Fortunately you can learn from books, magazines, videos and websites and the computer itself and none of them care what gender, race or age you are. Just settle down and start learning. And most of those methods are free too.
When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
41–50 of 148 posts
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#42I approve of people learning to be programmer professionally or as a hobby, I think it is a good thing. But this repeated media phenomenon of people learning to code is something that really worry me -- it is like 1999 again. It feels like when mainstream media writes that it is time to invest in the stock market; when e.g. Time write about how good it is going, it is so far over the hill that soon there will be a cr…
Obviously nothing to do with more women learning to code (sounds great to me), but I share your fear. The hype makes me cringe a little bit. I wish it didn't but I've seen this cycle too many times. Every time there is an overhyped market, the deflation gets preceded with a media push of 'you should get involved with this' because its the wave of the future.
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#43Honestly, I really do not understand why women being programmers is such a hyped concept. I have seen many women as doctors, lawyers and in science. Women might be more interested in other professions, which I think is the only reason that keeps women from working as programmers or engineers. Definitely, the problem, if it is a problem, is due to choice women make, not due to their abilities.
Women becoming programmers is hyped for the same reason women becoming doctors and lawyers was hyped decades ago: diversity fuels innovation. They're interested in other professions because the culture surrounding programming is such a "boy's club", it's like a nigh-impenetrable shield. And it's not so much they're interested in other professions as they are pushed away from programming. The lack of women in programm…
Please name a couple of diversity-fuelled innovations
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#44Good for you guys. Awesome!
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#45> I left Ladies Learning Code having accomplished my goal. I built a WordPress.org What does this actually mean? The sentence itself seems to indicate that the class was focused around learning to program by building a WordPress clone. My suspicion based on reading the whole article is that she took a class showing her how to use WordPress to create a blog. If she doesn't know the distinction, I'm skeptical that she…
As a developer for BlogHer, a women's media company with a big network of independent women bloggers, I hear lots of people who don't know the correct terminology say things like this. When they say "a WordPress.org" they mean "a self-hosted WordPress site".
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#46Avery Swartz, a mentor at another table, works as a freelance website designer. “A lot of my clients are women. They don’t necessarily want to work with a man because they are afraid of the intimidation factor, the tech speak, the ‘jargon’. I want women to feel empowered, to know that they can take an active role.” This is not a gender problem, it's pedagogical. My granddad would be intimidated to learn to code for t…
You're missing the point-- it is about gender. Women don't want to work with, and especially learn from, men because they are afraid that the man will not know how to speak to them as an equal. They're afraid he'll hide his discomfort behind jargon, and that he will be unable to be nice without being patronizing. Heaven forfend that this man, like many highly technical people, is socially awkward in general! In that…
I totally agree with you, except I don't think fear is quite the right way to frame it, and perhaps more that many women know they will be talked down to, make a rational decision that they don't want to put up with that, and do something else with their time.
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's nothing debatable about gender discrimination existing in the industry. It's not your opinion. It exists. Age discrimination exists as well, but that's not what this article is about, and you shouldn't try to grab focus with it.
My personal experience in the field does not support your apparently strongly held assertion. Thus "IMO". > "you shouldn't try to grab focus with" Please do not question my motivation. I had a point to make.
It's not an assertion because this isn't something up for debate. Women face a lot of discrimination in the tech industry. You can say, "I don't see it," but saying it's your opinion that it doesn't exist is characterizing it as something that is opinionated.
I'm sorry if it wasn't your intent to steal focus. What you did, whether intentional or not, is a common derailing tactic.
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#48Fortunately you can learn from books, magazines, videos and websites and the computer itself and none of them care what gender, race or age you are. Just settle down and start learning. And most of those methods are free too.
That is true, and yet it is also true that it's helpful for many women to learn coding with each other's social support.
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, you're right; I don't really have enough information to evaluate her skills, mainly because she didn't talk about what she learned. So, the language she used to describe technical things is the only way I could try to evaluate her technical knowledge. And upon further review, it seems pretty likely that the class she took is this one: http://ladieslearningcodejan14.eventbrite.com/
Wow, an 8 hour $40 course with a 4:1 student to instructor ratio. With even just a little bit of demand no wonder it sells out so quickly.
Seems like they have an open call to devs to take the sessions, presumably with a cut for each dev that does it and where they do it. So the quality of the information would ddepend on the dev that bothered to nominate themselves.
Unfortunately this could mean that the quality of the cource is wholy dependant on the dev assigned to you're 4:1 session.
I wonder what the screening process is. But undoubtedly a good business model for raising quick capital, with a high pivot rate, as & when it supports demand.
Re: When She Codes, The Revolution’s Coming
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, you're right; I don't really have enough information to evaluate her skills, mainly because she didn't talk about what she learned. So, the language she used to describe technical things is the only way I could try to evaluate her technical knowledge. And upon further review, it seems pretty likely that the class she took is this one: http://ladieslearningcodejan14.eventbrite.com/
Wow, an 8 hour $40 course with a 4:1 student to instructor ratio. With even just a little bit of demand no wonder it sells out so quickly.
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