@grimalkina@mastodon.social
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

grimalkina

@grimalkina@mastodon.social

Social & Evidence Scientist. Defender of the mismeasured. 🦄🏳️‍🌈 she/they

Studying how developers thrive. My focus areas include how people form beliefs about learning and build strategies for resilience, productivity & motivation. Quant Psych PhD (but with a love for qual) and VP of Getting Tech to Do Real Open Science.

Founder of the Developer Success Lab ❤️
Neighborhood Cool Science Aunt

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Posit, to python
@Posit@fosstodon.org avatar

posit::conf(2024) virtual tickets are now available!
Join us on August 12-14—from all over the world—to live stream the incredible talks and keynotes that will be taking place in Seattle.

We understand that not everyone will be able to make the trip to Seattle this year, so we’re excited to offer a fully virtual offering for everyone as an alternate option.
REGISTER: https://posit.co/conference/

#posit #rstats #python #pydata #DataScience

grickle, to Horror
@grickle@mstdn.social avatar

Kermithulhu. #grickledoodle #hplovecraft #kermit #horror #muppets #cartoon #art #drawing #funny

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

This kind of thing has been around the block for a bit -- the reality in my opinion is that "programming ability" is simply not something we've defined and possibly not a single thing. The many decades of interest in predicting programming ability have sometimes succeeded at pushing against our stereotypes that it is math associated (as this work), but "math ability" is ALSO a fraught measure. It's important to bring a lot of context to the prediction of ability...

https://fosstodon.org/@yabellini/112470616882303876

glyph,
@glyph@mastodon.social avatar

@grimalkina look if we just do enough fMRI studies we will eventually find the python interpreter in the brain and we can start running classes with direct electrical stimulation and skip all this messy “teaching” stuff

aetataureate,
@aetataureate@gamedev.lgbt avatar

@grimalkina as someone who covers science papers, the term "natural language ability" is also . . . weasel words to me. the same way computer comfort and skill has been linked with those who just had computers from childhood, it's wild to call something natural that you're measuring in the late teens or adulthood (using the MLAT).

dneary,
@dneary@mathstodon.xyz avatar

@grimalkina Love this thread! There are so many things that make up programming aptitude, from curiosity, ability to learn, good taste (around application design), ability to execute and not get distracted... And so many of those things are in conflict! Like curiosity & ability to learn new things gets in the way of executing and not getting distracted.

sue, to random
@sue@glasgow.social avatar

Folk using "algorithms" to refer to everything that's wrong with the web the way folk believed "miasma" caused the spread of disease pre sanitation

sue,
@sue@glasgow.social avatar

I can see that in theory the technological differences between a platform like this and a corporate one could increase the possibility of accountability. But again, the response to folk saying they've experienced being further marginalised on here isn't encouraging.

Technology can't make a space safe and inclusive on its own, the problem isn't the algorithms!

trisweb, to random
@trisweb@m.trisweb.com avatar

For all the talk of “maker schedule vs manager schedule,” I don’t think we appreciate just how much management and coaching benefits from focus time and deep work and open space to think and help others.

A back to back jam packed agenda is the problem for everyone.

Imagine the coaching that could be done if you had two solid hours to help someone? Imagine the career development if you had an hour to plan and think through someone’s growth before speaking with them on it?

Managers suffer from a “manager’s schedule” just as much as makers.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

The answer to "how can we make more technology work better and more for everyone" PROBABLY can't hinge on "individual software developers are responsible for knowing internalizing and perfectly executing every single thing in the world and perfectly understanding the needs of billions of people" eh?

faassen,
@faassen@fosstodon.org avatar

@grimalkina
Right!

I like individualism and individual responsibility but not blind individualism because, it is said, we live in a society.

