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82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

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Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#171

Post by mehrdadn »

tomateosoup wrote: post #130
mehrdadn wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having taught older adults to use computers, one of the major difficulties is getting them past the fear that they might "break" the computer This is the exact same problem I've always had many times when tinkering with electronics, so I can wholeheartedly understand it. Fortunately with computers you can pretty much promise laymen that any problem they cause fixable with no cost (except time), but in the case of e…

I've been tinkering with electronics for about 30 years. Can do some cool stuff like assembling a power supply from scratch or an amplfier, can also put together projects with arduinos, raspberries, etc. I still fry components once in a while. But it's fun! If you are a programmer one hour of your time is worth a lot more than the cost of the components of many fun projects. A few tips: - Do not touch anything you ca…

Cool, thanks! :)

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#172

Post by mehrdadn »

jdietrich wrote: post #169
mehrdadn wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having taught older adults to use computers, one of the major difficulties is getting them past the fear that they might "break" the computer This is the exact same problem I've always had many times when tinkering with electronics, so I can wholeheartedly understand it. Fortunately with computers you can pretty much promise laymen that any problem they cause fixable with no cost (except time), but in the case of e…

>but in the case of electronics I find it much more difficult to overcome the fear that I might actually physically fry something and need to buy a new one. Anyone have tips for that? Set yourself a learning budget and accept that blowing things up is part of the experience. It's not terribly expensive to buy a large stock of basic components. Sellers like Banggood offer assortments of resistors, capacitors, diodes a…

Thanks, yeah. Though it's not necessarily so much the money (at least for cheap components), but the hassle of (a) figuring out if things are actually broken or if you're doing it wrong, and (b) actually going through the trouble of getting new components. Nice thing about software is you can use the same equipment for a while :)

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#173

Post by pbhjpbhj »

kzrdude wrote: post #49
always_good wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder the same thing trying to learn a new language. I notice the biggest difference between me and a child is that children don't care about messing up. Meanwhile I often have this worthless apprehension of "better not practice Spanish on these Spanish speakers, I might mess up and feel stupid." I tried to learn Spanish like I learned how to program. Now I'm living proof that you can become good enough to read bo…

It's a different skill but I'm learning piano as an adult. I have a digital piano and headphones, and it's great — nobody like neighbors, roomates or people outside on the street hears so I can play around and learn without problem. We can't really do the same with languages, but it's interesting! I definitely feel how I tense up if I have to practice openly.

I'm learning karate. It's entirely opposite your position in that I'm lined up with beginners of all ages, so I'm learning alongside 7/8 yo boys and girls (I'm middle aged); and often some parents watch the class.

It's difficult to be in the open like that - but it's a lesson in humility.

It has given me a great appreciation of my children who are also in the class (at higher grades), and been a fascinating lesson in learning and development. It's helped me in many ways - I'd recommend it.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#174

Post by justbaker »

olingern wrote: post #141
huseyinkeles wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I can comment more as to why / how. please, I'd like to hear your observations.

I'm from the south in the US, specifically the Appalachia (`app-uh-lai-chuh` for us) region. The culture I grew up in and Japan aren't so dissimilar. That's partly why I live in Japan. Aside from people being on time and getting food to you -- "things" (for lack of better term) move slow here. Some examples: - It took me three weeks to get a debit card from one of the national banks here. They have a web login and se…

I do like that the Japanese culture seems more apt to actually stop and smell the roses.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#175

Post by ajdlinux »

csomar wrote: post #170
lhl wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find a lot of the preconceptions on Japan seem to carry over from perceptions of their economic and industrial prowess from the 80s and 90s and consumer electronics and mobile technology dominance in the 90s-00s. Things have changed a lot since then - besides high tech the other preconception is the assumption that costs/expenses are quite high - I’ve found these days Tokyo (and doubly so for the rest of the countr…

> I’m not sure I’ve seen another transit card around the world that works across the whole country. HongKong but it is a small city. The card also functions in Macau.

As is Singapore's EZ-Link. In fact, you can buy a EZ-Link SINO Visitor Pass, which is both a Singapore EZ-Link card and a Guangdong Lingnan card... I know Hong Kong issues a few cards like this for cities across the border in the mainland.

