Marthe Moengen

Gal in a Cube

Category: Marthe’s Corner

Join WITs Who Lunch on Meetup! — 2. Oct 2023

Join WITs Who Lunch on Meetup!

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Hurray!

I’m pleased to announce the launch of WITs Who Lunch’ very own Meetup group! This is an exciting milestone in our journey, as it allows us to streamline group management and enhance accessibility for our members. With automatic notifications and calendar events, staying updated and connected will be a breeze. Moreover, our reach will expand, hopefully making it possible for us to connect with even more awesome WITs.

I want to thank all the awesome women who have contributed to our events so far!

To sign up for our meetup group, scroll down to How can I join? in this article.

If you want to learn more about this group, continue to read ❤

  1. Who are we?
  2. Who can join?
  3. How can you join?
  4. How can you contribute?
    1. Sponsor
    2. Come share your knowledge with us
    3. Spread the word!

Who are we?

Ok, so here are some stats!

Since May we have hosted three meetups, and the next one is planned in October.

  • May: Lunch – Get to know each other!
  • June: Evening Seminar – Imposter Syndrome
  • August: Evening Seminar – Power Imbalance

Safe to say, we do not only lunch!

We are currently 70 members in our closed LinkedIn group. Let me know if you want to be part of this group. The group is for sharing tips, events, insights, opinions, etc. in a closed and safe environment.

Every month we decide together when we meet, or vote on our LinkedIn group, on what the next topic should be. Topics that we are looking into are How to master LinkedIn, Failure Feast and Executive Precence.

Below you can see the wordcloud from the first survey that was sent out before we met, asking for expectations of our attendees.

Who can join?

  • You identify as a woman
  • You are working in tech
  • You are close enough to Oslo to join a evening seminar, lunch or breakfast once a month
  • You are looking for other awesome techies that you can have great discussions with, learn from and motivate!

How can you join?

Now this is easy! Just create a free membership on Meetup if you fo not have one already and join our group “WITs Who Lunch” here: https://www.meetup.com/wits-who-lunch/

If you want to join our closed group on LinkedIn to contribute to discussions and share content, contact me on LinkedIn. You can find my LinkedIn profile HERE.

How can you contribute?

Moving this concept from a “let’s just meet” to an organization gains some benefits on sponsor opportunities. We therefore welcome sponsors who would like to contribute. We don’t have many costs, but would be grateful for help with:

  • Meetup membership
  • Coffee at events
  • Snacks at event

If you are working for a company that could sponsor us please contact me through my LinkedIn profile HERE.

Come share your knowledge with us

Are you a woman that has already made it? Maybe you are a leader or an acknowledged technical expert within your field?

We would love you invite you to share your knowledge with us! If you want to contribute or know someone who might want to contact me through my LinkedIn profile HERE.

Spread the word!

If you are not able to join yourself but know other women you think might want to join, please share this blog post with them.

Why am I doing this?

After starting out in the workforce not that long ago I was a bit disappointed. There are so many amazing initiatives out there. And I am sure we have come a long way! Still, I think we can go a bit further.

Picture creds: Rodney Kidd

I am also lucky enough to be on the organizing Data Saturday Oslo and Microsoft Data Platform User Group Norway. Here I see that there are more male speakers and attendees than female. Why is that?

  • Anyone who works closely with me knows that I always nag about speaking opportunities and meetups. Still, I don’t see the changes I want happening as fast as I want them to. Is it because I am not reaching broad enough? Hopefully, this is a way to reach more of you and inspire you to join the data community.
  • I get a lot of my technical input from social media as LinkedIn and Twitter. This is also where I often discover events, meetups and opportunities to present and meet other techies. So what if I did not follow the “right people” on these social media? Would I not get all these opportunities then? Let’s, therefore, connect so we can give each other tips on tech updates and events to attend!
  • I see that there are more men attending than women at meetups and conferences. I wonder if that might be because we are missing someone to attend with. I rarely see multiple women attending together. I, therefore, hope this group will connect us so we can attend together!
  • Also, I see that men in general are great at letting each other know that they are performing well. They are so good at saying “You are doing a great job, Buddy”. Loud. At the coffee station. Or in the comments on social media. Let’s build a group where we can do more of this! I think we as Norwegian women have something to learn from our male colleagues here. Let’s try and be a bit louder in general, and also when we cheer each other on.
  • Let’s be each other’s Kitchen cabinet! I got this advice from a WIT lunch at PASS in 2022, and I love it. “Kitchen cabinet” refers to any group of trusted friends and associates, particularly in reference to a president’s or presidential candidate’s closest unofficial advisers (Wikipedia). I am hoping this could be an arena to build kitchen cabinets of trusted advisors who can give advice, help and support when needed. Hopefully, it will help you keep on going, and gain confidence and strength when needed.
  • And, I want to give a shout-out to Deborah Melkin and her blog A Woman in SQL 2023 where she digs into the numbers and basically says We need to be doing more. Reading that blog post was the last nudge I needed to – just do this! Thank you!
WITs who Lunch — 11. Apr 2023

