Join GitHub at the Grace Hopper Celebration 2022

We’re thrilled to be back at the Grace Hopper Celebration at Open Source Day, the largest celebration of women in open source. Stop by and say, “Hi!” at one of our workshops. 👋

Gracehoppertocat

♿️ How to Write an Accessible Pull Request

Friday, September 16, 2022 at 9:30 am PT

Web accessibility is the practice of making a product or feature usable for as many people as possible. This practice ensures that users with disabilities can perceive, navigate, understand, and interact with websites, tools, and technologies. Web accessibility fosters inclusion and diversity by removing barriers that make it impossible for some people to use the web.

Diversity is an important part of tech because it helps create a culture that welcomes new ideas and brings more perspectives together to solve problems. Unfortunately, many underrepresented groups, including people with disabilities, do not feel welcome in open source.

This workshop will demonstrate how we as developers can remove barriers and create a more inclusive open source community by adding additional information into the markdown in a pull request.

Facilitators: Kendall Gassner and Adrián Bolonio

Kendall Gassner is an Accessibility Software Engineer at GitHub. She became passionate about accessibility while working to make an inclusive drag-and-drop feature early on in her career. Her passion led her to become a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility and Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies. Outside of work she loves spending time painting and hiking.

Adrián Bolonio is an Accessibility Software Engineer working at GitHub as part of a talented, diverse, and motivated team that will work on making GitHub and the Internet a better and more accessible place for everyone. When he is not at the office he enjoys a good read, working his way through any delicious recipe, and indulging his love for traveling to new places.

😰 Overcoming the Fear of Contributing to Open Source

Friday, September 16, 2022 at 11 am PT

If you’re feeling uncertain about contributing to an open source project for the first time, Rizel can relate. Navigating the open source space can feel intimidating. Mentors and managers always advised Rizel to contribute to open source, but it was difficult. She would feel anxious and overwhelmed by the large codebases and the confusing issues. In August 2021, she took a different approach. Instead of spiraling, she started small, read documentation, and interacted with the community. In this talk, Rizel will share light-hearted anecdotes about her failed and successful attempts to contribute to open source. The audience will gain inspiration and confidence to make their first contribution.

Facilitator: Rizel Scarlett

Rizel is a Developer Advocate at GitHub. She moonlights as the Director of Programs at G{Code} House, an organization aimed at teaching women of color and non-binary people of color to code. Rizel believes in leveraging vulnerability, honesty, and kindness as a means to educate early-career developers.

See you this Friday!

The Grace Hopper Celebration kicks off with the virtual Open Source Day on September 16, 2022 from 8 am to 3 pm PT. Open Source Day is an all-day hackathon during which you can work with peers, as well as experienced mentors to contribute to awesome projects. We hope to see you there!

Written by

Abby Cabunoc Mayes

@abbycabs