Summary: It is an old discussion for a very young industry. How to reconcile the needs and demands of parenting, with the needs and demands of programming, developing, or working at a startup. Whereas employees so often cheer at the innovative work arrangements and environments that encourage things like playing, relaxing, and working from anywhere… what you won’t hear much cheering for is how these environments address employees who are new parents. In the past few months alone we’ve seen lawsuits between big names in the tech industry and former employees who felt belittled and harassed over their commitment to their children over the alleged demands of the company. Whereas other industries have been fine tuning their approach to this important issue, the world of programming is still new territory. And as today’s guests will explain, it isn’t easy, and it is a tremendous task to be the first in your company to have a child and teach your boss how to manage this. MY guests today work or have recently worked as programmers and developers in Berlin, but their experience is echoed around the world. Parenting and Programming, different experiences, different approaches, but one underlying message that should be a concern for all us, parents, programmers or otherwise.
