Oiza B.’s Post

Software engineer Anna Boyko has an impressive profile and was a featured speaker at DevTernity conference on 7-8 Dec. So how come no one at Coinbase knew anything of her? DevTernity advertises itself as the "#1 international software development conference" and has speakers like Scott Hanselman, Kelsey Hightower, Sam Newman - and, of course, Anna Boyko. But I couldn't find ANYHING about Anna Boyko. Asked current and former Coinbase employees; checked Ethereum core. Nothing! Could she be made up? On such a prestigious conference? Her profile was featured on the site since January 2023 (more than 10 months). The conference was about to start. Surely, she couldn't possibly be fake? But in the end, yes: Anna Boyko, one of the 3 confirmed women speakers at DevTernity doesn't exist. She was knowingly invented by the organisers (the conference has no call for papers). But she wasn't the only fake speaker at the conference. Alina Prokhoda, "Senior Engineer at WhatsApp, Microsoft MVP": she was also fake on the JDKon website scheduled in May 2024: ran by the same organizers. Natalie Stadler, "Software Craftswoman at Coinbase," a featured speaker at DevTernity in 2021 and 2022: does not exist. Julia Kirsina "Software Craftswoman, Tech Influencer @ Instagram:" a curious no-show speaker for years. Julia was listed as a speaker at DevTernity in 2021, 2022, 2023, but never delivered a talk. She lists herself as being a software engineer at Uber on her Xing ("LinkedIn for Germany") profile. But no such dev ever worked at Uber. An investigation from 404 Media suggests that a man is linked to this profile, details here: https://lnkd.in/eXKz2B2P For 3 years, DevTernity listed fake women speakers: some obviously fake and one never showing up to talk. But why? Possibly to address diversity concerns raised by high-profile speakers (who would have refused to accept to talk) and customers (who complained about the lack of diversity in the past). Why invite women to speak when you can just make them up? A new low in tech conferences. Do your due diligence DevTernity, JDKon and anything organized by "Dev .Events" to confirm if speakers listed there exist. And - as sad it is to say - but check if speakers listed on lesser-known conference websites are actually real. See more details on the facts here in my summary article here: https://lnkd.in/ezvihsRG And if you would like to invite underrepresented folks in tech to speak to your conferences, there are plenty of them! Some resources: - Post a CFP to Diversify Tech and reach 15,000 underrepresented folks for free: https://lnkd.in/eNrBt3sd - Invite former guest from Scott Hanselman's podcast. Browse 920+ fascinating profiles: https://lnkd.in/e9T6iHhk - Reach out to people, do so respectfully, and offer to pay for their time! For a paid conference, this should be a given. You should hear back from most this way. If you have other resources, please do share them.