If you haven't read PART ONE in my series on amazing female bloggers, please do so now!

Part two in this series is more of the same – great interviews with more inspiring women on the web! This installment features Julie Lerman, Jill Warner and Rhonda Tipton. I hope you enjoy these interviews as much as I've enjoyed them.

Rhonda Tipton – Rhonda Tipton's WebLog – Random Subject Matters

1. What kinds of things do you discuss in your blog?
   Mostly application development with some off-topic posts on Astronomy, Vacations, Family, etc.
    
2. What is your primary skillset/industry and how did you get started?
   I am a Visual FoxPro developer (intermediate-advanced) learning .NET (C#, ASP.NET, etc) (beginner).  I spent the summer between my Junior and Senior year (high school 1985) with my Aunt who worked at the local Community College in the Computer Lab at the time.  She would take me to work with her and that is when I started playing with pc's.  I will always give my Aunt Shirley the credit for getting me started - Bless her soul - she passed away this passed November.
    
3. Did/do you have a mentor? 
   I would say that I've had several mentors.  Most of them were immediate supervisors.  My husband is also one of my mentors.  He was a developer for 10+ years when he decided to start his own woodworking business.
    
4. Did/do you mentor others?  If so, how?
   Not really.  I have had a few people email me and tell me how much some of my posts have helped them, but that's about it.
    
5. How do you utilize social networking in your career?
   I use it to learn from others.  For instance, on Twitter and FriendFeed, I follow people who are local to me and other developers that I believe I can learn from. Learn Learn Learn...that is my motto.
    
6. Did you go to school to learn your field or are you self-taught?
   I have a 2 yr degree in Computer Information Systems, so everything else is self taught.
    
7. What are some objectives/goals you have for the future?
   (a) Ultimately, my goal is to program in (close to) nothing but .NET technologies.  Right now I am about 70% VFP and 30% .NET/SQL at the office.
   (b) Learn as much as possible about .NET technologies by attending as many User Group meetings and Code Camps as I can.
   (c) Try to push co-workers to do more brown bag lunches at work.  I usually get a lot out of those too.
    
8. What advice would you give other women who are trying to get their start in technology, design or social media?
   Be enthusiastic about what you do.  Jump at any chance to learn.
    
9. What advice would you give other women who wish to start a blog?
   Just do it.  Find a good service/host and go for it.  I break the rules all the time with off-topic posts -- make it your own..
   .
10. What do you do when not working/blogging?  (hobbies/family/etc)
    Too much TV.  When the Fall seaon kicks in, my DVR is overloaded.  I also like Astronomy, hiking, cycling and being with my better half.  Oh and I drink lots of coffee (does that count?)

Jill Warner - SpillToJill (Jilbean – cute pics of pets) (Our Furry Family – pics of my pets)

1. What kinds of things do you discuss in your blog?
   SpilltoJill  - This started off as a blog that readers could send questions for advice and then I would answer – like an advice column.  In time, the blog added some other features.    All articles in the blog give advice of some sort – for happiness, web-surfing, etc.  Other additions have been the services of SpilltoJill – as a web guru – to research, activate/maintain blogs, web design, etc.
   Jilbean  - Jilbean.com was my first website.  This is a personal page – and on the blog associated with it – I post adorable pet photos (from flickr) and have also participated with blogathon.org through this wonderful pet-pic blog!
   Our Furry Family – This blog has become a "photo-blog" of my sweet pets.  2 cats and 2 dogs – and lots of chaos.  The url ourfurryfamily.com will eventually house this site.
   
    
2. What is your primary skillset/industry and how did you get started?
   I began on the web (blogging, networking, etc) after I graduated college.  I found that I had a niche for all things web – and began journaling on a diary site.  I fell in love with blogging at that time.  I then set out to learn everything related to the web – and I learned and am continuing learning!
   My background education is in Counseling (Master of Science) – which is how SpilltoJill.com came about.  I love advice columns and thought it would be great if I could offer my expertise to people.  After continuing learning more and more – I began sharing great articles through this blog.
   As far as my pet blogs and photos – I love animals and love animal photography – I felt the need to share this love with others!
   
    
3. Did/do you have a mentor? 
   I have not had an official mentor – besides the web in general
   
    
4. Did/do you mentor others?  If so, how?
   Not that I know of.  
    
5. How do you utilize social networking in your career?
   Currently – blogging and web are a hobby and passion – but not my career.  I do plan on beginning my own business (via my blogs and website) – but that is all in due time.  In my full-time job – I am constantly teaching others about all the social networks out there and how they are able to help individuals and companies. 
   I network through all the social-networks online.  I have made wonderful friends and connections with other bloggers – and even have met many of them in person.
   
    
6. Did you go to school to learn your field or are you self-taught?
   Self-Taught  
    
7. What are some objectives/goals you have for the future?
   In my (hopefully) near future – I plan to expand SpilltoJill.com into a freelance web-business.  I also plan to expand ourfurryfamily blog and website to be my pet's full website  
    
8. What advice would you give other women who are trying to get their start in technology, design or social media?
   I would suggest to just dive in!  Begin becoming active in the social-networks, begin researching web design and/or any other aspect that interests them.  
    
