ABOUT OUTGEEK

Since 2017, we’ve been putting people in tech in the same room.

OutGeek started with one idea: hiring works better when people actually meet. More than 500 events later, it still does.

500+events, in person and online
2017our first hiring night
18+cities on our calendar
OUR PHILOSOPHY

We set up the room. You make the move.

Four things we believe, and build every event around.

01 Built for the ones tech forgot to build for Tech still has too few women, and too many events that feel like they weren’t built for them. Ours are. You walk in, feel at home and get taken seriously, and for once you won’t be the only woman in the room.
02 Open to everyone Guys are welcome too, and they won’t be the only women in the room either. Good teams are mixed teams, and so are our guest lists.
03 Seamless and efficient Your time matters. Clear agendas, the right hiring teams, short and focused conversations, and no hour-long pitches. You leave with real contacts, not a tote bag.
04 Your career, your call We can open the door, but we can’t walk through it for you. Come prepared, start the conversation, follow up the next day. The people who get hired are the ones who act.
IN EVERY CITY

Our event directors

Every city has a local lead who knows the room: who’s hiring, which venue works, and who you should meet before you leave.

AA Alejandra AntonMEXICO CITY More than 10 years producing events, and she also runs CreativeMornings CDMX. Alejandra knows how to fill a room with the right people and make everyone feel at home in it.
CD Christina D’AlmeidaTORONTO A production associate in Toronto’s busy film industry, Christina has run 40+ OutGeek events across the Toronto area since 2017. She’s also an absolute firecracker in a room.
EP Elizabeth PoggieMONTREAL An educator and internship coordinator at John Abbott College, Elizabeth spends her days connecting students with employers, and brings that same care to our Montreal events.
IC Inês CosmePORTO Inês runs OutGeek events in Porto and organizes the local community. A fantastic event director who keeps Porto’s tech crowd connected between events too.
KS Kelsey SilverLISBON Formerly with Web Summit, Kelsey has over 10 years of experience running events, and her women in tech events get fantastic feedback from guests.
NF Nargiz FazalBOSTON An event manager with a background in nonprofits and recruiting. Nargiz makes sure every Boston night runs on time and every guest meets someone worth meeting.
OS Oxana SkuratovaVANCOUVER A PMP-certified product manager at Benji Pays with 10+ years in banking and fintech. Oxana has sat through hundreds of tech interviews herself, so she knows exactly what the other side of the table feels like.
RA Robyn ArmoryGLASGOW & EDINBURGH Based at the Barclays campus in Glasgow with ISS, Robyn knows the local tech scenes in Glasgow and Edinburgh inside out, and brings that know-how, and plenty of enthusiasm, to every OutGeek night in Scotland.
RH Rochelle HogueTORONTO A Toronto real estate pro and a big supporter of women in tech, and of women in general. Rochelle brings warmth, local know-how and a talent for making new faces feel welcome.
VC Veronica CarliBERLIN An artist and event organizer who has long championed women in tech. Veronica has a keen eye and a deep, artistic approach to every detail, which is why our Berlin nights feel thoughtfully made, not just organized.
+ This could be youWE’RE LOOKING FOR EVENT DIRECTORS Salt Lake City, London, Amsterdam, New York City, Seattle, Singapore and Melbourne. If you love bringing tech people together, we’d like to meet you. Email hello@outgeek.org →
Marina Petrenko, founder of OutGeek Women in Tech, speaking on stage at OutGeek Women in Tech Paris, March 2026
“80% of your success is your team.”
Marina, in Forbes, “A New Approach To Networking For Women In STEM”
Connect on LinkedIn →
THE FOUNDER

Marina Petrenko

Marina got her start in Washington, DC, interning at a political nonprofit, where she managed a charity project with ties to Bill Clinton. When the internship wrapped, she went to Silicon Valley and landed in video game PR, which led to marketing and a bit of everything: content, campaigns, partnerships, launches. Of all of it, she enjoyed working on events and conferences the most.

She did her Master’s in media and broadcast communication technology at SF State while running tech recruiting events full time. In ten years in the Valley she launched projects, started and shelved startup ideas, and collected rejections from accelerators, and job offers from tech companies. She enjoyed all of it, but events for women in tech were where she felt most needed, and most sure she was on the right path.

So in 2017 she started running her first targeted tech hiring events: invite-only evenings where experienced tech people had five-minute one-on-ones with hiring teams, and they were a huge success. From a feature in Forbes to working with virtually every kind of tech team, the events kept growing. Since 2017, she has organized more than 500 events across the US, Canada, Central America, Europe and Asia, and she’s shown up in person in most of those cities. In 2021 she founded OutGeek.

Along the way she has run recruiting programs for giants in every space, from Google and SpaceX in the States to TD in Canada and Adevinta in Europe, all the way down to two-person startups hiring their first CTO. A big part of that was sales: Marina spent years as a director of sales and partnerships, so she speaks fluent money and fluent budget.

2017 → TODAY

How we got here

2017 The first hiring nightsMarina runs her first hiring nights for women in tech in SF: invite-only evenings where experienced tech people meet hiring teams in five-minute one-on-ones. No beer-and-pizza pitching, she said. Reader, there was beer. There was pizza. It worked great.
2018 Featured in ForbesForbes profiles Marina and the softer, one-on-one approach to networking for women in STEM.
2018–2020 Growing city by cityMarina runs events with every kind of team in cities around the world, from giants like Google and Oracle to fast-growing scale-ups like Adyen, and small local startups hiring their first engineers.
2021 OutGeek is foundedMarina starts OutGeek: recruiting events, mid-size conferences and virtual meetups, built with women in tech in mind and open to everyone.
2026 500+ events and a platformOutGeek adds Secret Job Drop, a daily read on who’s hiring and cutting, and Team of the Year, alongside events in 18+ cities.
A NOTE FROM MARINA

The best email I get comes a few weeks after an event, and it says three words: “I got the job.”

That’s what OutGeek is built for. We’re a group of event organizers running events in cities around the world, connected by one central hub that rounds up the freshest jobs and sends them straight to your inbox. Together, it’s a framework that speeds up your job search and keeps you inside a community while you do it.

Our events are free for job seekers: the first 150 tickets cost nothing, and only the last 10 are paid. We rarely sell those, so joining the platform is what keeps the events free and supports the time we put into making all of this happen.

AI may screen your résumé, but people still hire people. Come say hi at the next event. I’ll be by the door with the guest list.

MarinaFounder Also the bouncer, the guest list and the person who sets up and breaks down the venue. In between: scheduler, sponsor closer, Eventbrite publisher, photographer, social media manager, bookkeeper, email answerer, Secret Job Drop curator, newsletter writer, UI/UX designer and, now and then, developer.

Meet us at the next event.

FOR TALENT Come as you are. Make a free account to get the newest roles and an invite when an event lands in your city. Join the waiting list → FOR HIRING TEAMS Meet the people you’re hiring for. Book a slot, host a night or sponsor a city. We’d love to have your team in the room. Hire at our events →