Episode 2 of Adafruit and Hackster present Women in Hardware: The Interview Series is now live! I had a blast talking with Heather Kerrick, Senior Research Engineer at Autodesk’s Applied Research Lab and Alex Glow, Hacker Advocate at Hackster.io at Autodesk’s Pier 9 workshop in San Francisco. Check out the full video to hear more about Autodesk’s Applied Research team, how design and engineering are connected and more.
As a bonus we also have a great video of Heather walking us through Autodesk’s Pier 9 space where you can see all of the cool machinery available for the residency program there.
About Autodesk’s Pier 9 Workshop:
Launched in 2013, Autodesk Pier 9 was designed as a place to explore every stage of the process of making things, from idea to digital model to real-world physical product. In our state-of-the-art digital fabrication workshop, our community of technical experts and creative partners collaborate on projects that dissolve the boundaries between software and hardware.
What we learn at Pier 9 influences and inspires us to develop useful tools for the future of making things. Together, we’re discovering ways to advance 3D design and fabrication technology, to change design, engineering, and manufacturing as we know it.
Check out episode 1 of the series with Ayah Bdeir, CEO of littleBits here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idv8r_f8x_k
About Women in Hardware: The Interview Series:
Hackster’s 2016 survey of people from 104 countries discovered that under 6% of hardware developers are women – an amount that’s as distressing as it is surprising. Women are running companies, making cool projects, and designing hardware in ways that are both exciting and cutting-edge, but there’s still a divide between how the field is portrayed and all the impressive things women in hardware are doing.
To help bridge that gap, Adafruit and Hackster have collaborated on Women in Hardware: The Interview Series with sponsorship from Qualcomm, Autodesk and Microsoft.
Check out hackster.io’s Women in Hardware community page too! – hackster.io/womeninhardware
What is WiH?
WiH is a video interview series covering some of the most inspiring women pioneering the hardware industry. From groundbreaking entrepreneurs, to engineers at the tops of their fields, we want to highlight the women who are inventing, innovating, and changing hardware for the better.
Rather than focusing on the lack of diversity and difficult experiences that these women have faced, we are calling attention to their amazing work with the hope of encouraging future generations to get involved.
This is what real women working in the hardware space want to talk about: design, business, prototyping, creating. Through this series we want to show how rewarding a career in hardware can be – for any person, of any gender.
Why should you care?
It’s proven that more diverse teams lead to better problem solving, critical thinking, and creative innovation. Every company in the tech industry wants to move forward – why wouldn’t you want the best team to get you there?
We want to motivate other industry players to act as change agents and take initiative in creating more equal opportunities for women in tech.
Join in the discussion. Listen in on our guest speakers and educate yourselves on the topic so you can actively advocate for change in your own company and the world.