Charlie wants to be able to share her excitement with stickers!

Work on having it be functional for everyone

As Charitable Charlie I want to receive targeted matches so that I am viewing profiles of girls that I will have a higher likelihood of finding one I'm happy to match with. This means I probably don't want to see profiles of women my own age if I'm looking to mentor someone, or don't want to see profiles of younger women in design if I'm in engineering. By only showing user profiles that fit the wants of our current user, we can eliminate time spent looking over profiles and raise the overall level of satisfaction with matches.

Freshie Fran

Background and Demographic Information

• Nickname: Freshie Fran
• Demographics: Fran is 19 years old, from the east coast, and is a current freshmen at a liberal arts college. She was good at math in high school but isn't sure if she wants to pursue a major or career in STEM. She is currently taking the second level of Computer Science and is struggling a decent amount, especially with the tests. She really enjoyed the first level course at her school but is now questioning her decision to continue with Computer Science
• Overheard quote: "I would love to talk to a girl who felt the same as me in CS 102, I'm stressed but I thought I really liked this stuff."

Narrative

Short narrative or description about the user and why they're using your product/service (try to capture their attitudes, needs, problems/concerns, and experience)

Fran is using ForTheGirls to connect with upperclassmen (or even women a couple years out of college) who have gone through the Computer Science major at schools similar to her in order to hear about their experiences with the courses and how they decided to pursue the major. She wants to be able to talk to multiple women, and hopes to develop a mentor-mentee relationship with at least one or two women; she feels that would really help her figure out what she wants to do in terms of majoring. The women in computer science club at her school is a bit intimidating, and she wants to find more personal relationships in a less formal setting. She decided to use FTG in order to find these relationships, and hopes that the app will help her gain some clarity as to what to do and whether she should pursue CS.

Behavioral and Dimensional Information

• Goals and Motivations:
  (goals should directly relate to product/service,
  what are they trying to accomplish)
  • Find women who went through similar feelings to her during the course of their computer science major.
  • Develop mentor-mentee relationships with one or two of these women to have someone to go to for advice.
  • Wants to figure out if CS is right for her, and is feeling like it might be not right for her due to her stress in her current class.
• Tasks:
  (break goals down into tasks — what does the user need to do to accomplish a particular goal)
  • Build a relationship with a woman who goes to/went to a similar college to her that can give her advice about pursuing the CS major.
  • Figure out whether the CS major is right for her through talking to multiple people who recently graduated.
  • Gain more knowledge about what being a CS major means.
• Pain Points, Concerns, and Challenges:
  (what are they worried about? what do they have trouble with?)
  • Worried about not connecting well with the women she meets on the app, wants to hear real stories and real advice.
  • Has trouble separating whether she actually likes coding and her coursework or she just likes the idea of being a CS major.
  • Wants to be able to trust the advice she gets from women she connects with.
• User Flow
  (describe a typical scenario of the user interacting with your product – this is a short ordered list of actions)
  • Signs up with google authentication on the app
  • Begins creating a user profile
  • Inputs her demographics (age, college, etc.), the age range of mentors she's looking for, and her experience with computer science
  • Creates profile
  • Is shown three options of women to connect with - one who goes to her school, one who recently graduated from a similar school, and one who recently graduated from her school
  • Clicked "connect" on the woman who still goes to her school
  • Sent a chat message asking to grab coffee at a local cafe
  • [in person] gets coffee
  • 2 weeks later, gets a push notification to re-reach out to the mentor to continue the relationship

As CharitableCharlie, I want my tech company to promote strong relationships between women in tech, and so I want to be able to pay money to sponsor profiles of women at my company so they can be mentors as well and get more matches.

Teenage Tricia wants the ability to communicate with a mentor directly within the app to plan a time to meet or simply discuss questions/advice remotely. The in-app chat will allow for communication between mentors/mentees virtually.

Senior Sally wants to be more involved in FTG and get other women at her university involved. She decides to sign up for the ambassador program and posts on social media about the program/hosts events on her campus promoting membership. In return, she is sent FTG swag that she proudly wears around campus.

As NewNancy, I want to be able to see events for women in tech near me, and connect with people who are going to these events through the app. I want to get more involved with the tech community. A centralized place for these events would be super helpful!

Kind of a lot for showing all individual events, showing details of one event, and adding new event all for backend

• Font consistency
• Changing colors (more white)
• Header/Footer less pronounced

• each member do at least one PR in at least one repo

TeenageTricia

Background and Demographic Information

• Nickname: Teenage Tricia
• Demographics: 16 years old, sophomore in High School from the midwest, has heard about girls who code through social media and took a after school coding class. Enjoyed the Scratch project she made, but is not really sure what computer science is all about. She doesn't really know how to pursue it and just wants to do well in her regular courses at school, but is thinking about computer science for college.
• Overheard quote: "My Scratch project was cool, but I'm not really sure I totally understand what Computer Science even is!"

