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I'm not a Woman in Tech

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Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#101

Post by angersock »

booleandilemma wrote: post #42
RUG3Y wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you but I pretty much opted out of social media entirely. If I do participate, it's generally for the purpose of keeping in touch with someone or watching a band's tour schedule. Sharing opinions is just not "safe" anymore.

Sharing opinions is just not "safe" anymore Free speech is dead.

I'm not sure that free speech is dead so much as people's ability to think critically is dead, or at the very least their ability to deal with the idea that sometimes people who are great in every other respect advocate a position they don't.

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#102

Post by johnpython »

SV tech companies are infested with young white brogrammers who only want to work with people who look like them and share their hobbies/interests. They call it "cultural fit"

Edit: missed important adjective "white"

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#103

Post by mercurysmessage »

adventured wrote: post #96

edit Why did my comment get dislodged from being underneath another comment that I was replying to? It's now showing as a stand-alone comment under the thread. ------------------------------------------- I'm doing a similar thing. I stopped posting anything personal on Facebook about a year ago and I never post to Twitter. I'll never go back to posting personal thoughts on social media, not under any circumstances. I…

I don't think you are approaching this right. You are painting an entire group of people under the same brush... Also, feminism is promoting equality.

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#104

Post by Pxtl »

It's hard to know what's right on this stuff. For every woman like Maria, there's another woman saying that exclusive events helped her get over her fears and join in. There are women who celebrated their geeky side and then were scared off by men who, for whatever reason, couldn't manage to treat her like one of the boys.

Some areas of tech have reached that terrible threshold where women aren't just a minority, they're ultra-rare. This makes the problem worse as they become a black hole for all the attention, both positive and negative (and that terrible combination of both where a million lonely young men chase the one woman who is Like Them). Even if you subscribe to the idea that the apparent disinterest of women in the field is not a real problem, you can't deny that it's bad when they start facing the effects of being a "fringe group".

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#105

Post by briholt »

billions wrote: post #72
aphextron wrote: post #2

>I want inclusivity, not exclusivity. Thank you. I find myself feeling the exact same way as a black man in this industry, and cringe at "minority only" events and clubs. We don't need token inclusion and separate praise for being "brave" and "fighting against the odds". We need a world where those things are irrelevant.

Top performers will not let their accomplishments be belittled through association with a marginalized sub-group. Sub-group leaders, often not masters in their field, find opportunity in leading sub-groups. Everyone in between, that fits the sub-group demographics, quietly takes advantage of the new benefits from the sidelines. The only group that does not have political power is the treat 'everybody' decent group, w…

Haven't you heard? Treating everybody decently is racism.

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#106

Post by rootlocus »

dang wrote: post #78
rootlocus wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think it's the class system that's holding you back from being Elon Musk, you're the one holding yourself back.

That's not what buf said. On HN, please be charitable when interpreting others, in the sense of responding to the strongest plausible interpretation of their meaning. It makes discussions more interesting and flamewars less likely.

Perhaps you can find a more charitable interpretation for my comment? If it's not what he said, then it doesn't apply to him. But if it does, it is my personal opinion that people can free themselves of the mindset that how others see them affects what they can or can not do.

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#108

Post by Latty »

saiya-jin wrote: post #28
serg_chernata wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching from the sidelines as a white male, I have to say that I find these kinds of situations so confusing. Some people want these differences to be highlighted, while others like yourself want the complete opposite. I'm left believing that my only choice is to have no opinion. Though I lean towards your stance across the board.

I can't agree more - coming from former east-bloc european environment where women had to work same as men and there was no racism (simply because there were only white people for last 2000 years on this place), both of what you mention is distant issue (but clearly some other places are/were riddled with it). I already treat women as equal (actually more), same goes to my LBGT friends and colleagues, and same for al…

"Only white people" doesn't mean "no racism". As an Englishman, let me assure you my ancestors managed racism against white Irish people extremely well, and - somewhat ironically - plenty of the less educated people around me today are extremely racist to eastern Europeans (who are supposedly "takin' er jerbs").

Your point is "I don't do racist things, therefore there isn't a problem", which is just not true - there are still huge problems for tons of people with racism, sexism and other bigotry, and just because you don't see it or notice it doesn't make it not a problem. You got annoyed? I'm sure some non-racists were annoyed when all anyone could talk about was how bad slavery was. If you don't care about the issue, feel free to ignore it - but saying that people are imposing on you by caring is just unreasonable.

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#109

Post by monksy »

BlackjackCF wrote: post #36

As a queer woman in tech... I feel this so much. I don't really know where to sit on this. It's a bit confusing for me. I understand the need for "X minority group in tech" events, I really do. I think it helps newcomers and people who feel like they're at the fringe find a community. At the same time, I DO find it a little weird at times to go to "LGBTQ-only", "Asian-only", or "women-only" events. It just kind of re…

I believe that it's an exploit for honest people's desire to be fair. In reality, it's self-segregation.

Re: I'm not a Woman in Tech

#110

Post by lmm »

te_chris wrote: post #35
sotojuan wrote: post #17

There's an interesting dichotomy on the "women in tech" question between "SV tech" and non-SV tech. I briefly worked at a tech company making oil industry software in .NET in a Houston suburb. Not trendy, cubicles, but they paid fine (and unlike my current job the office was quiet). I quickly noticed that half of my coworkers were not only women, but a lot were people of color and older (I actually think I was the on…

Absolutely. People are rarely willing to talk about class in these discussions, but the reality is that not only have we created an industry with a gender imbalance, we've created an industry with a culture that prioritises the values of one class (middle/upper-class urban men) over everything else. Thus you have 'casual' workplaces with games consoles, beer, lame forced socialising, chill zones etc in which some peo…

My experience is exactly the opposite - "professional" workplaces are all about middle/upper-class values of dress/speech/behaviour and only comfortable for those with a middle/upper-class cultural/educational background, while the SV-casual workplace is a lot more welcoming for those of us from working/lower-middle class.
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