Geek Out Challenge Day 6 – Real Life Geeks Who Inspire Me

Yesterday’s Geek Out prompt had me reminiscing about the geekiest thing that I have ever done.  Today, Megan from A Geeky Gal has a thought-provoking question, which is to talk about a geek who inspires me.  Since I am a woman learning to code in order to hopefully get a job in the heavily male-dominated technology industry one day, I thought I would write about a few women in gaming that inspire me to keep pursuing my dreams.

Bonnie Ross

What I love most about Bonnie Ross isn’t necessarily that she is the head of 343 Industries.  While I love seeing women reach the top of the corporate ladder in the gaming world, I am actually more fascinated by how much she chooses to give back to the community.  She has started a number of groups and foundations dedicated to helping women in gaming find their footing within an industry that doesn’t always feel particularly welcoming towards them.  If that wasn’t enough, she also regularly speaks about how important it is to give young girls access to STEM resources so they can grow up to even the playing field.  Bonnie Ross gives me hope that the future is bright for women in gaming.

Laura Shigihara

My first time encountering Laura Shigihara’s work is when I heard her sing in one of my favorite games, To the Moon.  From that point on, I was a huge fan.  While I love her music, the part that makes her so inspirational to me is that she also created her own indie game, Rakuen.  While I will admit that I have yet to actually play the game, mostly because I have hyped it up in my head so much that I’m afraid it will disappoint my absolutely stellar expectations, there are so few indie titles created by women.  I don’t know if I would ever want to go the indie developer route when it comes to game creation, but I love seeing a woman do it, as it gives me the confidence that I could achieve this one day, as well.

Kim Swift

Portal is one of my favorite game series, so I was really happy to hear that there was a woman involved behind the scenes.  Kim Swift, alongside others, created Narbacular Drop, which is more or less an indie prototype for what would eventually become Portal.  Valve was intrigued by this unique game, so Swift was hired on to head the team that turned this small project into a fully fleshed-out game.  Kim Swift’s contributions to gaming help remind me that, while there may be fewer women than men working in the industry at the moment, women can still make huge contributions.

There are so many other amazing and geeky women that I could talk about, but I would never finish writing this if I tried to discuss them all!  As always, thanks to A Geeky Gal for making this amazing challenge, and definitely go check out the geeks who inspire her.  Fun fact:  My original thought when I saw today’s question was to actually write about both of the people that she picked, but when I saw that she had already discussed them, I thought I would take my own post in a different direction.  Who are your favorite geeks who inspire you?  Let me know in the comments below!

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