Still, not nearly as impressive as the Japanese system.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#176

Post by cup-of-tea »

olingern wrote: post #135

I just moved to Japan, and it's fascinating that connotations (including my previous) with Japan are "High tech, futuristic, efficient" when in reality it is, "slow moving, traditional, and (frequently) inefficient." I can comment more as to why / how. This woman is not only fighting cultural norms of the _world_, but also Japan. Software engineering, in general, lags so far behind the rest of the world, save robotic…

> Seriously, the field needs more role models like Grace Hopper to idolize rather than our current trend of Jobs, Gates, Woz, Knuth, etc.

How about not idolising anyone? Those role models you list are each admired for completely different reasons. What's wrong with them? At the moment your comment seems sexist.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#177

Post by madmulita »

rwmj wrote: post #166
staticelf wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If gender doesn't matter, why is it a good thing to see more of a specific one?

If 100% of their engineers are women then yes they still have a problem. If it's a sign that they have a more even balance then it's a good thing because they're not wasting/ignoring 50% of the potential pool of people, and because diversity of backgrounds leads to better decision making and more innovation[1] which presumably as a tech company is a desirable outcome. [1] See references to papers in this blog posting…

It might be a sign of exactly the opposite. Unless we know the method used to pick the speakers, it's all speculation.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#178

Post by olingern »

cup-of-tea wrote: post #176
olingern wrote: post #135

I just moved to Japan, and it's fascinating that connotations (including my previous) with Japan are "High tech, futuristic, efficient" when in reality it is, "slow moving, traditional, and (frequently) inefficient." I can comment more as to why / how. This woman is not only fighting cultural norms of the _world_, but also Japan. Software engineering, in general, lags so far behind the rest of the world, save robotic…

> Seriously, the field needs more role models like Grace Hopper to idolize rather than our current trend of Jobs, Gates, Woz, Knuth, etc. How about not idolising anyone? Those role models you list are each admired for completely different reasons. What's wrong with them? At the moment your comment seems sexist.

Right. Sexist. Okay. I'll bite.

Since I'm clearly in the wrong here, I'll let you explain to minorities, women, and non-gendered people why there aren't any people in the engineering limelight that look like them.

While you're at it, please figure out how to break into their subconscious to make them believe that they're capable while the rest of the world shows no clues of that.

I'll be waiting.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#179

Post by laurieg »

discordance wrote: post #161
olingern wrote: post #135

I just moved to Japan, and it's fascinating that connotations (including my previous) with Japan are "High tech, futuristic, efficient" when in reality it is, "slow moving, traditional, and (frequently) inefficient." I can comment more as to why / how. This woman is not only fighting cultural norms of the _world_, but also Japan. Software engineering, in general, lags so far behind the rest of the world, save robotic…

I attended a Microsoft developer event in Tokyo today and was surprised that all of the keynote engineer speakers were female. Might have been a bit of a marketing exercise, but nonetheless it’s a really good thing to see.

Interestingly, I've was unable to attend a developer event in Japan last year due to my gender.

I find all sorts of different types of sexism in Japan, but also lots of young hardworking people who have no time for it.

Re: 82-Year-Old Japanese Woman Finds Success in Coding

#180

Post by surfmike »

olingern wrote: post #178
cup-of-tea wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seriously, the field needs more role models like Grace Hopper to idolize rather than our current trend of Jobs, Gates, Woz, Knuth, etc. How about not idolising anyone? Those role models you list are each admired for completely different reasons. What's wrong with them? At the moment your comment seems sexist.

Right. Sexist. Okay. I'll bite. Since I'm clearly in the wrong here, I'll let you explain to minorities, women, and non-gendered people why there aren't any people in the engineering limelight that look like them. While you're at it, please figure out how to break into their subconscious to make them believe that they're capable while the rest of the world shows no clues of that. I'll be waiting.

Totally agree we need role models from all groups and should make sure especially that the ones who are minorities get all the attention they deserve. That doesn't mean that our existing ones should be undesirable because of their gender and race.
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