Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You May Have Seen My Face on BART

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 31 posts

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#11

Post by matthewmacleod »

noahtovares wrote: post #10

I think there is another issues with these ads. "My code helps Fortune 500 companies keep their data secure" vs. "My team is great. Everyone is smart, creative, and hilarious" This gives the impression that the woman is not excited about the 'engineering' work, but instead about the social aspects of the workplace.

This gives the impression that the woman is not excited about the 'engineering' work, but instead about the social aspects of the workplace.

That's a weak objection at best. Talking about how smart and creative your team is is obviously praising their engineering capabilities.

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#12

Post by bshimmin »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #11
noahtovares wrote: post #10

I think there is another issues with these ads. "My code helps Fortune 500 companies keep their data secure" vs. "My team is great. Everyone is smart, creative, and hilarious" This gives the impression that the woman is not excited about the 'engineering' work, but instead about the social aspects of the workplace.

This gives the impression that the woman is not excited about the 'engineering' work, but instead about the social aspects of the workplace. That's a weak objection at best. Talking about how smart and creative your team is is obviously praising their engineering capabilities.

You say that, but "hilarious" isn't normally a word I associate positively with engineering. "Isambard Kingdom Brunel's bridges were hilarious!"

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#13

Post by forgetsusername »

noahtovares wrote: post #10

I think there is another issues with these ads. "My code helps Fortune 500 companies keep their data secure" vs. "My team is great. Everyone is smart, creative, and hilarious" This gives the impression that the woman is not excited about the 'engineering' work, but instead about the social aspects of the workplace.

>This gives the impression that the woman is not excited about the 'engineering' work, but instead about the social aspects of the workplace."

It only "gives that impression" to people who love being offended by everything and anything.

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#16

Post by throawayalwayz »

forgetsusername wrote: post #15

> "I am a passionate self-taught engineer, extreme introvert, science-nerd, anime-lover, college dropout" Is engineering not a profession? How can you be an engineer without completing your education in an accredited engineering school?

Software engineering does not require a degree at an accredited engineering school

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#18

Post by fredophile »

ljk wrote: post #6
vvpan wrote: post #3

I am slightly confused. So what happened?

same here, not sure what the big deal is after skimming through it

The big deal is that people are judging her capabilities based on her looks. There are also people who are behaving inappropriately towards her in professional settings as a result of her looks (it isn't clear to me that this is a result of the ad). She gives two very clear examples of this unprofessional behavior. Given the limited information I could see the first being a poor attempt at a joke. However, it made her uncomfortable so it definitely wasn't appropriate. The second example is the kind of thing that can get companies sued and employees fired.

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#19

Post by vvpan »

harlanlewis wrote: post #5
vvpan wrote: post #3

I am slightly confused. So what happened?

People assumed the billboard used a stock photo, rather than a picture of an actual engineer, because she didn't conform to the physical expectations of an engineer. See the picture of the facebook comment thread in the article. It turns out a lot of engineers don't conform to the physical expectations of an engineer. A lot of them are posting to Twitter under the hashtag #ilooklikeanengineer - https://twitter.com/ha…

Ah thanks. From the text I inferred she is transgender or something.

Re: You May Have Seen My Face on BART

#20

Post by kordless »

> I didn’t ask for any of this attention, and I’m rather uncomfortable with all of it.

I was on the front page of the New York Times for being "Hooked on Gadgets". I asked for it by agreeing to be the center of the story, didn't know it was going front page when I started, and it still made me uncomfortable when it ran. At the time, it was the most commented story in the history of the New York Times. I stopped reading the comments by people about 20 comments in. My wife made it to about 100 comments before she had to quit.

People say horrible things to each other. They judge each other, they make blaming statements about each other, they speak for other's feelings, they refuse to listen to the real feelings, or thoughts, and love to rationalize away whatever issues they have with themselves that they see in others. At the end of the day, it's easier to fault someone else and draw blame to them than it is to accept their own faults.

When you go online, you open yourself up to these people. There's not a lot you can do about them other than give zero fucks what they think or say. That's a tricky thing sometimes, because you can end up hurting people who care about you while trying to avoid those that don't. I wouldn't say I'm great at it nowadays, but I'm better than I was before as a result of having dealt with it.

It's a process, being excellent to each other, and all I can do is try harder at it tomorrow than I did today. :)

Post reply on HN