Narrative

Short narrative or description about the user and why they're using your product/service (try to capture their attitudes, needs, problems/concerns, and experience)
Tricia doesn't know much about Computer Science, but through social media she's seen a bunch of sponsored content from Girls Who Code, which inspired her to take an after-school coding class. She enjoyed this course, but was pretty lost still about what Computer Science was and hadn't met any other girls in the course who seemed as interested as she was. She wants to hear experiences from women in college who code, to see if they have any advice for her about coding in general.

Behavioral and Dimensional Information

• Goals and Motivations:
  • Talk to a woman who is majoring in computer science and learn more about her experiences, the pros and cons of the major
  • Learn about how the transition from High School without structured CS program to college
  • Talk to a woman who currently works in technology and learn more about her experiences/career path and goals
  • Learn about more extracurricular and online opportunities to do more computer science before getting to college
  • Less concerned about making a long lasting relationship and more wants information to know where she should go from here
• Tasks:
  • Find older girls in STEM and find out what it's like to be in STEM classes in college.
  • Interested to find out if being in STEM changes the college experience drastically.
  • Interested to find out whether she has to start prepping for college STEM courses now.
  • Talk to women in STEM who are in the working world to learn about where different paths in STEM will lead her.
  • Learn as much about STEM paths as possible to figure out whether she thinks it would be a good fit.
• Pain Points, Concerns, and Challenges:
  • She's worried she doesn't have enough background in STEM to have these conversations.
  • She's worried her friends will think she's weird for talking to all these people.
  • She wants to have a good year and hang out with her friends and go to football games, and is afraid the time commitment will keep her from participating as fully as she'd like.
  • She's not used to checking her email and notifications to respond to people professionally.
• User Flow
  • Goes onto the app and creates an account
  • Fills out a detailed survey about her background and interests and what she wants out of a mentor
  • Gets paired with a college student who also uses the app as a mentee
  • Since she finds a mentor who attends a college in her area, they decide to meet in person
  • They coordinate a meeting time and place via the chat platform in the app, and meet for coffee to talk about studying computer science
  • Tricia learns of some of the challenges involved in pursuing computer science academically and eventually professionally and also some of the great benefits that come out of it

Senior Sally

Background and Demographic Information

• Nickname: Senior Sally
• Demographics: 20 years old, female, senior in college
• Overheard quote: "I feel lost in the process of applying to jobs! There are so many companies out there, and I don't know where to start."

Narrative

Sally is a senior in college studying computer science. She loves her courses, but she isn't quite sure how she should go about navigating the transition to the professional world. She feels overwhelmed by all the options out there and would love to get some advice from a young professional who went through something similar. She has interviewed with some companies and is a bit nervous about the gender disparity at technology companies and often has second thoughts about her career path. She chooses to use FTG to help connect her with a female mentor who has gone through the job application process and can speak to what it's like to be a woman in technology and how to approach the process of finding a job that is a good fit for her.

Behavioral and Dimensional Information

• Goals and Motivations:
  • Sally wants to find a job that is a good fit for her
  • She wants to learn how to navigate the job application process and strategize so she has the best chances of being successful
  • She wants to decide if a career in technology is right for her and (if so) what specifically she should do within technology
• Tasks:
  • Connect with a female mentor who works in technology and can speak to what it is like/give advice on the job application process
  • Decide what she wants her career to look like and identify jobs she is interested in
  • Ultimately succeed in the job application process by strategizing and finding a job that is right for her
• Pain Points, Concerns, and Challenges:
  • Doesn't know enough women in technology that she can connect to and hear from about their experiences
  • Is nervous about the job application process and doesn't know where to apply or where to start
  • Is concerned about the culture in technology and the experience of being a women in a male-dominated workplace
• User Flow
  • Sally opens the app and creates on account and profile
  • She fills out a detailed survey indicating her age, status as a student, interests within computer science, interests outside of computer science, what she is looking for in a mentor, etc.
  • She scrolls through a list of potential mentors, reading about their background, interests and experience and selects one she is interested in speaking more with
  • She initiates communication with this mentor via the app's internal chat platform
  • She asks some of her pressing questions about the job application process and the professional world of technology
  • They set up a time to video chat and Sally gets some advice on how to approach the application and decision process
  • Sally's mentor introduces her to some of her friends at work and some others who can speak to Sally about what it's like to work at different companies

As SeniorSally, I want to be matched specifically with mentors that will really help guide me in my tech career and have had very similar experiences to me. The stronger the algorithm is for matching, the better my relationships will be.

As TeenageTricia, I want to be able to create a profile that shows my demographics and mentor preferences in order to be matched with a college-aged women in tech who can help me figure out whether I want to pursue CS.

Trisha's mentor needs push notification to be reminded when to talk to Trisha!