Making the world work better in general depends on creating, encouraging, preserving and enforcing structures and patterns that make individuals do things that help improve rather than detract. And figuring out what that is together.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

So I think this is a cool point too for those who are already trying to create good culture. Lots of people are interpersonally WARM, but not in a way that validates contributions and skills. In fact sometimes you can accidentally diminish contributions with warmth if the only way you've learned to say supportive things is very deprecating ("oh gosh we all make mistakes" is fine sometimes but if it's all someone hears?! Try "actually I saw that x was really good...")

https://blog.auengun.net/@gregdosh/statuses/01HYNKMHG0GCAP7NRFTN6JCX6Z

specialcase,
@specialcase@mstdn.social avatar

@grimalkina Thanks for posting this. Upon reflection, I realize that I do this quite often with my team: try to be very openly understanding about learning and mistakes, but not explicit enough on the examples of competence and expertise.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

By the way just a general comment that if I only studied the things I liked and supported personally I wouldn't be much of a social scientist

Di4na,
@Di4na@hachyderm.io avatar

@grimalkina oh gosh yes. The number of things I wanted to be true and I had to reflect on myself upon finding literature and research on because.

Nope. Not substantiated. That was all on me and my personal models of the world.

It is one of these things that make science science, but it is not well communicated I feel

stevegis_ssg,
@stevegis_ssg@mas.to avatar

@grimalkina
There's a character in Margaret Atwood's INCREDIBLE novel "The Robber Bride" who is a historian who focuses on warfare. And she says at one point that other historians, especially other female historians, are constantly asking her why she likes war, and contrasts this with the fact that cancer researchers are never asked why they "like" cancer.

gregdosh, to random
@gregdosh@auengun.net avatar

Several large studies of "microinclusions," small actions which demonstrate a commitment to shared
belonging, and a recognition of another person’s technical and social contribution, have found that experiencing
microinclusions increases anticipated role fit over and above simply socially warm gestures (Muragishi et al., 2023).

From this paper "Psychological Affordances Can Provide a Missing Explanatory Layer for Why Interventions to Improve Developer Experience Take Hold or Fail" by Cat Hicks really really stuck out to me. Keep rereading bits and pieces of it as it connects to my career in coaching and professional development of technical teams & orgs.

It's a very strong reaffirmation on the way I typically coach and interact in my technical and social spaces has some amount of pre-existing research and thought. My anecdotal evidence is that people always responded warmly to my interactions with time, but it was just anecdotal. My ability to lead with courage and build those true feelings of shared belonging & recognition for abilities & talents.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

This post made me feel like maybe I would consider allowing knowledge about Linux into my brain

https://kind.social/@PurpleJillybeans/112480588977913630

shom,
@shom@fosstodon.org avatar

@grimalkina, we need more ushers instead of gate keepers!

If anyone wants to learn more about Linux and if it's even the right choice / feasible for you, I would love to chat. I can help figure out a concrete path for you and provide tech support as best as I can. Get in touch!

Here's a very friendly video (not mine) that shows you how to get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BoqSxHTTNs

ProPublica, to Futurology
@ProPublica@newsie.social avatar

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies.

Her bosses halted her work.

As the now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking , she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.

https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

I have NOT read this paper yet so this is not a Cat endorsement yet but the title and premise is good enough to share 👀

https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00105-0

BarbChamberlain,
@BarbChamberlain@toot.community avatar

@grimalkina Ah, thank you for this! Taking this straight to the team I'm on working on traffic safety planning.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

Life would be easier for many scientists if the general public would get past the stereotype that all science is just about "surprise" and novelty and completely unknown things and that studies don't matter if they match your lived experience 😭 there is massive need to document well known things into the scientific record and establish specific evidence examples for them in ways that will be legible and useful for policy, public action, etc....!

Media really fuels this misconception

natematias,
@natematias@social.coop avatar

@grimalkina I agree it’s a tough one, especially when there’s a lot of money to be had in lowering public trust in scholarship and many (overworked) scientists are dis-incentivized to engage with (or respect) the public.

