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Tech is the best industry for women

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Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#151

Post by gitlabuser »

Sk1pp wrote: post #148
balls187 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

lol yes, it's comments like this which are a perfect example of why tech is not an inclusive community.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#152

Post by throw2016 »

This is a rather sweeping statement that is in denial of experiences others have had and reflects a lack of empathy than any insight into the tech industry.

Why are you so concerned about 'skewed perceptions' than the suffering of others? Surely the latter corrected will automatically address the former without any intervention.

This kind of 'since its good for me its good for everyone' thinking is self absorbed and often premature. One negative experience could send the author careening to the other end.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#153

Post by sqeaky »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #97
com2kid wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tell that to software engineers past the age of 50. Come work at a BigCorp. Here at Microsoft, every age range is represented, W/L balance is great (people supporting online services who are responsible for The Phone that week aside), and every team I have been on strives for diversity and inclusion. That said, is it a pure meritocracy? Of course not, people who play politics and are good at getting assigned to hig…

x2 BigCorps also have stability which "old" people need to support their families, especially when the kids are going to college.

x3+

I have contracted with numerous companies with old engineers. Insurance, Embedded Appliances and Defense had a reasonable distribution ages.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#154

Post by vonmoltke »

jonas21 wrote: post #131
seppin wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which industries do you think are MORE meritocratic than tech? None of them are, but tech isn't any better.

You're saying all industries are equally meritocratic? That seems hard to believe.

Is it hard to believe that no industry is very meritocratic at all?

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#155

Post by fav_collector »

amackera wrote: post #78
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…

It's a nice sentiment, but tech is very far from any sort of meritocracy. Falsely believing that it is a meritocracy can do more harm than good. I'm not trying to be negative towards your experience --- I'm glad you have a happy perception of the industry --- I just want to reinforce how important it is for us to improve diversity in all its forms before we start congratulating ourselves.

Getting a job is mostly meritocratic.

1. Many companies have a low interview bar. Anyone with a CS BS degree can get an interview at at least a few good companies. If not, you can spend time creating interesting Github projects to boost your chances.

2. Your performance in the interview usually depends on the amount of time you spend studying algorithms.

3. Most knowledge and skills in the industry can be found one click away. General software engineering jobs are self-learnable as long as you have an internet service and a web browsing device.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#156

Post by fav_collector »

gitlabuser wrote: post #25

Personally, I think this article title is clickbait. Nowhere does the author show that it's the best industry for women, only that in her experience, it was a better industry than medicine and a biology lab. And then some fluff about meritocracy. No exhaustive comparison across all the industry areas, no dive into data beyond one singular experience. I'm tired of titles that don't explain what the article is about. S…

To be fair, articles that cover this topic are almost always clickbait.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#157

Post by [deleted] »

krapp wrote: post #134
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.

And meritocracy should mean none of that matters. Tech has a long traditional preference for leftist, anarchist and liberal politics and "non-conformist" behavior, but those are more about tribalism and value signaling and, ironically, conformity than merit. You can be a hoodie wearing, blue-haired transgendered commie and still write terrible code.

[deleted]

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#158

Post by rectang »

fav_collector wrote: post #155
amackera wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a nice sentiment, but tech is very far from any sort of meritocracy. Falsely believing that it is a meritocracy can do more harm than good. I'm not trying to be negative towards your experience --- I'm glad you have a happy perception of the industry --- I just want to reinforce how important it is for us to improve diversity in all its forms before we start congratulating ourselves.

Getting a job is mostly meritocratic. 1. Many companies have a low interview bar. Anyone with a CS BS degree can get an interview at at least a few good companies. If not, you can spend time creating interesting Github projects to boost your chances. 2. Your performance in the interview usually depends on the amount of time you spend studying algorithms. 3. Most knowledge and skills in the industry can be found one c…

That assessment leaves out the time and resources necessary to sustain yourself while you build knowledge and an open source portfolio.

Additionally, networking plays a huge role in who hears about a job opportunity, who gets interviewed and who gets hired.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#159

Post by gitlabuser »

xxSparkleSxx wrote: post #100
amackera wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a nice sentiment, but tech is very far from any sort of meritocracy. Falsely believing that it is a meritocracy can do more harm than good. I'm not trying to be negative towards your experience --- I'm glad you have a happy perception of the industry --- I just want to reinforce how important it is for us to improve diversity in all its forms before we start congratulating ourselves.

Which industries do you think are MORE meritocratic than tech? Tech's not perfect, but I think they do it better than most (all?).

Professional sports are much more meritocratic than the tech industry.

Re: Tech is the best industry for women

#160

Post by stickfigure »

vonmoltke wrote: post #154
jonas21 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying all industries are equally meritocratic? That seems hard to believe.

Is it hard to believe that no industry is very meritocratic at all?

Sure - any industry that employs only True Scotsmen.
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