sign your paychecks honest.”
(24:50) “Teaching for me is a break from the actual development part because it's me excitedly sharing these things that I love to do. I love my job, I love what I do at my job and for me I find a lot of joy in sharing that with somebody and somebody reciprocating that joy.”
(27:11) “Having that break from that thought process when you are in development mode is so beneficial and I promise you it will make you at the end of the day it'll make you a better developer because you are allowing yourself to rest and repair.”
(32:16) “Don't be afraid to ask in interviews for the things that you want in a work environment and don't be afraid to say you know I don't think this is for me.”
(37:17) “One of the things that gets on my nerves the most as a person of color in development is when companies do have people of color that work there but none of them are managers or are on the c-suite. To me that says that you're just looking for the diversity but you're not looking for the inclusion. Inclusion means being at the table to be able to make those decisions and be able to be a person who influences the decisions that are made.”
(41:16) “If you work at a company and you notice that there is no diversity on your teams or in the company bring it up and you don't have to be a person of color to bring up those questions and you don't have to be a woman to bring up those questions.”
(45:35) “Don't be afraid to try. I think a lot of times when I was younger I was afraid to try because I was afraid to fail.” (46:37) “Challenging yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone will do wonders for you as you grow as a person.”
Bio
Erika is a designer and front-end developer specializing in WordPress theme development, HTML, CSS and responsive web development. During the day he works as a Wordpress Tech Lead at Kanopi Studios in Washington, DC. He creates clean, semantic, standards-compliant, responsive themes for WordPress, working with UX and Design teams to evaluate the development feasibility of proposed approaches and suggest potential solutions. He brings a unique and valued perspective to development given his background in design and experiences gained over the years in project management, technical architecture and user experience.
Mentioned in the episode:
Black Girls Code
Kanopi Studios
View all episodes
By Tech, Rebalanced(7:16) “I would say some struggles in terms of technology is that it moves so fast and it's hard to keep up and when you get older it's about figuring out what it is you want to keep up with. It's impossible to keep up with everything and being okay if you're behind in some technologies.” (8:26) “I would say [struggles] from a non-technical perspective, being a woman in technology is hard as any woman who works on a tech team could probably co-sign that. And being a black woman on a tech team is very hard.”
(11:44) “Through the years I became a much more vocal person. I am that person that will correct you now. That experience taught me don't be quiet, don't take what anybody says at face value, speak up and if they don't want to listen find another job where people will and that's exactly what I did.”
(17:41) “I think sometimes we undervalue the things that we are good at and I think specifically women tend to undervalue the things that we are good at because there is I think a greater expectation of us.”
(18:28) “I know that's like a huge taboo thing to talk about money with other people and I strongly believe you should openly talk about how much you make. We need to know what everyone makes and that is a way of keeping the people who hire us and the people who sign your paychecks honest.”
(24:50) “Teaching for me is a break from the actual development part because it's me excitedly sharing these things that I love to do. I love my job, I love what I do at my job and for me I find a lot of joy in sharing that with somebody and somebody reciprocating that joy.”
(27:11) “Having that break from that thought process when you are in development mode is so beneficial and I promise you it will make you at the end of the day it'll make you a better developer because you are allowing yourself to rest and repair.”
(32:16) “Don't be afraid to ask in interviews for the things that you want in a work environment and don't be afraid to say you know I don't think this is for me.”
(37:17) “One of the things that gets on my nerves the most as a person of color in development is when companies do have people of color that work there but none of them are managers or are on the c-suite. To me that says that you're just looking for the diversity but you're not looking for the inclusion. Inclusion means being at the table to be able to make those decisions and be able to be a person who influences the decisions that are made.”
(41:16) “If you work at a company and you notice that there is no diversity on your teams or in the company bring it up and you don't have to be a person of color to bring up those questions and you don't have to be a woman to bring up those questions.”
(45:35) “Don't be afraid to try. I think a lot of times when I was younger I was afraid to try because I was afraid to fail.” (46:37) “Challenging yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone will do wonders for you as you grow as a person.”
Bio
Erika is a designer and front-end developer specializing in WordPress theme development, HTML, CSS and responsive web development. During the day he works as a Wordpress Tech Lead at Kanopi Studios in Washington, DC. He creates clean, semantic, standards-compliant, responsive themes for WordPress, working with UX and Design teams to evaluate the development feasibility of proposed approaches and suggest potential solutions. He brings a unique and valued perspective to development given his background in design and experiences gained over the years in project management, technical architecture and user experience.
Mentioned in the episode:
Black Girls Code
Kanopi Studios