REBECCA Grenier
Favorite Part of Job? My favorite part of the job is when I can help people. A close second is solving difficult puzzles.
Most Inspiring Mentor:My mother has had a huge impact on my life. As a single mother to 3 daughters, she did not have a lot of extra money but bought us an early computer in the 80s for $3,500. She has also passed down the love of learning and a bit of an obstinate streak, two things any good programmer needs.
Tell us something fun about yourself that few people know: I have an identical twin sister who lives in Vancouver and works in Canadian reality television.
Favorite Hobby: Spending time with friends and family. I also greatly enjoy listening to audiobooks.
Favorite Vermont Escape: I hesitate to mention a cemetery under "escapes", but I highly recommend visiting Hope Cemetery in Barre, VT to see the many interesting (and a few bizarre) gravestones.
Favorite Social Media: I keep up with new and old friends on Facebook, and industry professionals on Twitter.
Favorite Website: Ever changing, but right now Reddit.com which is a content/news aggregation.
Vermont Business Person you would like to have lunch with: Somebody high up in a Vermont venture capital firm so I could talk about the local technology Startup scene and which companies to keep an eye on.
Career Highlights: Definitely the 2013 Vermont Hackathon, where I recruited and lead my team "Becky and The Hackettes" to become the first all-women's team to ever compete at this event. It was a great experience to work with other technical women. We had fun, created an excellent project, and took home 2nd place.
Community Involvement: My biggest community involvement has been in a few different technology meetup groups. This includes the Burlington chapter of GirlDevelopIt, started and lead by Maureen McElaney, which helps get more women involved in technology by offering basic programming workshops different technologies. Among other things, for them, I created a workshop on how to get your first job in the technology field. I also lead a workshop on software development for High School girls at Vermont Works for Women's "Women Can Do" conference, which exposes the girls to non-traditional career paths and have the opportunity to serve on many women-in-technology panels.