Charitable Charlie

Background and Demographic Information

• Nickname: Charitable Charlie
• Demographics: Charlie is 48 years old. She is a Senior Software Engineer in Seattle. She is married with two kids who recently left for college and a dog. She has a graduate degree from UCLA in Computer Science and makes $150,000 a year.
• Overheard quote: "I don't understand why more girls aren't joining STEM fields. How can I convince them to consider this path?"

Narrative

Charlie has done a lot with her career and life so far. She's a celebrated engineer, has a happy family, is fulfilled by her work, and has traveled with her work extensively. However, she's reaching the midpoint of her life and is starting to want different things. Her kids recently left for college and she's missing having people depend on her and ask for her help and advice. She is passionate about technology and the life it has helped her create for herself and her family. With this in mind, she wants to combine her want for mentorship with her impressive technical background. She's looking for a way in which she can give back to the community of women in STEM, hopefully pairing with bright young women and help them through what she remembers as some of the most daunting few years of her career

Behavioral and Dimensional Information

• Goals and Motivations:
  • Charlie is looking to feel needed again after her children left for college
  • She misses the hustle and bustle of the first few years of her career, she feels very comfortable and wants to take on bigger challenges
  • She is disappointed and confused as to why girls aren't joining STEM fields and wants to do what she can to make the transition into STEM and the decision to join STEM easier
  • She wants to be a bigger part of the community of women in STEM at large, acting not only as a mentor but also expanding her social and professional network as well
• Tasks:
  • Find girls to mentor
  • Connect with colleges and their STEM departments
  • Talk about her experiences
  • Candidly respond to questions and concerns about joining a STEM field
  • Help girls overcome barriers to entry and staying in STEM fields
• Pain Points, Concerns, and Challenges:
  • She's worried that she'll be too removed from the modern college and STEM experience
  • She's worried she won't connect with mentees
  • She's worried her mentees will be too busy for her or will only use her for networking purposes
  • She's worried her mentees will ask questions she doesn't know how to respond to
• User Flow
  • Opens app and looks at potential mentees
  • Clicks on mentees that she thinks she will be able to give the most relevant perspective to
  • Goes to chats with current mentees and responds to a few questions, setting up a time to FaceTime with one and grab coffee with another
  • Adds a public talk she's giving at a nearby university to the events page, encouraging people to come and connect

As Teenage Trisha, I want to Log In to my account so I can have a personalized matches and information.

New Nancy

Background and Demographic Information

• Nickname: New Nancy
• Demographics: Nancy is 23 and just started her first job out of college at a major technology company in San Francisco as a software engineer. She moved across the country to take this job and doesn't know anyone else at the company, especially in software engineering. She has attended a few networking events but has had trouble finding other women within her division.
• Overheard quote: "I don't have anyone to get lunch with here and all my friends work in a different part of town."

Narrative

Short narrative or description about the user and why they're using your product/service (try to capture their attitudes, needs, problems/concerns, and experience)

Nancy is brand new to San Fransico and just started her job at a major tech company as a software engineer. She is super excited about her job and the actual work but has been slightly disappointed about the opportunities to make friends (especially female) at work. Her team is male-dominated, and though she's been to a few company events, has had trouble making consistent and lasting relationships with other women at the company. She has found herself eating lunch at her desk and getting coffee in larger groups. She doesn't really have a go-to person (or people) at work yet. Nancy was feeling isolated within her company, so she started using FTC. She wanted to find friends she could get lunch with in her area and find older female mentors to help her get acclimated (both in San Fransico and as a software engineer) and give her career advice.

Behavioral and Dimensional Information

• Goals and Motivations:
  • Find other women in software engineering to have lunch with and get coffee with
  • Find women in the area/at her company to give her career advice and act as a mentor
  • In both instances, make lasting relationships (not just one-time meetups)
  • Feel less isolated within her company
  • Feel connected to other women in technology and begin to create a network
• Tasks:
  • Find women my age to have lunch/coffee with
  • Find more established women in technology to act as a mentor for me
  • If I vibe with either set of people, remember to follow up with them and reach out again
  • Go to women in technology events to expand my network even more and get inspired
• Pain Points, Concerns, and Challenges:
  • Worried about finding other women in software engineering she gets along with since her group is predominantly male
  • Concerned about the stigma surrounding online friend-finding apps (like Bumble BFF)
  • Hasn't been able to find a mentor whose interests line up with hers (AI and Machine Learning)
  • Doesn't want to meet up just once, wants consistent relationship building that's easy to maintain
• User Flow
  • Logs into app
  • Looks at potential matches
  • Reads through suggested profiles and finds two of them interesting
  • Clicks interested on two profiles
  • Goes to the events in your area page
  • Finds women in tech event on Saturday and adds it to her calendar
  • Matches with a 24-year-old at a software company across the street
  • They DM and the conversation goes well!
  • They decide to grab a coffee in person next week