Ok, this has morphed more into a personal blog. That’s ok though because by posting articles with technical content, I’m still accomplishing my goal to create awareness for women and technology.

Women in Technology
Women often get the short end of the stick when it comes to technology. People’s perceptions of what she’s capable of and interested in affect her opportunities and earnings. I know I’m not the only female in technology who is sick of pink laptops and rhinestone cell phones. I’m going to blog about things I enjoy in the technology world and gripe about the frustrating things in a constructive way. Through this blog, I plan to reach out to people interested in IT.

About Me
Hello, I’m Adria Richards. I live in Minneapolis, MN and make my living as an Organic Technology Consultant. When I’m not working, I put in time making the world a better place. I want to attend a TED conference to connect with other people who have big dreams. Two years ago, I stopped working for other people. I realized I probably wasn’t going to find a job that continued to be interesting after the first year. I’d seen what companies like 37signals could accomplish by discarding old ways of thinking so I took a deep breath and jumped in. Visit Aden Networks, my business website.

Favorite Songs

  • NYOIL - “You’re A Queen”
  • Weird Al Yankovic - “White and Nerdy”
  • Weird Al Yankovic - “It’s All About the Pentiums”
  • Looper - “Modem Song”
  • Common Featuring Will.i.am - “I Have a Dream”

How I Embraced Technology as My Career
Comptia’s A+ hardware certification was the first one I earned back in 2000 while working at the Guidant helpdesk. I continued my self study, earning my MCDST in 2004. I actively looked for opportunities that would immerse me in technology. I learned about Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, Altiris, drive imaging, VMWare, VPN access, routers and general network administration . I kept up to date on my certification path and earned my MCSA in 2006.

In 2003, I started working on open source. I installed my first Content Management System that fall; php-nuke. I was already hosting several websites by then and kept trying, testing, tweaking various web applications. I learned about Apache, PHP, MySQL databases and various Linux distros including Gentoo (Thanks Jonathan!), Knoppix and Mandriva.

2006, I started in social networking. Being a geek, it’s not the easiest thing to maintain connections with people you don’t talk to everyday but I’m working it out to fit into my life. It’s much more productive than chatting on IM with someone. Around this time, I became aware that Google had launched a suite of services known as “Google Apps”. This included domain branded email, document storage, calendaring, chat, a company intranet and more. I migrated my first client December 2006 and moved my own domain email to Google Apps July 2008. I’m working with Google to become a certified support partner. I think it’s hands down the best solution for companies with less than 50 staff.

Goals with no date

  • Launch local Twin Cities linuxchix chapter on Drupal CMS. Want to help?
  • Increasing Awareness of Women in Technology
    I want to create am in the process of creating a series that will showcase women in technology who are making a difference. Many of these women are not household names yet they have positively influenced the lives of many. Have someone you’d like to nominate? contact me.

Goals for December 2008

  • Attend non profit workshop

Goals for November 2008

  • Make travel arrangements to Las Vegas for friend’s wedding and get back in one piece
  • Upgraded Wordpress Multi User (WPMU) to 2.6.3

Goals for October 2008

Goals for August 2008

  • Upgrade Wordpress Multi User (WPMU) install to 2.6

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