9. What advice would you give other women who wish to start a blog?
   Again – just dive in.  It doesn't matter if the first few posts make no sense – the practice of blogging really helps a person get into the groove!  Also – I would suggest to learn about all the great blogging tools out there – there are many helpful ways to get going on a blog  
    
10. What do you do when not working/blogging?  (hobbies/family/etc)
    Web-surf, play with pets, read, watch movies, games

Julie Lerman – Don't Be Iffy ( I also have a blog at the Ziff Davis Enterprise site: Devsource.com, where I write about 10 .NET related posts / month)

1. What kinds of things do you discuss in your blog?
   The focus of my blog is technical, with  posts also about life as a developer.  I occasionally write about personal things – life in Vermont, photos of my garden or dogs, my husband on a 30 foot ladder. I have some specific categories called "Vermont" and "Purely Personal" so that folks who don't care about me and just want technical information don't have to look at those. I think including posts about my life (as long as they are not too intimate or potentially uncomfortable) gives people a better sense of who I am and they can connect with me. I love when I travel and strangers just aren't strangers because of this.
    
2. What is your primary skillset/industry and how did you get started?
   I work mostly with Microsoft products. I was originally self taught beginning in the mid-80's. I had taken a single BASIC class in college in 1981 and was eager to play with the only computer in the entire 1000 person company where I had my first job. Withiin a few weeks, the computer had migrated to my desk. I took my first programming class (with Deborah Kurata) in 1998 and attended my first conference in 2003.
    
3. Did/do you have a mentor? 
   Mentorship to me has not been technical, but more about surviving and flourishing in an industry where a woman might have a hard time finding her place. In my early FoxPro days there were three women who gave me a lot of encouragement – Ceil Silver, Tamar Granor and Pat Adams. These days I have a small network of women programmers who have been in this industry for as long as I and whom I have enormous respect for. I can lean on these women for moral support or guidance when needed.  All of these years later, Ceil and Tamar are part of this group. There is one person that I will always be grateful to for some mentoring around blogging. When I first started blogging, Sam Gentile emailed me and gave me some important advice which he told me had been passed down to him from Sam Ruby. It really helped me focus on what the purpose of my blog was/could be.
    
4. Did/do you mentor others?  If so, how?
   I try to make myself widely available to help a lot of people, through my user group, through email, in forums or my blog. I definitely make an extra effort to encourage as many young or new developers as I can, especially women who may need a little extra encouragement when they wonder where they fit in this industry.
    
   On a technical level, I literally mentor developers or teams. This is one of teh many things that I do as a consultant and wish I could do more of. It's a lot of fun. I work withthem in person, via Live Meeting, email, i.m. or phone and do everything from code reviews  or writing proof of concept code to playing devil's advocate as they work through ideas, even sometimes just introducing them to someone else who specializes in a particular area of expertise.
    
5. How do you utilize social networking in your career?
   I started blogging in the early days and between that and my involvement with the early INETA, I got to know (and be known by) a lot of people. I have actually been so overwhelmed by my large .NET community network, that I have avoided most other social networking tools. I tried out Orkut when it was an early beta and freaked out when it said I had 25,000 new friends. I didn't even have time for my own friends. I did give in and get a Facebook account, but that's not for career, that's so I can keep up with who's getting married or having babies or reading a good book.
    
6. Did you go to school to learn your field or are you self-taught?
   Self-taught. I was a history major who spent a lot of time in the art studio.  
    
7. What are some objectives/goals you have for the future?
   I am actually getting to that point in my life where I'm wondering that myself.  
    
8. What advice would you give other women who are trying to get their start in technology, design or social media?
   Keep learning and keep looking around at what's coming down the pike technically. Find a few things that you can be extra good at so you can be a go-to girl for particular topics.
    
9. What advice would you give other women who wish to start a blog?
   Don't be afraid to be yourself. Don't blog about anything that you don't feel comfortable defending. I quickly learned that my blog was not a good place to rant about a particular president who drives me batty because lots of people wanted to engage in debate and I wasn't interested. If you are writing about things technical, try to fact check before you blog it but if you get something wrong (and believe me, I've done that plenty) and someone points it out, it's not the end of the world. A little embarrassing maybe, but just respond with humility and move on. I think it's the most daunting thing for women in our industry. But if you're consistently accurate, you'll get a break for a goof.

   Blogging can sometimes be like having everyone look at your underwear, so make sure it's clean.

10. What do you do when not working/blogging?  (hobbies/family/etc)
    My reward for speaking at conferences in places like Las Vegas and Orlando (not my cup of tea) is to speak at conferences  abroad, so I get to travel when I'm working. Last spring I was in Stockholm and I'm headed to Amsterdam, London and Sofia (Bulgaria) in October. When I actually have the time I love to be outdoors – bicycling, hiking or skiing in the woods. This is why I live in Vermont!

     

Again I really enjoy reading these interviews; its' wonderful getting to know some of the women in the online world!  Show them some love and visit their sites.  AND again, if you know of other online divas who might like to participate in this series, please leave a comment below!

Stay tuned for Part Three!