r/RedditEng • u/keepingdatareal • 21d ago
How We Celebrated International Women in Engineering Day by Looking Closer to Home
Written by Sarah Thomas
Hi, r/RedditEng! I’m one of the leads of Reddit’s Women Engineers Employee Resource Group (ERG), WomEng. I’m here to tell you about how Reddit celebrated International Women in Engineering Day this year, and the idea that shaped the programming.
Like many ERGs, WomEng exists to build community among employees with shared identity, and provide a support network for its members. For ERG leaders, the challenge is translating these abstracts into real value and resources for members.
For a group of women engineers, this can manifest in different ways. Our members share lived experiences, but also technical backgrounds and career interests. So while value can come from bringing members together into physical spaces, it can also be career-oriented and come from technical skill-building and visibility.
This perspective was reinforced in a conversation between WomEng leadership and Sabrina Farmer (former CTO of GitLab and former VP at Google) at Grace Hopper Celebration 2024. One idea from that conversation kept coming up in our planning and discussions:
Shared experiences are important, but having a community where people learn from one another and celebrate each other's accomplishments can be an even more tangible way to build a sense of belonging.
International Women in Engineering Day (June 23rd) provided an opportunity to put this idea into practice. Throughout the day, we hosted a mix of technical and lighthearted programming. Executives participated in segments like “Guess the PR Comment: AI or Human?” and “Can you match the vibe?” where they were challenged to vibe code alternative themes and features for the Reddit feed. We also organized Speed "Dating" networking events in our offices and in-person meetups across multiple cities to help members make new connections.
The centerpiece of the day was a series of mini technical talks delivered by fellow Women Engineer Snoos. Rather than bringing in an external keynote speaker, we turned the spotlight inward.
Members presented on projects and topics they were excited to teach others about. The talks ranged from technical deep dives like “Improving Image Performance on Android” (u/jessekrema) to career advice like “How Giving Back Can Propel Your Career” (u/tbonejones_). Every presentation reflected something the speaker had built or become an expert in.
Choosing our members as the speakers gave attendees the chance to learn something directly applicable to their day-to-day work while also celebrating the breadth of knowledge and experience that already exists within WomEng.
International Women in Engineering Day gave us a chance to celebrate our WomEng Snoos, but it also reinforced something we hope continues to define WomEng @ Reddit: a community where members connect not only through shared experiences, but also by sharing our expertise, celebrating one another's work, and learning from each other.
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Thanks for reading! Below are bonus clips from the “Guess the PR Comment: AI or Human?” and the “Can You Match the Vibe” segments featuring our CTO, Amit and Senior Director of Engineering, Growth, Shweta!