One of the most difficult aspects to solve for when finding the perfect female tech founder community is finding a safe space for women in tech.

While tech founders are a special breed, women in tech are known to be rather rare. And while there may be plenty of communities for every flavor of tech, it can be difficult to find the perfect female-focused one.

Without further ado, let me introduce the three types of women you’ll meet in a lackluster “women in tech” community.

The Graduate

I hesitate to limit this group to “bootcamp graduates” or “junior developers” because it covers a pretty wide swath of people. There are an overwhelming number of communities catering to women at the beginning of their technical careers. These women are often found practicing l33c0de and polishing their GitHub portfolios.

But once you’ve been in a development role for 5+ years you may have outgrown the usefulness of these spaces. (Or you’ve left tech, as many women do.) These spaces are not great for folks looking to commiserate over Jira practices or launching a product.

The Non-Technical Networker

She’s beauty, she’s grace. But she’s not a developer.

While not all women in technical roles work at tech companies, most women who work at tech companies do happen to be in non-technical roles. Think HR, marketing, sales, and customer success. And of course: Recruiting. While these roles can have technical components, they are certainly less technical than engineering roles and likewise require a wealth of other non-technical skills.

While I don’t want to gatekeep what constitutes a technical role, I think marketing managers and talent coordinators can find community elsewhere.

It’s frustrating to join a community only to find that you speak completely different languages. Spreken ze Python?

The She-E-O

Similar to the Non-Technical Networker, the She-E-O is a woman fully immersed in a tech company who happens to not actually be technical. The difference is that she is often held up as a figurehead for women in tech, and cited as an example of progress.

So where is the more senior female developer?

Well, she may not exist. She may have left tech to pursue her dream of owning and operating a homestead or death doula business. After all, most women leave tech by the age of 35. (A statistic that I feel leaves out the many women who transition into tech after their first career – but this is likely a small group.)

In my experience, she’s busy enough just doing her job that she may not have time or energy to engage in community-building.