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Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

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Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#71

Post by JimboOmega »

At its most basic: Is a voice that isn't shouting heard and valued?

Is someone who seeks consensus from the team before moving forward rewarded? Or is someone who just goes out and does something rewarded more? You have to see what kind of styles are promoted within the organization, and if there's a place for the less aggressive/assertive within it. For those that may struggle with impostor syndrome, and not just assume they know everything.

It also really helps to see women on the team, especially in more senior positions, doing code reviews, etc. If there's a layer of men who are subtly sexist, the organization really as a whole won't retain, ever. A double standard is incredibly demoralizing.

But seriously, look at who gets listened to in meetings. Who takes up the time, is it just people who are loud and willing to argue about things, while those unwilling to interrupt never get acknowledged?

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#72

Post by ExactActuation »

oconnor663 wrote: post #64
ExactActuation wrote: post #56

These are both ridiculous. (1) can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Women should be just as passionate about the work. (2) There's such a thing as a stay-at-home-dads and men that take care of their children. What ever happened to the chant of 'equality'?

> can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen If you feel like being controversial, at least do everyone the courtesy of responding to the most obvious counter arguments ahead of time. We all know what they are, and no one wants to rehash the same stuff over and over, unless we're going to hear something new.

Oh, sorry to have offended you, I guess you run HackerNews and make all of the rules here. /sarc

I see the White Knights have already started the down-voting process.

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#73

Post by travisjungroth »

amorphid wrote: post #53

Get everyone focused on thinking about the team's mission, role, and what it takes to get the job done. Drill that into everyone's head and stick to it. Let everything else go. A mentor once told me that business fundamentally revolves around making money, saving money, saving time, and making customers happier. I like thinking about work that way, as it has nothing to do with religion, sex, gender, age, height, phas…

Wait, how does your advice answer your question about the event? Are you saying that you shouldn't host a diversity event because it doesn't explicitly match the four things you listed? Because someone might not like the event? I don't get it.

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#74

Post by spcelzrd »

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #31
gedy wrote: post #20

1) Discourage your work 'culture' from being built around aggressive tech code reviews/debates/arguments/chat where young males love to beat their chest 2) Some flexibility on hours/location when children come. Women have a harder 'stop' than men do on their child bearing age, which frequently coincides with moving into senior development roles.

It doesn't even need to be "young males beating their chest". I've been in plenty of hostile reviews with completely harmless, introverted, soft spoken INTJ-types who simply can't get past some nitpick because it doesn't fit into their perfect, logical world view and refuse to budge an inch. Our industry has a personality problem as much or more as it has a sex problem.

> Our industry has a personality problem as much or more as it has a sex problem.

The data suggests our industry has a massive sex problem. Refocusing the debate onto yourself is a blocking factor in solving this problem.

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#75

Post by madsbuch »

amorphid wrote: post #53

Get everyone focused on thinking about the team's mission, role, and what it takes to get the job done. Drill that into everyone's head and stick to it. Let everything else go. A mentor once told me that business fundamentally revolves around making money, saving money, saving time, and making customers happier. I like thinking about work that way, as it has nothing to do with religion, sex, gender, age, height, phas…

I think this thinking is discouraging. Bot to men but even more to women and it might be the reason why there are so few women in STEM fields.

I think generally work places should be much more well rounded. We spend a considerable amount of time there, so why not allow it to be a place where we expand our lives instead of a place where we only "make money, save money, save time, and make customers happier"?

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#76

Post by SloughFeg »

autotune wrote: post #39

The pay factor is definitely something that should be looked at more. I should not have find out, after talking to any woman in tech who has a passion for it, that they're basically just barely able to make it when others with the same duties at the same or other companies make a livable wage.

Young women in software get paid 7% more than young men. http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/12/pf/gender-pay-gap/

Where does this pay gap start to come into play?

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#77

Post by emodendroket »

amorphid wrote: post #53

Get everyone focused on thinking about the team's mission, role, and what it takes to get the job done. Drill that into everyone's head and stick to it. Let everything else go. A mentor once told me that business fundamentally revolves around making money, saving money, saving time, and making customers happier. I like thinking about work that way, as it has nothing to do with religion, sex, gender, age, height, phas…

I mean these Silicon Valley firms keep getting caught in blatant sexual harassment cases. I think a lot of them need, like, basic remedial education.

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#78

Post by Mythanar »

Why are we talking about women here? Anything particularly special about them?

Managers should focus on retaining top talent that allows organization to move forward. Interacting with others productively is one facet of top talent - regardless of what personal traits (love of geeky things, particular choice of hobbies or whatever else) ultimately allows for team fusion.

The moment management starts socially engineering the team on any other metric than team's ability to contribute to company cause, they are harming their organization.

Commercial entities are not avenues of social justice. They are instruments of making money.

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#79

Post by st3v3r »

amorphid wrote: post #53

Get everyone focused on thinking about the team's mission, role, and what it takes to get the job done. Drill that into everyone's head and stick to it. Let everything else go. A mentor once told me that business fundamentally revolves around making money, saving money, saving time, and making customers happier. I like thinking about work that way, as it has nothing to do with religion, sex, gender, age, height, phas…

"Staying focused on making money, saving money, saving time, and making customers happier."

To be perfectly honest, that sounds like a recipe for a dull ass, penny pinching, unenjoyable work environment. The kind where you're treated as a cost center.

Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?

#80

Post by [deleted] »

spcelzrd wrote: post #74
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't even need to be "young males beating their chest". I've been in plenty of hostile reviews with completely harmless, introverted, soft spoken INTJ-types who simply can't get past some nitpick because it doesn't fit into their perfect, logical world view and refuse to budge an inch. Our industry has a personality problem as much or more as it has a sex problem.

> Our industry has a personality problem as much or more as it has a sex problem. The data suggests our industry has a massive sex problem. Refocusing the debate onto yourself is a blocking factor in solving this problem.

[deleted]
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