Engineer for the future of Cloud
June 10-13, 2019
San Jose, CA

How do we heal?

Alex Qin (Code Cooperative)
9:40am10:05am Thursday, June 13, 2019
Location: Grand Ballroom 220
Average rating: ****.
(4.64, 33 ratings)

We’ve been working to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable tech industry for years. We’ve poured billions of dollars into data collection, new hiring practices, unconscious bias training, and educational opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds. But we have yet to see meaningful and lasting change.

In the age of “tech as a solution to everything”—and its devastating implications on humanity—the issue of our industry’s and society’s homogenous and harmful culture is more critical than ever.

We need a true shift in consciousness in how we see each other and our relationships to radically transform ourselves and our communities. One where we move from asking, “How do we train and hire more people from X background?” and “How do we take the bad people down?” to “How do we be whole and free together?” and “How do we heal?” Specifically:

  • How do we heal our communities and our industry?
  • How do we heal our internalized racism, sexism, transphobia, and all our other harmful beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors?
  • How do we heal the harms that were done to us and the harms we have done to others?

Drawing inspiration from restorative justice practices and her own journey of healing, Alex Qin offers a hopeful vision for how we can come together and cocreate the world we yearn for.

Photo of Alex Qin

Alex Qin

Code Cooperative

Alex Qin is out here trying get free. She cares about helping people fulfill the radical visions they have for themselves and the world while working towards more just and equitable futures. She has experience writing code, leading engineering teams, growing communities, developing education programs, teaching, and advocating for underrepresented people in tech. These days, she spends her time learning, healing, giving love, and growing the Code Cooperative, a community of people who use and build technology to create life-changing possibilities for individuals and communities impacted by incarceration.