Taylor Swift songs for every level

It's been a while since I posted on the View from JQ. Last I posted, I had just arrived in Las Vegas for Cloud Next, which was an exciting week of networking and socializing that I feel like I'm still recovering from.

The release of the Tortured Poets Department prompted my friend and I to discuss Taylor Swift lyrics that inspired us throughout our career as women in tech. Here's what has resonated:

Junior Engineer

I'm so sick of running as fast as I can
Wondering if I'd get there quicker
If I was a man

Senior Engineer

Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean

Staff Engineer

'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream

Senior Staff Engineer

I don't start shit but I can tell you how it ends

Principal+ Engineer

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time
Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time
I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh!

Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do

I've been working as a woman in tech for over 10 years, and aside from these lyrics, Taylor's Billboard's Woman of the Decade in 2019 speech also does a good job of capturing the feelings I have about my own career:

In the last 10 years I have watched as women in this industry are criticized
and measured up to each other and picked at for their bodies, their romantic lives, their fashion, or have you ever heard someone say about a male artist, I really like his songs but I don’t know what it is, there’s just something about him I don’t like? No! That criticism is reserved for us!

But you know, I’ve learned that the difference between those who can continue to create in that climate usually comes down to this. Who lets that scrutiny break them and who just keeps making art.

As I head into the next decade of my career, these songs are a good reminder to just keep making art.