The Contributor Covenant, a code of conduct now integrated into over 40,000 open source projects including software from Apple, Microsoft, and Google, originated from the work of Coraline Ada Ehmke. Based in Chicago, she maintains a career spanning three decades in programming, advocacy, and technology leadership, consistently addressing the intersection of digital infrastructure and social ethics.
Early Software Development
Ehmke entered the software industry in 1994, initially working with the Perl programming language. Her early professional trajectory involved diverse sectors, including advertising, healthcare, engineering, and consulting. By 2007, she transitioned her primary focus to the Ruby programming language. Over the subsequent years, she authored 23 Ruby gems and contributed to significant projects such as Rspec and Ruby on Rails, eventually earning the Ruby Hero award at the 2016 RailsConf.
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Beyond technical contributions, Ehmke became a prominent figure in advocacy for inclusive communities. In 2014, she launched OS4W.org, a platform dedicated to supporting women in open source through mentorship. That same year, she authored the Contributor Covenant. Following allegations against GitHub leadership in 2014, she collaborated with Betsy Haibel to establish the Culture Offset, a project allowing developers to donate to organizations supporting underrepresented technologists if they felt compelled to continue using the GitHub platform for work requirements. Her activism later expanded to the development of the Hippocratic License, an ethical framework for open source, and she established the Organization for Ethical Source in 2020.
Professional Challenges and Public Discourse
Ehmke served as a founding panelist for the Greater Than Code podcast and held board positions at RailsBridge and Ruby Together. In 2016, she joined GitHub to work on community management tools. Her tenure ended roughly a year later, and she subsequently published a critique regarding the firm's culture and the nature of her severance in July 2017. Her public account gained further visibility through a CNN report on non-disparagement agreements. Throughout her career, she has frequently participated in international forums, including a 2018 debate at the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Personal Life and Creative Output
A transgender woman who began her transition in March 2014, Ehmke has addressed her experiences working in the technology industry through various talks, including presentations at Madison+ Ruby and Alterconf titled He Doesn't Work Here Anymore. Outside of her professional roles, she is a musician, having released albums under the pseudonyms A Little Fire Scarecrow and Sudre’s Violin. She is also the author of a 2025 Apress publication titled We Just Build Hammers: Stories from the Past, Present, and Future of Responsible Tech.
Fast facts
- Born: 2000, United States
- Primary programming language: Ruby
- Contributor Covenant projects: 40,000+
- Ruby Hero Award: 2016
- Organization founded: Organization for Ethical Source (2020)
- Musical aliases: A Little Fire Scarecrow, Sudre’s Violin
- Professional roles: Programmer, orator, writer
Questions readers ask
What is the Contributor Covenant?
It is a code of conduct created by Ehmke in 2014 for open source projects to promote inclusive environments, now used by major entities like Google and Apple.
What was the Culture Offset?
A 2014 project developed with Betsy Haibel that allowed developers to donate to diversity initiatives as a form of boycott against GitHub.
Achievements
- Worked as programmer, writer and orator