WITs who Lunch

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Yes – finally putting this idea to life!

I will just jump right to the point – I think we need more places where we as Women in Technology can meet. That is low-key. Where we actually get the time and place to talk. Inspire each other. Learn from each other. Mentor each other.

So, I want to try and create that space. With a semi-regular meetup IRL in Oslo – and now also online for some hybrid events!

Who can join?

  • You identify as a woman
  • You are working in tech
  • You are close enough to Oslo to join a lunch once a month
  • You are looking for other awesome techies that you can have great discussions with, learn from and motivate!

Why am I doing this?

I am lucky enough to be on the organizing committee of Microsoft Data Platform User Group Norway and Data Saturday Oslo. Here I see that there are more male speakers and attendees than female. Why is that?

  • Anyone who works closely with me knows that I always nag about speaking opportunities and meetups. Still, I don’t see the changes I want happening as fast as I want them to. Is it because I am not reaching broad enough? Hopefully, this is a way to reach more of you and inspire you to join the data community.
  • I get a lot of my technical input from social media as LinkedIn and Twitter. This is also where I often discover events, meetups and opportunities to present and meet other techies. So what if I did not follow the “right people” on these social media? Would I not get all these opportunities then? Let’s, therefore, connect so we can give each other tips on tech updates and events to attend!
  • I see that there are more male attendees than females at meetups and conferences. I wonder if that might be because we are missing someone to attend with. I rarely see multiple females attending together. I, therefore, hope this group will connect us so we can attend together!
  • Also, I see that men in general are great at letting each other know that they are performing well. They are so good at saying “You are doing a great job, Buddy”. Loud. At the coffee station. Or in the comments on social media. Let’s build a group where we can do more of this! I think we as Norwegian females got something to learn from our male colleagues here. Let’s try and be a bit louder in general, and also when we cheer each other on.
  • Let’s be each other’s Kitchen cabinet! I got this advice from a WIT lunch at PASS in 2022, and I love it. “Kitchen cabinet” refers to any group of trusted friends and associates, particularly in reference to a president’s or presidential candidate’s closest unofficial advisers (Wikipedia). I am hoping this could be an arena to build kitchen cabinets of trusted advisors that can give advice, help and support when needed. Hopefully, it will help you keep on going, and gain confidence and strength when needed.
  • And, I want to give a shout-out to Deborah Melkin and her blog A Woman in SQL 2023 where she digs into the numbers and basically says We need to be doing more. Reading that blog post was the last nudge I needed to – just do this! Thank you!

How can you join?

Easy. Just sign up to our Meetup Group: https://www.meetup.com/wits-who-lunch/

Please notice that your email will be collected so that I can send out a calendar invite for the lunch.

And nothing is sponsored. This is just me, inviting you to lunch or dinner or after work hangouts. Please be prepared to pay for what you want to eat and/or drink.

How can you contribute if you are not a WIT close to Oslo?

If you are working for a company that could sponsor the coffee for this group – please contact me!

If you are a woman that has already made it (you are a leader and/or an acknowledge technical expert) and want to contribute to this group – please contact me!

If you are missing this type of arena, but not living close to Oslo – please contact me. We might be able to work something out – and you are ALWAYS welcome to join the hybrid events online.

If you are non of these things – but still want to contribute – please share this blog post with females you think might want to join. My biggest challenge now will be to have this message reach the ones in need of it!

What will this be?

Good question.

I don’t know! It will be what we want it to be. Maybe just a low-key meeting arena. Maybe we will have some sessions where we present on a topic and learn from each other. Maybe we will connect, become friends, and then the need for this group will no longer be there – at least for a while. Or maybe this will be the new WITs only Norwegian Order of Freemasons.

