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Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

nerdess.net

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Re: Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

#41

Post by kellishaver »

atomical wrote: post #4

"This is a bit of a delicate topic. Quite often I am the only female person in the team and have to be careful not to take advantage of the perks that come with it. Guys are fascinated and scared by girls who roll up their sleeves and take on a job that society labels as “men’s work”. If you’ve ever drilled a hole, skinned a rabbit, or changed a tyre you know what I mean. As I mentioned earlier, guys will definitely…

I've never experienced it either, but maybe it's regional influence.

I've worked on a lot of teams over the years, often as the only female on a project. Only once have I felt in any way "different" from anyone else on the team, be it in a positive or negative way, and I don't think that was intentional. It was a startup ran by young, single guys, and I was a mid 30's mom. We just had different priorities and interests and the culture wasn't a good fit. But there wasn't anything negative or sexist about it, just differences.

Re: Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

#44

Post by booop »

reso wrote: post #40
victorhn wrote: post #11

"If a male and a female developer with a similar skill level apply for a job, I bet that in 99.9% of the cases the girl will get the job." That looks like sexism to me.

Realistically, this choice would never happen, because any decent software shop would hire both if they were identically qualified.

Not if they have the resources to hire only one.

Re: Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

#46

Post by enraged_camel »

borplk wrote: post #24
atomical wrote: post #4

"This is a bit of a delicate topic. Quite often I am the only female person in the team and have to be careful not to take advantage of the perks that come with it. Guys are fascinated and scared by girls who roll up their sleeves and take on a job that society labels as “men’s work”. If you’ve ever drilled a hole, skinned a rabbit, or changed a tyre you know what I mean. As I mentioned earlier, guys will definitely…

Honestly the whole nerd thing is a completely western (mostly American) thing. I have a very different background and we don't even have a word for "nerd". The absolute closest synonym you can find is "really smart" which is positive, and a negative one would be "bookworm". And these western stereotypes are absolutely non-existent. If you ask people in the streets to tell you general traits about 'the nerds' they won…

I don't buy that it's completely western. I was born and raised in Turkey, and the term for nerd there is "inek" which translates to "cow". The idea is that the person spends most of their time with their head buried in books, much like cows spend a lot of time with their heads buried in grass. Definitely not a positive term.

Re: Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

#47

Post by physcab »

I'd love to use this opportunity to do a little promotion. My sister and I just launched a site to connect women in industry with girls taking math and science called Girls Love Math (http://www.glmclub.org).

It would make my day if women like nerdess became mentors. I have a feeling that lots of girls are looking up to them.

Re: Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

#48

Post by masry »

"This is a bit of a delicate topic. Quite often I am the only female person in the team and have to be careful not to take advantage of the perks that come with it."

"you can get away with a lot of things just by fluttering your eyelashes and being a bit cheeky, which is a habit that is so easy to get into. I have to confess I’ve done it myself because if you are surrounded by guys all day you quickly feel powerful."

"Technical directors are really keen to hire girls because we boost the morale."

"If a male and a female developer with a similar skill level apply for a job, I bet that in 99.9% of the cases the girl will get the job."

How is all this not sexist? Or is sexism against males not sexism anymore? This is sexist, and shouldn't be upvoted.

Re: Why it is Awesome to be a Girl in Tech

#49

Post by enraged_camel »

Evbn wrote: post #28
abduhl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would probably pick the person that meshes with the team best rather than the one that panders to my internal sense of injustice.

I would pick the person who would broaden my team's perspective and not reinforce our biases.

I don't understand why the decision has to be based on only one criteria.
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