Ada Lovelace Day – Sae Ra Germaine

Once again it is time to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day, which recognises the achievements and talent of women in science, engineering, technology and mathematics fields. This year I’d like to dedicate my post to a colleague, friend and someone I admire greatly – Sae Ra Germaine.

I had the fortune to meet Sae Ra during the lead up to linux.conf.au in 2011, and was immediately struck by her positivity, warm and endearing personality and stellar graphical design skills.

Her strengths embody many of the qualities that women bring to the table – and which are sorely lacking in information technology such as;

• The ability to develop strong working relationships with people from different backgrounds, and with differing technical competencies. Sae Ra was the glue which held our linux.conf.au team together – diplomatically resolving conflict, understanding peoples’ unspoken needs – and ensuring they were met – and generally acting as a nurturing influence on our group.

• Design acumen and keen sense of visual appeal – which helped us to deliver one of the most attractive sets of conference paraphernalia that I’ve seen in recent history
• The knack for sensing tension or conflict before it becomes marked and apparent, and working quietly behind the scenes to resolve the conflict or find a workable solution
• An awareness of ‘human’ needs within a project – such as the information requirements that people might have, and what emotions should be catered for during an event such as a conference

Sae Ra is truly an asset to women in computing and multimedia.