The fear of not knowing enough
Geertjan Wielenga: I think many people, and maybe especially women, as you indicate, have the feeling that they need to know absolutely everything, whether it's about public speaking or a particular tech, before they can give a talk or submit an abstract to a conference. What would you say to that?
Heather VanCura: That was exactly the topic of the breakfast I hosted for the Women Who Code group in Atlanta last week at DevNexus. The topic was submitting a talk for a conference. The women attending felt that they didn't know enough yet and worried about what they would say if someone challenged their knowledge.
It's going to happen that you don't know the answer to everything and you must be open and willing to acknowledge it, whether you're a man or a woman. There are lots of different ways to deal with a situation where you don't have an answer. You can say, "I don't know the answer to that. I can go back and find an answer...