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Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

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Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#81

Post by wutbrodo »

jychang wrote: post #5

This is talking about CS10, not CS61a. CS10 is a class designed mostly for non majors, who are interested in Computer Science; CS61a is the first required class for the major. I know of a bunch of CS guys with their girlfriends in CS10. A lot of people who are already set on taking CS as their major go directly into CS61a, skipping CS10, and this accounts for a lot of the gender ratio difference in CS10. If you look…

A few years back, the optional intro course was CS3 (though I don't think it was meant for non-majors). Has CS10 just replaced CS3, or does CS3 still exist and CS10 is something separate?

EDIT: Never mind, I looked it up, which I should have done in the first place. CS3 is the optional intro CS/programming class ("Intro to Symbolic Programming"), and CS10 is "The Beauty and Joy of Computing", which seems designed for non-majors getting an introduction to "the history, social implications, great principles, and future of computing", with a gentle introduction to programming in a graphical language.

I guess that makes the article substantially less significant/interesting.

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#82

Post by mrxd »

geebee wrote: post #18

I recently read the "top jobs" on the us news and world report website. http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-b... Computer jobs were well represented, but so were health sciences. Here's the full list 1. software developer - san jose - 116K (93k natl avg) 2. computer systems analyst - (couldn’t find it in SF, best anywhere was $116k in bridgeport, 84k nation avg) 3. dentist - couldn’t find SF, c…

> We need to consider, seriously, the possibility that avoidance of high tech in favor of health fields is a very rational choice

Why does this only apply to women?

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#83

Post by sean-duffy »

geebee wrote: post #18

I recently read the "top jobs" on the us news and world report website. http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-b... Computer jobs were well represented, but so were health sciences. Here's the full list 1. software developer - san jose - 116K (93k natl avg) 2. computer systems analyst - (couldn’t find it in SF, best anywhere was $116k in bridgeport, 84k nation avg) 3. dentist - couldn’t find SF, c…

I'm very confused about how this places Software Developer at #1 and Computer Programmer at #30. I'd always understood these to be different terms for the same thing, is there some distinction I'm missing that accounts for the $15,000 difference in average salary?

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#84

Post by wutbrodo »

hayksaakian wrote: post #2

Not 2 years ago, it was at least 90% male. Although towards the end of the term, it trended towards a balance. ----- On review, the article is NOT about what you'd consider CS1 "Introduction to Symbolic Programming was reborn as Beauty and the Joy of Computing." This is a CS class in the loosest sense of the word. It fulfills no prerequisites towards a CS degree. OTOH I could just be cynical, and this class is just w…

Into to Symbolic Programming hasn't been replaced. http://general-catalog.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_list_crse_re...

Compare the descriptions for CS3L (Intro to Symbolic Programming) to CS10. They both still exist and seem very different.

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#85

Post by DanBC »

yogo wrote: post #77
DanBC wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We need to consider, seriously, the possibility that avoidance of high tech in favor of health fields is a very rational choice [...] It's great if people are making a rational. Onsidered choice. I'd love to see research. I suspect that people are not making that informed choice and that segregation along sex happens much much earlier. And if being an RN is so good why are so many nurses imported from other nations…

They are imported because there is a big difference between a nurse and an RN. I couldn't think of a similar distinction in the tech industry. Also I'd also venture to say that RNs are paid very well all across the US.

Isn't the progress Nurse -> RN? Or is it a completely different path?

The link said average pay for RNs was $69,000

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#86

Post by nousernamesleft »

Pxtl wrote: post #50
ef4 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha. That's a Silicon-Valley-centric problem. There's plenty of programming work in great walkable places in San Francisco proper, New York, Boston, etc.

I'm not in Silicon Valley, I live in Ontario. The tech industry in this province is concentrated in two places: 1) Waterloo, which everyone sees as a ticking time-bomb because of Rim. and 2) Mississauga, which is Toronto's sprawl and is where all our soulless corporate code is written. Fortunately, I work for a hospital.

So live in Mississauga? It is the nicest place anywhere near Toronto anyways. Also you missed Toronto itself which has tons of tech jobs, and richmond hill/markham which absolutely dwarfs Waterloo's imaginary tech industry.

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#87

Post by nousernamesleft »

saraid216 wrote: post #70
cobrausn wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you actually determine what is 'over-represented' and not just the result of individual agency en masse?

Individual agency en masse should be a random distribution, which results in a proportionate representation within reasonable error margins. Not having this suggests that there's another factor besides individual agency factoring into decisions. It could be something acceptable, like men can't biologically give birth (yet), or it could be something unacceptable, like blacks being targeted by police solely on suspicio…

>Individual agency en masse should be a random distribution

What are you basing that assumption on? You are 100% certain that there is no possible way that men and women could have different preferences, priorities or interests?

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#88

Post by angersock »

ry0ohki wrote: post #9
jychang wrote: post #5

This is talking about CS10, not CS61a. CS10 is a class designed mostly for non majors, who are interested in Computer Science; CS61a is the first required class for the major. I know of a bunch of CS guys with their girlfriends in CS10. A lot of people who are already set on taking CS as their major go directly into CS61a, skipping CS10, and this accounts for a lot of the gender ratio difference in CS10. If you look…

That's what I was thinking. I remember CS101 at my school had a decent amount of women, but by the time you reached 3rd year they all had disappeared.

Back in college, I had a roommate who was a recently-graduated electrical engineer (I, at the time, was a rising sophomore). We had a chat about dating in electrical engineering.

"Angersock," he said," do you know how many women there were in my first year?"

I thought for a second. "I don't know, maybe 20 or 30?".

"About half my class of around 80 or so. Do you know how many I graduated with?"

"Erm, 10 or 15?"

"Try 3. Does the phrase 'hunted to extinction' mean anything to you?"

Re: Women Outnumber Men For The First Time In Berkeley’s Intro To Computer Science

#90

Post by nsxwolf »

southphillyman wrote: post #17

Gaining on Ya! Hopefully one day the minorities will outnumber the majority for the first time. :)

Careful, once the majority becomes the minority, they'll be able to turn all your playbooks right back at you.
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