Biography:
Liz Fong-Jones is a prominent site reliability engineer and developer advocate known not only for her technical expertise but also for her significant contributions to labor activism and worker organization efforts within the tech industry. As the president of the board of directors of the Solidarity Fund by Coworker, which she seeded with her own money, she has been instrumental in supporting and empowering workers. Fong-Jones currently serves as the field Chief Technology Officer at Honeycomb.
Education played a crucial role in shaping Fong-Jones’s path. She began her higher education journey at the California Institute of Technology in 2005. However, financial constraints led her to make the difficult decision to drop out in 2007. Recognizing that pursuing her studies further would mean accumulating substantial debt, she sought alternative paths.
Determined to continue her academic pursuits, Fong-Jones later returned to school and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2014. Her Bachelor of Science degree provided her with a strong foundation for her subsequent career in the tech industry.
Fong-Jones’s professional journey commenced with a position in technical support at a massively multiplayer online game studio. Drawing inspiration from her family members, who predominantly pursued careers in engineering, she ventured further into the field.
In 2008, Fong-Jones joined Google, a company she considered one of the best places for a transgender person to work. She initially served as a systems administrator at the Mountain View, California office. However, her skills and dedication soon led her to transition into a software engineering role specializing in site reliability at Google’s Cambridge, Massachusetts office. She subsequently moved to their New York City office, further expanding her expertise and contributions.
Deeply committed to promoting equity and inclusivity within the tech industry, Fong-Jones embarked on a journey of activism within the Google community. In 2010, she began organizing within the company, focusing primarily on equity engineering and rectifying issues with products that disproportionately affected marginalized communities. Her efforts included enhancing accessibility for customers relying on assistive technology.
Over time, Fong-Jones’s advocacy extended beyond product-related concerns to encompass broader employee issues. She championed causes such as gender pay equity and transgender health care matters, becoming a voice for underrepresented groups within the company. In 2011, Fong-Jones started taking fellow employees’ concerns to management, most notably when Google+ was about to launch. Proactively, she warned executives about the potential adverse effects of requiring users to disclose their real names. Her negotiations resulted in a revised policy, which she personally communicated to concerned colleagues, effectively becoming an unofficial advocate and representative for Google workers.
In 2016, Fong-Jones made significant contributions to the codebase of the Never Again pledge, which aimed to unite tech workers in a commitment to refrain from working on projects that could potentially cause harm. Her technical skills and dedication to social responsibility converged, further solidifying her reputation as an influential figure within the tech industry.
However, Fong-Jones’s activism faced heightened tensions in 2017 when James Damore’s controversial memo, titled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber, circulated. In the memo, Damore argued that the underrepresentation of women in tech could be attributed to innate psychological differences rather than bias. Fong-Jones, along with many others, strongly disagreed with the arguments presented, citing scientific and social criticism.
Today, Fong-Jones continues to inspire and advocate for the rights of workers in the tech industry, leveraging her technical expertise and passion for social justice. Her role as the president of the board of directors of the Solidarity Fund by Coworker serves as a testament to her commitment to empowering workers and creating positive change within the industry.