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

Tech is the best industry for women

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 193 posts

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#141

Post by humanrebar »

dragonwriter wrote: post #125
humanrebar wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being inclusive and meritocratic doesn't mean accepting things that are within your culture. I think there's some subtle definition creep in the word "inclusive" these days. It's starting to mean "cosmopolitan". I recall the recent STEM girl scouts story. One of the commenters called the initiative "inclusive", which isn't quite the right. It's the same girls scouts doing something different, so it's not more inclu…

> It's the same girls scouts doing something different Alternatively, it's a change by scout leadership which broadens the set of interests to which the Girl Scouts appeal, increasing the diversity of the population the scouts will be able to recruit and retain. Hence, inclusive.

Hmmm... maybe. There's a sense of immediacy to 'inclusive', though. Like someone is already included. What you're describing is more like 'hospitable' or 'inviting' or, again, 'eclectic'.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#142

Post by balls187 »

gitlabuser wrote: post #106
whatsmypwagain wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech is inclusive, accepting and weird as long as you're a liberal aged 40 and under.

Exactly. I'm liberal but I'm still astounded by the vitrol, hate, and language my colleagues use to describe conservatives and Republicans. Inclusion means accepting people as people, not accepting just the people who look, talk, and share the same beliefs as you.

> Inclusion means accepting people as people, not accepting just the people who look, talk, and share the same beliefs as you.

No. There are some beliefs that run counter to our societies ideals. Those beliefs and the people who espouse them should be shunned. Harshly.

Sorry you (theoretical Republican) don't think Gay people should be allowed to get married. Keep your backward ass beliefs to yourself.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#143

Post by droidist2 »

groby_b wrote: post #115
microcolonel wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don't get this "I'll criticize everything that I think mainly men enjoy!" mentality. I couple interviewees with this idea in their mind criticized a company I was working at a couple years ago, and I was left scratching my head. As a guy, I didn't use the foosball table or the ping pong table all that much. They said it was a "brogrammer" thing, but I don't understand how other people wanting to compete on th…

The point is that it creates a specific type of environment - which is exclusive. It attracts a specific kind of person (competitive, usually male). There's nothing wrong with offering it, per se. But you should make sure it's not the only thing you offer. And you need to make sure it's not the place where all the decisions get made. That is where the problem comes from. You'll be excluded from the "inner circle" unl…

I think because the US is largely a car-oriented society so it's harder to meet new people. To compensate we find socialization more with those at work.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#144

Post by dragonwriter »

humanrebar wrote: post #141
dragonwriter wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the same girls scouts doing something different Alternatively, it's a change by scout leadership which broadens the set of interests to which the Girl Scouts appeal, increasing the diversity of the population the scouts will be able to recruit and retain. Hence, inclusive.

Hmmm... maybe. There's a sense of immediacy to 'inclusive', though. Like someone is already included. What you're describing is more like 'hospitable' or 'inviting' or, again, 'eclectic'.

> There's a sense of immediacy to 'inclusive', though.

Perhals, but there's no reason the recruitment and retention effect on people with the interests it addresses would not be, at least to some extent, immediate.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#146

Post by sqeaky »

gitlabuser wrote: post #99
civilian wrote: post #40

I think tech represents a good implementation of a meritocracy. You are welcomed to be weird and yourself, as long as you get your work done. Think about your coworkers-- you've got some weird ones. Dyed hair? Check. Burlesque dancing? Check. Gender non-conforming? Check. Goes to Burning Man? Check, check, self-check. Any of these things could get you fired from teaching kindergarten. Let's keep tech inclusive and ac…

I don't think that any of these examples show that Bay Area tech is a meritocracy or inclusive. The truth is the tech community has a culture and almost all the things you mentioned are almost stereotypical parts of it. These all fit within the tech culture: * Going to burning man * Going to SXSW * Working with the LGBT community * Tattoos / Dyed hair * Pole dancing * Wearing Stan Smiths * Being obsessed with high en…

I work in a software development and we have someone with every item on the 2nd list except someone who is homeless (we might, but I would have expected that to come up).

