Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well I was just thinking of it interfering withwork
In what way would it interfere with work?
its happening at work no? what does it have to do with work otherwise?
Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
391–400 of 510 posts
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't want to speak for my wife, but she has been actively involved in Girls Who Code, and seems to have thought that it was worthwhile. As I understand it, it's more about letting girls know that programming is an option, rather than being about segregating female engineers. I think this is necessary because I have personally seen the assumption that men are engineers and women are support people limit the careers…
Apologies for the ambiguous pronoun, I was referring to myself and my partner.
Oh, understand. Yes, I misinterpreted the subjects of the statement.
[1] edit: oi, changed "understood" to "understand". The former implied that I immediately understood what you were saying. I was trying to say that I didn't initially understand, but do now after the correction... sorry if that caused more confusion.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#393Get 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…
If you think that interpersonal and morale issues don't affect how effectively a company functions, I kind of think you don't get how companies function.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#394The common thread running through all of this was that what seemed to drive these women from their own roles in tech were the incompetence or inexperience of management. I'm young enough (born in the late 1980's) that during my entire time in the work force, I feel like I've only ever met ONE "real" manager. I've known many people in management roles, but I think we've definitely lost sight of what good management ev…
I found the same, but consider it to be bias. Once you have had a really good manager, you compare everyone else to them, and of course the rest fall short.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think a male boss inviting a female employee over for "drinks" on a Saturday night at his home is nothing more than a "friendly gesture"?
OP says: > Boss: "Hey, my partner and I would love it if.. So, you think the partner being there is just a premise?
I don't know. The Uber post involved a manager talking about swinging.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#396Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#397As a female engineer, I haven't actually experienced any sexism or gender related issues in any company I've worked in. I've worked in a good number from small startups to large companies. I've always felt really comfortable - but I am a really straightforward person and know how to decline offers after a company interview if the culture fit doesn't feel right. What do I look for that's related to gender? Usually a c…
Thanks. I've only worked at companies where the median age is well over 30, and when I read horror stories it often sounds like the problem mostly stems from overall immaturity, in both age and management experience. I'm sure age is no magic cure for all the assholery in this world, but the correlation between "family dad" and "decent, professional coworker" seems to fare nicely.
Since this is the only advice to women I can come up with, I'm glad to read that it worked out for one person at least.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
The majority of people I know do it for the passion. Nice salary is a bonus, but I'm 100% the men I know would do the same work even for pennies.
I used to think, every so often, "Don't they realize that I'd do this even if they didn't pay me?" But then I got married, had children, the kids grew up and needed braces and cars and college. I really need work that pays well right now, whether or not I like the work.
I know very well how tough it is... but for a lot of guys, things like that are not a priority. For different reasons... I personally believe this is what makes the difference between women and men. Women tend to appreciate real things like family, kids, healthy lifestyle more than the geeks who are fine with staring a screen all day long.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, so, in concrete terms, how do you propose people treat their employees equally regardless of sex? Empirically that is not currently what happens, and probably not because someone twirling his mustache said "let's deliberately discriminate against women."
Excellent question! Here is my imperfect idea that is much easier said than done. FWIW, I do work as a software engineer at a very technical firm that I think does a stellar job getting this right. The biggest thing is the pay gap. Fixing the pay gap does make employees more equal as an employer trades money for an employees time. We have a long way to go to fix the current pay gap in tech at least. Also I have heard…
> Also I have heard of managers who don't promote women as tech / team leads for fear they'll get pregnant and be on leave for 2-6 months taking care of their child. I literally told a guy at my last job that was not cool when he said that.
Has this ever made sense considering the ammount of turnover in tech circles. A guy promoted to tech lead for six months can probably get a decent salary bump elsewhere with that on his resume. And unlike the pregnant women, he isn't coming back with his knowledge and a newfound interest in job stability.
Re: Ask a Female Engineer: How Can Managers Help Retain Technical Women?
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
I share your frustration, but I've found the landscape to be more complex than most people are willing to give it credit for. For example, my partner and I disagree on the value of things like "Girls who Code" or "Women in Computer Science" groups. I (male) tend to think "can't hurt seems like a decent idea, I'm sure there are unique challenges faced by people with two X-chromosomes in computer science that I'm not a…
I don't want to speak for my wife, but she has been actively involved in Girls Who Code, and seems to have thought that it was worthwhile. As I understand it, it's more about letting girls know that programming is an option, rather than being about segregating female engineers. I think this is necessary because I have personally seen the assumption that men are engineers and women are support people limit the careers…
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "bullshit mythmaking"? I'm not familiar with that turn of phrase.