Nevertheless, Vicky Coded in 2022
Tags: wecoded, community, diversityintech, irishtechcommunity
Published: 2022-03-08 19:15:22

![Hailee Steinfeld Hello GIF By Apple TV](https://media.giphy.com/media/4Ykr3Msk7DkAcORe6u/giphy.gif)
This is my 2nd year participating and it's amazing that every post submitted, we are all contributing to a great cause.

For those curious, here's my post from last year:
{% embed https://dev.to/whykay/nevertheless-whykay-she-her-coded-in-2021-fap %}

Here we go with this year's entry... 🙌

As Covid-19 restrictions lift, lots of things that were on the back-burner the last two years have popped back into life, including all my **YESes** to help in various organisations, to give talks and interviews. 

![Scared Oh My God GIF By Apple TV](https://media.giphy.com/media/tBBod0U2U8gZed1C7q/giphy.gif)

My quiet routine felt like it was suddenly disrupted into a mountain of meetings, normally in the evening times as most people (also volunteers) work during the day, and are calling in remotely from different countries. 

But... 
![Shocked Hailee Steinfeld GIF By Apple TV](https://media.giphy.com/media/J41uhRM6PkwsAwFOR4/giphy.gif)

...it's a good thing! We have been kickstarted to get things going, I have been looking forward to this. 

![Dance Dickinson GIF By Apple TV
](https://media.giphy.com/media/UP0Q6NhLKxaKingVi3/giphy.gif)

The progression from hopelessness as the world stopped two years ago due to Covid-19 as we stepped into the unknown, frantically finding ourselves (especially tech event organisers), and keeping ourselves occupied through crafting, coding, creative tech projects and many other skills/hobbies picked up during this period.

Last year we breathed a sigh of little relief, and from my side of things, I started and kept running PyLadies Dublin virtual meetups, and are still ongoing this year. 
{% embed https://dev.to/pyladiesdub %}

Being remote has its silver lining, we had the opportunity to collaborate with [PyLadies Paris](https://twitter.com/pyladiesparis) & [PyLadies Munich](https://twitter.com/pyladiesmunich) 
{% embed https://dev.to/pyladiesdub/pyladies-dublin-november-meetup-519i %}
{% embed https://dev.to/pyladiesdub/pyladies-dublin-x-pyladies-munich-valentines-event-2jfd %}

And this month, in celebration of [International Women's Day](https://www.internationalwomensday.com/), PyLadies Dublin are collaborating with [PyLadies London](https://twitter.com/pyladieslondon) on Tue Mar 15.

You can find out more about that event here: https://www.meetup.com/PyLadiesDublin/events/283826352/

![PyLadies DublinxLondon IWD special event](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/przfgxje4ttkov41xjq3.png)

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Other voluntary activities (locally and afar) helps me connect with people outside of home, readying me back into the real world, one step at a time before we all meet in-person once again. My slow re-integration to community IRL is almost turtle-like and I am appreciative people giving me the space and understanding of my hesitancy to pop outside my comfort zone which was once (pre-Covid-19 times) my being, it's what I do... I meet, talk and connect with folks in the community IRL.

For the moment, I'm still either hosting, speaking, collaborating, or attending virtual events.

{% embed https://twitter.com/Classic_Cli/status/1497549840363962379?s=20&t=ZQb98zLGCexImvi-r-wMrg %} 

{% embed https://twitter.com/TheDigitalHub/status/1498216530273882113 %}

{% embed https://twitter.com/PyLadiesDub/status/1493515435962245123?s=20&t=dMC6WfYBdIWCasVevTiYRg %}

✍️ Or replying to interviews like [this one for Jewelbots](https://jewelbots.com/blogs/jewelbots-jems/meet-a-true-resident-tech-mystik-an-interview-with-codingicon-vicky-twomey-lee-on-motivation-career-path-female-tech-talks-and-more).

🎧 Or making podcasts for the newly launched [The Irish Makers Podcasts](https://www.irishmakerspodcast.ie/).

{% embed https://youtu.be/ehWVrYGdGXA %}

{% embed https://youtu.be/eZqVTa44cwA %}

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Alongside this, I'm fitting in coding where I can.

![coding cat via giphy](https://media.giphy.com/media/13HBDT4QSTpveU/giphy.gif)

I'm still a big fan of 11ty, besides the [Diversity in Tech group and event listings website](https://irish-diversity-in-tech.netlify.app/), I also relaunched Coding Grace's website and ported things over (a wee shout out for [Mick](https://twitter.com/micktwomey) who helped me with exporting the data from our old Django site for our 11ty site) - https://codinggrace.com - I didn't get a chance to write my journey for Coding Grace, which was more straightforward, but I have written one about my journey learning about it around this time last year for the diversity in tech site.

