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My positive experience as a woman in tech

lea.verou.me

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Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#261

Post by joshkpeterson »

falcolas wrote: post #156
userium wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on discussions we have had with women in tech at https://keepwomen.com , it's not just sexism, but many women leave tech due to working conditions (low salary, no advancement), work-life balance (too much travelling, commuting), or the company environment (poor cultural "fit"). Some solutions for retaining women in tech are e.g. flexible working hours, personal development opportunities and workforce diversity.

If I'm honest, it sounds like the same issues everybody in tech faces. We're all consistently under-compensated for the value we bring to the company (sometimes because measuring the value is genuinely hard , other times because the tech industry is solely focused on making investors money), have to leave a job to advance our careers, fight the internal politics and cliques which form between departments and teams...

Yeah but if you listen to women's experiences, there clearly are distinct problems women in tech face.

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#262

Post by joshkpeterson »

gotchange wrote: post #103
indifferentalex wrote: post #19

10/10 Will read again. The sexism debate has indeed painted a bleak picture, people so often try to show a different side of the picture but end up using the wrong words or simply adding ambiguity to the discussion, most of the time only making the matter more complicated, and worst of all, pulling us even further from a potential solution. This one showed us not only a potential solution, but also proved it's effect…

> but simply by people treating others (women included) nicely, or as my first grade teacher taught me, by following the golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated, So, no more "ladies first" and gentleman treatment for women?

Yes.

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#263

Post by reitanqild »

tangled_zans wrote: post #251
reitanqild wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is about one specific incident where a very privileged woman cost two normal developers their jobs because she took offense from a conversation she was not part of.

Yes, "she cost them their jobs". That's a "valid interpretation" of the story.

?

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#264

Post by danielmason »

Joeboy wrote: post #168
ksenzee wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. My title is Senior Software Engineer, with the corresponding experience and salary, but since my degrees are not in one of those three fields, I'm only tangentially involved in tech. Thanks for providing such a succinct demonstration of the kind of dismissal "actual women" in the field get to hear all the time.

> since my degrees are not in one of those three fields, I'm only tangentially involved in tech That conclusion cannot reasonably be inferred from the post you are responding to.

Are you being serious? That's exactly what's being implied. Which part of tangentially involved in tech juxtaposed with unlike women with Math, CS, or EE degrees would lead you to read that differently?

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#265

Post by reitanqild »

coldtea wrote: post #187
reitanqild wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I specified good because we both know not all cops are good. As for the soldiers that invaded Iraq I'd say you should judge the politicians first. I guess a lot of the soldiers felt a lot like the German soldiers that invaded certain European countries and were surprised to be shot at when they were told and many honestly thought they came to protect the locals against an imminent attack from British forces. Edit: an…

> Edit: and lets not forget that it was lame European pacifist politicians that let Hitler get so far. Actually Hitler was much beloved in the United States, right until quite close to the start of the war. Seen as a champion against communism -- like other murderers were later, e.g. Pinochet.

Anybody care to tell why coldtea was downvoted?

I don't care about stupid points, and these are not mine either but why downvote for no apparent reason?

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#266

Post by reitanqild »

tangled_zans wrote: post #218
nv-vn wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Don't see why this was flagged Because some people would rather silence people who disagree with their opinions rather than debate them or just learn to live ignore them if it's too hard.

It's not about disagreement. The poster put "scare quotes" around sexism, implying that the issue does not even exist or is worth discussing. That's not an "opinion" it's an implicit way of saying that everyone talking about it is kind of dumb for even bringing it up. EDIT: OH WOW, I HAVE BEEN DOWNVOTED. Which is not something I normally care about since I post quite controversial things anyway. But downvoted by the…

I did not downvote you. Maybe I should, but I tend to reserve that for special cases.

That said I and a few others here are downvoted for no apparent reason as well and personally I don't care to much about it except they never care to tell why. That is annoying.

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#267

Post by dikdik »

userium wrote: post #133
indifferentalex wrote: post #19

10/10 Will read again. The sexism debate has indeed painted a bleak picture, people so often try to show a different side of the picture but end up using the wrong words or simply adding ambiguity to the discussion, most of the time only making the matter more complicated, and worst of all, pulling us even further from a potential solution. This one showed us not only a potential solution, but also proved it's effect…

Based on discussions we have had with women in tech at https://keepwomen.com , it's not just sexism, but many women leave tech due to working conditions (low salary, no advancement), work-life balance (too much travelling, commuting), or the company environment (poor cultural "fit"). Some solutions for retaining women in tech are e.g. flexible working hours, personal development opportunities and workforce diversity.

I was just having a conversation with my roommate about why I have trouble identifying/believing a lot of feminist propaganda. And your statement is exactly why. Even when it is not a gender issue, femnism seems to only focus on improving female standing. That's not equality.

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#268

Post by MattRL »

douche wrote: post #98
burkaman wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you suspect that?

Because Europe is a socialist, progressive paradise, full to the brim with sunshine and unicorns! /s

Not the other poster, but it seems like some of these issues people are bringing up just don't exist in the UK at least.

I think the big problems will generally correlate, but some of the silly ones like excusing swearing around women or holding doors for women (we do that for everybody if I understand the issue correctly), just flat out don't exist.

I'd also hazard a guess that we're probably more polite when dealing with coworkers, but that's complete conjecture on my part.

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#269

Post by Lawtonfogle »

blowski wrote: post #167
Lawtonfogle wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So if I assume you don't like pizza and football because you're female, so instead buy you frozen yoghurt, I'm being sexist even if it's with the nicest of intentions. If I'm buying my young niece a toy, and see two otherwise equal toys except one is blue and one is pink, is it sexist to choose the pink one? I have to make a choice, there is no non-colored toy. I only think it crosses into sexism if my niece told me…

> If I'm buying my young niece a toy, and see two otherwise equal toys except one is blue and one is pink, is it sexist to choose the pink one? It would be sexist if you bought the pink one thinking "She's a girl, she'll prefer pink to blue" because you would be assuming something based solely on her gender. The best course of action might be to ask her "Do you want the blue one or the pink one?". But maybe you could…

>It would be sexist if you bought the pink one thinking "She's a girl, she'll prefer pink to blue" because you would be assuming something based solely on her gender.

What if I think "she is a girl, which means that, given I do not know her preference, she is more likely to prefer pink to blue"?

Is using averages sexist/racist/*ist?

Would it be genderist to assume someone who displays all the signs of a guy is a guy?

Re: My positive experience as a woman in tech

#270

Post by Lawtonfogle »

newscracker wrote: post #196
Lawtonfogle wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So if I assume you don't like pizza and football because you're female, so instead buy you frozen yoghurt, I'm being sexist even if it's with the nicest of intentions. If I'm buying my young niece a toy, and see two otherwise equal toys except one is blue and one is pink, is it sexist to choose the pink one? I have to make a choice, there is no non-colored toy. I only think it crosses into sexism if my niece told me…

> If I'm buying my young niece a toy, and see two otherwise equal toys except one is blue and one is pink, is it sexist to choose the pink one? I have to make a choice, there is no non-colored toy. This is where knowing how these associations came into being could also help you and also help educate others (including your young niece). Several decades ago, the colors promoted were blue for girls and pink for boys. To…

>This is where knowing how these associations came into being could also help you and also help educate others (including your young niece). Several decades ago, the colors promoted were blue for girls and pink for boys.

I'm fully aware this use to be the case. I'm not saying there is some biological reason that the average girl today will prefer pink to blue, only that, as for now, they do, and as such and given no other knowledge of my niece, I should pick the pink one.

I also think I use way too many commas.

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