My work on this is public engagement and the protection of scholars at risk, but even work on both fronts feels very insufficient given the kind of money and power on the side of merchants of doubt

natematias,
@natematias@social.coop avatar

@grimalkina unfortunately, the novelty/surprise framing is also deeply integrated into funding, award, and promotion structures too.

Note: I remember being pretty surprised to see in this analysis of scientific articles and news stories that on average, journalists actually tend to temper rather than exaggerate scientific findings. I would love to see a more in-depth analysis

https://news.umich.edu/journalists-tend-to-temper-not-exaggerate-scientific-claims-u-m-study-shows/

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

I'm sorry WHAT and none of you told me?????

Position ENTIRELY reversed on Python. Literally going to learn it now. Call me pythonista Cat. I am so serious. WHAT.

https://masto.machlis.com/@smach/112462436451472935

juliaferraioli,
@juliaferraioli@floss.social avatar

@grimalkina it is lovely. Everyone here is wonderful. Masks. Everything about this event telegraphs that the @pycon cares deeply about the well-being of their attendees. 💖

Sevoris,

@grimalkina holy crap this is some awesome social integrity from PyConf. This is amazing. This is awesome. I think my heart is bursting a little? Thank you to whomever pushed this through.

RainofTerra,
@RainofTerra@terra.incognita.net avatar

@grimalkina I loved python before but I love it even more now.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

I stumbled across this post while looking for our workbook and omg! What a very thoughtful and understanding summary of our code review anxiety paper, model, and takeaways. I don't know this person to tag them but 👏👏👏

https://ferd.ca/notes/paper-understanding-and-effectively-mitigating-code-review-anxiety.html

mononcqc,
@mononcqc@hachyderm.io avatar

@grimalkina you apparently follow me on here already ;)

I think you may like to hear that I used the paper (shared to me by @RainofTerra) as an inspiration for a discussion session with our on-call engineers titled “Can Stress, Fear, and Anxiety be useful in Ops, and if so, when?”—just hoping to make room for the topic.

We ended up having a few people commenting along the lines of “I’m so glad to hear this isn’t just a ‘me’ problem,” which is great.

RainofTerra,
@RainofTerra@terra.incognita.net avatar

@grimalkina @mononcqc @CSLee yeah I feel like only very recently has there been any real guidance for folks above senior at all and we’re just on the cusp of a broader understanding of the ways it can look like. Sometimes it’s “here is this amazingly detailed technical blog post” but a lot of the time it’s going to be what used to be considered “soft skills” like “here is how I’m learning to use my seniority to be comfortable being vulnerable so I can model it for others” - and yes, the cost that comes with that.

RainofTerra,
@RainofTerra@terra.incognita.net avatar

@grimalkina @mononcqc @CSLee I love any opportunity to point out both that:

  • Even for staff/principal/etc. engineers this stuff can still feel bad/be complicated, so it’s very ok for more junior folks to feel that way.
  • It doesn’t always have to be terrible, we can make it better - with science! 🧪
mrcompletely,
@mrcompletely@heads.social avatar

@RainofTerra @grimalkina @mononcqc @CSLee the group was staff engrs plus dev team leads plus a couple very senior senior titles. Originally created to handle a long platform migration task, this group crossed all depts and just put every super senior tech talent in the room for a short but fairly frequent meeting. They became not just tech advice but emotional support for each other. I knew it was really working when we finished the migration and they unanimously asked to keep the meeting. 🧵

anthrocypher, to random
@anthrocypher@hachyderm.io avatar

"Where do we go from here?"

It’s time we answer that together. Every great conversation I've had lately has come down to this question.

So: imagine an invite-only, one week community for our sociotechnical future. Async conversation exploring today’s terrain and tomorrow's ambitions, culminating in two hours of talks.

Interested in this experiment?

https://www.uploop.dev/event

anthrocypher,
@anthrocypher@hachyderm.io avatar

Last week I got to prove one of my longest-held convictions:

it's still possible to have constructive, prosocial online experiences. It just takes work, planning and imagination.

https://www.uploop.dev/blog/internet-we-want/

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