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This is the first of several interviews with women in technology. Today you'll learn about Shelley Powers. Shelley is perhaps best known as a writer. Her most recent books are Learning JavaScript and Painting the Web. She's also a programmer and web developer, and she applies a powerful and logical mind to everything she does. Q: I looked you up on Amazon and found a list of books you've written that includes Learning JavaScript, Painting the Web, Adding Ajax, Learning JavaScript: Add Sparkle and Life to Your Web Pages, Unix Power Tools, Practical RDF, Powerbuilder 5 How-To, Developing Asp Components, Dynamic HTML, Dynamic Web Publishing Unleashed, Javascript How-To: The Definitive Javascript Problem-Solver, and Using Perl For Web Programming. Wow! How did you get started on a career as a writer? What was your education and background? A: I'm a late bloomer educationally. I quit high school when I was 15 and joined a religious cult, Children of God. When I came to my senses and left the group, I went from the frying pan to the fire by marrying, at 16, a man who had learning disabilities and resented the fact that I liked to read. We lived in a house in the country and if it weren't for the fact that the local library would send books out, and allow you to return them in pre-paid envelopes, I would have had very little to read for two years. At 18 I realized that I was pretty much a fool to stay with my husband, divorced him, got my GED, and a job in an insurance company. There, I had excellent bosses and co-workers who encouraged me to believe I could do more with my life, and I started college. For not having beyond a 9th grade education, I did well in college. In fact, I loved it. I was a pre-law major, but took a logic course one day and the professor suggested I try out a computer class. My first class was a Basic class, and I was hooked. The first time I wrote a program that actually controlled the computer, well, that was all she wrote. Eventually I ended up with two degrees: a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Industrial Psychology. As for my writing, I've loved writing all my life. When I was a kid, I wrote and produced two plays for my school--a Christmas play, and one an adaption of an old movie, The Day the Earth Froze (which had a profound impact on me for some reason). I also received a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) award for a study I did on Martha Washington, and even published a poem. The poem was awful, the worst sentimental dribble. Luckily, for your sake, I dropped the poetry. My technical writing began in the online help forums that proliferated early in the 1990's. I was a Powerbuilder developer in 1994-1996, and used to spend a lot of time in user forums helping people out. An editor from Waite Group Press, asked if I would be interested in co-authoring a book on Powerbuilder. I jumped at the chance, and that book led to the next, and the next, and so on until with my recent book, I've managed to author or co-author 16 books in the last 12 years, most published by O'Reilly. I think it's 16. After a while, you lose count. Q: You are one of the more visible women in technology. You use that platform and acknowledged expertise to advocate for more visibility for women in technology and internet related fields. How do you think things are going in that area? A: I'm not sure that I am very visible, outside of a small group of people who have been weblogging for years (close to eight for me). I wish I were more visible so that I could do more women in technology, but then that would mean doing conferences, and I really don't like attending conferences. I don't want to come across as being overly negative, but I don't think we're doing well, or at least, not as well as I would like. For a time, we made an impact on conference organizers who actively began to recruit more women as presenters or panel members. However, looking at the popular conferences this year, such as the recent Ajax Experience, you might find one woman out of 20, 30, or more presenters. We're seeing more women appear in popular tech-specific weblogs,