It is up to us!

I am speaking at SQLBits + Interview with WIT — 23. Jan 2023

I am speaking at SQLBits + Interview with WIT

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So exited to share that I will be speaking at #SQLBits!

I will present two sessions:

⭐ Power BI Datamarts – What, How and Why?
A 20 min lightning sessions where we will demo the main features of Power BI Datamarts and see if we can conclude on when it is a good idea to take advantage of this Power BI Premium feature.
⭐ Building trust in your data. Why Data Governance is the key to success
A 60 min session where I will present with my partner in crime Johan Ludvig Brattås. We will combine the theory behind Data Governance with some practical examples and use cases in Pureview.

Check out the full agenda here: https://events.sqlbits.com/2023/agenda

And I had a true fangirl moment of Friday when Leslie Adams and Mala Mahadevan interviewed me on my sessions. Have a look at that and the other WITs sessions on the Data Platform WIT on Youtube!

Advice from the Women In Tech — 24. Nov 2022

Advice from the Women In Tech

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I was lucky enough to speak at the Pass Data Community Summit 2022 in Seattle last week. This is the world’s largest data conference, with many great sessions to join and speakers to learn from.

On Thursday was the #WomenInTech lunch, where a panel of amazing women sat down to discuss some of the challenges of being a woman in tech today. The panel consisted of Anna Hoffman, Shabnam Watson, Blythe Morrow, Leslie Andrews, and Jennifer McCown. I found their debate, discussion and advice very interesting, and was thinking that there might be more women out there that would benefit from their experience. I, therefore, summarized some of the discussion points here in hopes that more women (and men!) can read it.

Please remember that the words here are coming from how I remember the talk and that none of the mentioned women should be held accountable for what I write – unless you like what you read. Then they get all the credit!

If you want to learn more about #WomenInTech, you can click HERE.

How can you make sure your voice is heard in meetings when you are interrupted?

Buddy up! If possible, find yourself an ally before the meetings (or in general) that can help you stop the interrupter or help give you credit for the ideas that were in fact yours. Of course, in an ideal world, the best thing would be to stop the interrupter yourself. Still, as was discussed, you can risk being labelled and the goal of the meeting itself can be lost. Many do not want to confront this situation as the greater cause that is discussed and harmony of the meeting is more important. A buddy that can help you get your word across and give the credit you deserve could therefore help.

Another interesting topic on this was if this in fact would serve as a way to undermine a woman. Different viewpoints were shared but summarized one could argue that helping a woman (or another minority) get heard is a way to help our industry. It would be a step in the right direction on correcting behaviour or (unconscious) biases.

How can you turn the agenda in your direction without risking being labelled?

Instead of pushing your agenda, try asking open questions instead. This way the discussion can turn in the direction you want it to and help you get your word across without coming across as too intense. Again, it would be great if it was possible to opt for another view on a topic just like that, but sometimes you are not in a position to do so. Asking questions could be a good tool in such a situation. And this ofc holds for both men and women.

How to get rid of imposter syndrome?

Imposter syndrome can sneak up on all of us and in the worst case stop us from taking opportunities that come our way, or seeing the potential we have and acting on it. In order to avoid this, some great advice was given:

Think of yourself as a guide instead of an expert. It is okay to not know the answer to everything. The most empowering thing you can say is “I do not know the answer to that question, let me check and come back to you”.

Have a goal of lifelong learning. You will never know everything, and your goal is always to learn something new.

How can you make sure you get the correct pay?

This might be a bit depressing, but you should assume you are paid too little compared to your male peers. Do research on what similar roles with comparable experience and responsibility are paid. Then go to your boss and ask for a raise based on your research. And go high. The worst you can get is a no.

How do you stay motivated?

I love this advice: Get yourself a kitchen cabinet! So, what is a kitchen cabinet?

“Kitchen cabinet” refers to any group of trusted friends and associates, particularly in reference to a president’s or presidential candidate’s closest unofficial advisers (Wikipedia).

Build yourself a kitchen cabinet of trusted advisors that can give you advice, help and support when needed. Also, let these trustees know they are a safe place for you. It will help you keep on going, and gain confidence and strength when needed.

