Welcome to The IT Girl’s Guides

I’ve always been into technology in one form or another. My fascination may have started with the Simon I got for Christmas when I was, oh, five or six years old. I begged for an Atari 2600 when I was ten. By the time I was in middle school, I was taking computer classes… and I still remember programming dumb loops and playing Oregon Trail on Fridays.

I didn’t actually get my own computer until I was in college, when my then-boyfriend got tired of me always needing to write papers when he wanted to play Doom or Total Annihilation. So I got a hand-me-down computer, my own personal email account, and the ability to research, write, and play games whenever I wanted. Since then, I’ve used extra cash and bonus checks on technology: my laptop, my latest digital camera, my PDA (which I mostly use to play Mahjong).

Working as an editor of technology books, I found myself taking bits and pieces from the books I edited and applying them to my own projects. I created my own website using only Notepad and HTML code. I used Photoshop to touch up and resize my digital photos for my website. When I moved in with my wonderful boyfriend Eric, I networked our computers so we can both play World of Warcraft at the same time and quest together.

But it isn’t just my love of technology that makes me excited about the IT Girl’s Guides. It’s that these books are written by and for women, and I believe they’ll help more women embrace technology and make it their own.

Posted by Jean R.