I’m not quite sure what to make of Ada Lovelace Day. They cite research on female role models which I don’t quite relate to:

…students were asked to name a real person who was a role-model for them in their career ambitions. Sixty-three per cent of female students chose a woman, 75.6 per cent of male students chose a man. But crucially, whereas the male students said gender was not a factor in their choice, 27 per cent of female students who named a female role-model said that they were inspired by the gender-related obstacles overcome by their choice.

Personally, most of the role models I’ve ever had were male–from MacGyver (resourcefulness and inventiveness) to Ricardo Lopez (discipline and determination). And 100% of the tech role models I’ve had have been men. A few years ago, Udi and Wally were my dev idols. Then I was exposed to Wayne and Bruce’s PHP wizardry and backend skills. Yes, and if there had been any women role models in there, I still don’t think I could have been more inspired than I am now to work in technology. If I find a real standout in the next year, I’ll do a blog on a woman in technology for the next Ada Lovelace Day, but otherwise it’ll be a man, and I’m sure that’ll still work to keep plenty of others inspired.