{% embed https://dev.to/whykay/wee-update-to-my-diversity-in-tech-and-events-listings-11ty-site-272j %}

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![Partying Hailee Steinfeld GIF By Apple TV
](https://media.giphy.com/media/vruIkriIMTHnJgl08D/giphy.gif)

Do I have more up my sleeve? I'm still a big fan of static site generators. Currently I'm slowly making my way through tutorials on [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/) when I have some spare time. BTW, their tutorial is not the best. Hence why I'm following these tutorials on Hugo (even though they are a few years old): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLAZ4kZ9dFpOnyRlyS-liKL5ReHDcj4G3

I'm hoping to use this knowledge to redo my https://irishbornchinese.com website, and change it back into... a blog! 😆 This site was created a long time ago and I wanted to bring all the various socmedia content to one central location, like a hub. The Irish born Chinese community (and friends) turns out to be pretty active on Facebook nowadays, hence not much updates on the website itself. So I want to rejuvenate it and focus on the stories of the community here in Ireland, and still have Facebook (and Twitter) to share things of interest.

I'm also taking up a challenge (which I thought would be really quick to finish as it's a refresher)... FreeCodeCamp's [JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/javascript-algorithms-and-data-structures/)

![Hailee Steinfeld Binoculars GIF By Apple TV](https://media.giphy.com/media/9eUbCd7Sdb3xa560Hd/giphy.gif)
I'm nearly done but other things get in the way and distract me. 😅

---

So all in all, it's scary and fantastic that things I'm involved in IRL are coming back. And ofc, this is definitely working with folks from afar, I am so stoked that [EuroPython](https://ep2022.europython.eu/) is coming here... to Dublin!!! I've waiting 10 years (plus 2 more years, no thanks to Covid-19), and it's actually happening. I'm trying to help where I can on the organising team, my focus is FinAid, Maker-related/education activities reaching out to the local and European communities, Program, and bit on comms. Anywhere I can help a little when I get a chance. 

Do subscribe to their blog and you will be pinged via emails about their monthly updates on the run up to the 1-week long **in-person** conference at The Convention Centre Dublin. PyLadies Dublin and all the Pythonistas in Ireland are waiting with open arms. 

![Hailee Steinfeld Dance GIF By Apple TV](https://media.giphy.com/media/buQVJmqK0a1YbYr80G/giphy-downsized-large.gif)
Oh, and here's their latest blog as the CFP, Finaid and Mentorship programme just got announced today at https://blog.europython.eu/europython2022-launch-cfp-mentoship-finaid.

---

I want to wrap up with events, activities happening around Ireland during IWD2022, news and moar... 

- [Diversity in Tech events in Ireland and N. Ireland Listings](https://irish-diversity-in-tech.netlify.app/events/#diversity)
- [Diversity in Tech Opportunities Listings](https://irish-diversity-in-tech.netlify.app/events/#opportunities)
- [News] [‘Gender pay gap has increased from 99 to 135 years due to pandemic’ says one of Ireland’s leading STEM experts](https://www.independent.ie/videos/gender-pay-gap-has-increased-from-99-to-135-years-due-to-pandemic-says-one-of-irelands-leading-stem-experts-41417653.html) 
- [News] [Tech firms founded by women raised €230m in 2021](https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/tech-firms-founded-by-women-raised-230m-in-2021-41421868.html)
- [HerStory IWD Newsletter](https://mailchi.mp/b72883166820/happy-international-womens-day?e=563f217c85)
- [Top 100 Women In Social Enterprise 2022 Introducing Women Trailblazers](https://euclidnetwork.eu/2022/03/top-100-women-in-social-enterprise-2022/)

## 🔥 Events to shout out
### International WOMEN’S DAY I am remarkable workshop
* When: Wed March 9, 17:00 – 18:30 GMT
* https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/international-womens-day-i-am-remarkable-workshop-tickets-289523571797

### Tech for Good: Ireland Supports Ukraine
* When: Thu Mar 10, 18:00 – 19:30 GMT
* https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tech-for-good-ireland-supports-ukraine-tickets-291289002247

### PyLadies DublinxLondon IWD2022 Special Event
* When: Tue Mar 15, 18:30 GMT
* https://www.meetup.com/PyLadiesDublin/events/283826352/

### Techstars Startup Weekend Women Dublin Online
* When: Fri Mar 25, 17:00  - Sun Mar 27, 20:00 GMT+1
* https://event.techstars.com/event/NSF5eTvyJS

### (Diversity Friendly) Tech Basics for Founders Workshop
* When: Tue Mar 29 - Wed Mar 30 (08:00-10:00 GMT)
* https://ti.to/coding-grace/tech-basics-for-founders