Some of this might not work for you. Or you might think that “This is no longer necessary today”, or “This is not how you empower women”. In that case, maybe you have different experiences from the tech world than me – and nothing makes me happier! That means we are moving in the right direction. However, I still think there is some more work to be done.

Let me know what you think – or even better: Share YOUR advice in the comments below!

PASS Data Community Summit 2022 in Seattle! — 21. Nov 2022

PASS Data Community Summit 2022 in Seattle!

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I am writing this post as I am heading back to Norway and should be sleeping on the plane to walk off the plane in perfect sync with CET. So much for that plan. Posting it a bit later though.

I want to share my experience with the PASS Data Community Summit from the previous week. Hopefully, I can inspire some of my peers to join in person, remotely or even better as a speaker next year.

This was my first time attending PASS ever, and I was lucky enough to participate as a speaker. For those of you that do not know what PASS is, it is the largest data conference in the world with 370 sessions, and 364 speakers from all over the world!

It lasts from Monday to Friday, with precons (full-day training on one topic) on Monday and Tuesday, and regular sessions from Wednesday – Friday. I presented my session with Johan Ludvig Brattås on “Building trust in your data – why Data Governance is key to success” on Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who came to our session, the questions and the great discussions. It was a lot of fun presenting this to you.

SQLSaturdayOregon

Johan and I planned our trip to the US so that we could also join the SQLSaturdayOregon the Saturday prior to PASS. That was a perfect way to kick off the tour. The amazing organizers of SQLSaturdayOregon arranged for a waterfall tour the Friday prior, and we had a lot of fun presenting on Synapse + Power BI + Purview = True – why the combination of these three is a match made in heaven on Saturday. This was our first time presenting this session together, and I want to thank Johan for including me in this, as this originally was his session – and in general for being an AMAZING mentor.

https://sqlsaturday.com/2022-11-12-sqlsaturday1035/

More than just a community

It was such a great time. I loved meeting the SQLCommunity. As was mentioned multiple times during the conference, this is more than just a community, this is family. And I am really surprised and humbled that I am now a part of this. If you know something you share it. If you have a question you can ask, and someone will help you.

And also, it was such fun with all the social activities. Karaoke, smashing crabs with a hammer, hanging out at the community zone, laughing and making new friends.

I hope to go back next year, for this was truly unique.

Thank you to Redgate for hosting such a great conference and making my first Pass experience one to remember!

/Marthe

Welcome to my blog! — 28. Oct 2022

Welcome to my blog!

/Marthe Moengen/1 Comment

I am so excited to share this blog with you!

Must admit setting up this blog was not the easiest thing to do. Not because I found it technically difficult, but because I had a hard time convincing myself that my thoughts on the big domain of data could be valuable to someone else.

For the last two years, I have been fortunate enough to join the SQLcommunity speaking at conferences in Europe and joining webinars. Still, I only started working with data three years ago. I have a Master of Science within Marin Technology – so it was not necessarily in the cards for me to switch it all up and change to the world of data!

Having a different educational background and being fairly new to the community comes with the price of a huge imposter syndrome for me. Always. When I am having the best time at the conferences with this amazing community that welcomed me with open arms, I always look around and think “Wow, these people are legends. Experts. MVPs! Why am I here?”.

So, to conquer those thoughts I have decided to make a blog. Because, maybe, some of my thoughts, opinions and learnings will be interesting or even valuable for some of you.

Why DataAscend?

I spend most of my spare time exploring the outdoors and I am currently collecting the highest peaks above 2000 mamsl in Norway that requires climbing. I wanted to relate this blog and the name of the blog to my personality. Also, I think there is a nice analogy with the exponential growth of the mountain of data as well as the development in technology, where we need to work toward continuous learning to keep up with this domain.

When you ascend a mountain you are rewarded with this incredible view and sense of achievement. I think it is the same with learning new things in tech. We need to climb!

Ascend means go up or climb.

Google

What can you expect?

Being new to the domain, I find myself needing to relate everything technical to business value and the “real-life world”. Therefore, I hope my take on technology can be valuable to non-technical people, and people on the business side, as well as for more hands-on technical resources.

So, I will share. My thoughts. Learnings. Opinions. Best practices. Data. Power BI. Data Governance. Girl Power. Hopefully, I can inspire some of you.

So join me as we climb this ever-growing mountain of data!