Tech is hugely accepting. It is too easy to be punished by putting out bad products, so people put aside that which doesn't matter for the product and get to work. Skipping people for any of these reasons could mean not hiring the right person. Any team without enough of the right talent fails in the marketplace.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#147

Post by [deleted] »

needlessly wrote: post #140
anotherbrownguy wrote: post #90

When it comes to some of these jobs, there seems to be a trope that the job market should be about "equal representation" which is complete nonsense but it is great for women because big companies want to present themselves as "respecting equality" and hence women are more likely to be hired in those positions than equally qualified men. So, yes, it is definitely very lucrative for women to pursue a career in tech in…

nobody cares about more men in elementary schools and nursing because its about equal representation in power and influence that comes with wealth.

[deleted]

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#148

Post by Sk1pp »

balls187 wrote: post #142
gitlabuser wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I'm liberal but I'm still astounded by the vitrol, hate, and language my colleagues use to describe conservatives and Republicans. Inclusion means accepting people as people, not accepting just the people who look, talk, and share the same beliefs as you.

> Inclusion means accepting people as people, not accepting just the people who look, talk, and share the same beliefs as you. No. There are some beliefs that run counter to our societies ideals. Those beliefs and the people who espouse them should be shunned. Harshly. Sorry you (theoretical Republican) don't think Gay people should be allowed to get married. Keep your backward ass beliefs to yourself.

I think you just helped further the posters first statement.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#149

Post by sqeaky »

gitlabuser wrote: post #127
civilian wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

:[ I'm a gun-shooting libertarian. Don't assume my Tribe. You're right, the "tech tribe" does have improvements to make in inclusivity, but at least it's a home for some people who would otherwise be outcasts in socially conservative businesses. As for a few things: - I think we're just as accepting of blacks, our high school education system has just utterly failed them so much that we don't have a good pipeline for…

I agree that tech has been a haven for some who would be outcasts in other areas. Specifically the LGBT community. To address your other points: * I don't buy the pipeline argument. I've seen huge bias is how the tech community treats blacks. For example, I've seen a few black colleagues try to transfer into software engineering and get huge amounts of push back. Ironically I did the same thing (transfer from product…

Some homelessness is due to untreated mental illness. Some homeless is due to other factors I am largely ignoring that, intentionally.

Tech is all about mental aptitude. Some mental health issues interfere with the required skills and some do not. Someone with ADD, bipolar or impostor syndrome is not strongly adversely affected, while someone with dissociative schizophrenia and cannot make decisions that keep sheltered will not succeed in tech and might not even with proper treatment.

What can tech do to better reach out to people who are homeless because they have mental issues that impact their decision making so much as to destroy their ability to maintain shelter? This problem is too big for a company to handle we need cultural and government change to address that.

I don't know what is up with your black colleagure, could you expand on that? I went from being a shitty programmer to a decent because a black programmer taught me a few key lessons about how to think, so there are at least a few mixed in with us.

I think tech is about as inclusive as it can be barring isolated exceptions.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#150

Post by gitlabuser »

balls187 wrote: post #142
gitlabuser wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I'm liberal but I'm still astounded by the vitrol, hate, and language my colleagues use to describe conservatives and Republicans. Inclusion means accepting people as people, not accepting just the people who look, talk, and share the same beliefs as you.

> Inclusion means accepting people as people, not accepting just the people who look, talk, and share the same beliefs as you. No. There are some beliefs that run counter to our societies ideals. Those beliefs and the people who espouse them should be shunned. Harshly. Sorry you (theoretical Republican) don't think Gay people should be allowed to get married. Keep your backward ass beliefs to yourself.

Well I think you've just proved my point. Not all Republicans are against gay marriage. In fact around 40% support gay marriage: http://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay...

And I think using "backward ass beliefs" to describe Republicans seems pretty bigoted to me. It certainly doesn't win over the 40% who do support gay marriage from working with you and it excludes half of the country.

Post reply on HN