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Build Impossible Programs

jvns.ca

61–70 of 131 posts

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#61
post #31

Anyone know what Julia is using for those handwritten slides? I absolutely love everything Julia writes. She writes in a way that makes absolutely zero assumptions about your level of technical competence. You could be a junior, mid, senior and still get something from most of her articles. Anecdotally; Almost every female engineer I work with writes and communicates in this fashion and I really bloody wish more of m…

> Anecdotally; Almost every female engineer I work with writes and communicates in this fashion and I really bloody wish more of my male counterparts would speak with less jargon/acronyms for the sake of new starts/non-engineers. It’s not a good idea to generalise and push gender stereotypes in this way. You’re saying that female engineers have better communication skills than male ones, setting the bar higher for fe…

Honestly couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not trying to improve anything, I’m stating experience. The clues in the word anecdotally. It’s a shame HN always devolves into contrarian and counter-contrarian tit for tats like this

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#62
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anecdotally; Almost every female engineer I work with writes and communicates in this fashion and I really bloody wish more of my male counterparts would speak with less jargon/acronyms for the sake of new starts/non-engineers. It’s not a good idea to generalise and push gender stereotypes in this way. You’re saying that female engineers have better communication skills than male ones, setting the bar higher for fe…

Honestly couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not trying to improve anything, I’m stating experience. The clues in the word anecdotally. It’s a shame HN always devolves into contrarian and counter-contrarian tit for tats like this

Yes but if you said the same about a race or other marginalised group it would get called out on and you would probably agree. It’s not tit for tat, it’s sexism and it’s important we address it collectively.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#63
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no generalization in this: > Almost every female engineer I work with writes and communicates in this fashion and I really bloody wish more of my male counterparts That's just reporting facts about the specific people he happens to work with. It would be generalization if just said "female engineers," without the qualifiers "almost every...I work with." I guess you could claim that he's implying a generalizat…

Would you honestly proclaim the same thing if the genders were switched? Also note how almost every female engineer he works with writes communicates in that style, but somehow his wish for others to communicate in that style only extends to his male colleagues.

Yes, I would. I try to read what people actually say, and not leap to uncharitable conclusions about them if a more charitable interpretation can reasonably fit.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#64

I can't tell if she's nervous or awkward or excited but it reminds me of myself when giving talks, even to small groups. I get so flustered that my mind races and then the rest of my body tries to catch up so I'm now talking really fast and moving and jumping all over and being very fidgety with things. Anyway the difference is that she managed to get her points through while mine often gets lost. I still don't know…

Recording yourself and reviewing the recordings is a technique I've used. I am uncomfortable doing it (do not like hearing / watching myself!), but it's definitely helped me analyze how I come across and then adjust accordingly. Also a good strategy to use when preparing for interviews.

It really is very weird talking by yourself to a camera. The first few takes have the very obvious 'I'm talking to a wall' feel to them.

It's strange but it feels more natural to have a real person behind the camera and pretend you're talking to that person instead.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#65

This is so inspiring, thanks a lot. It's great to see that there are now resources going into supporting OSS developers that require only an idea and pedigree, and not a finished product and a business plan.

At last someone speak up about that very subject "doing impossible things" without being negative about the fact the community (of haters) forbids that behavior.

Innovation is NIH somewhat, somehow and that is a Good Thing.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#66
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not trying to improve anything, I’m stating experience. The clues in the word anecdotally. It’s a shame HN always devolves into contrarian and counter-contrarian tit for tats like this

Yes but if you said the same about a race or other marginalised group it would get called out on and you would probably agree. It’s not tit for tat, it’s sexism and it’s important we address it collectively.

I don't think people generally get called out for mentioning their positive impressions of people of a race or other marginalised group.

I get that they can affect expectations but we shouldn't allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the conceivable negative effects of our well-intentioned comments.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#67
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not trying to improve anything, I’m stating experience. The clues in the word anecdotally. It’s a shame HN always devolves into contrarian and counter-contrarian tit for tats like this

Yes but if you said the same about a race or other marginalised group it would get called out on and you would probably agree. It’s not tit for tat, it’s sexism and it’s important we address it collectively.

The poster above clearly didn't mean what they said as an attack or an attempt to set unfair standards for women, I don't think what you're saying makes any sense.

I work with a lot of gay men and I notice that they can often be more empathic and sensitive than straight men. Different groups behave differently and individuals can act however they like.

It's not sexist or homophobic to notice trends. We stand to gain a lot from noticing how people behave and reflecting on how we act ourselves.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#68
post #31

Anyone know what Julia is using for those handwritten slides? I absolutely love everything Julia writes. She writes in a way that makes absolutely zero assumptions about your level of technical competence. You could be a junior, mid, senior and still get something from most of her articles. Anecdotally; Almost every female engineer I work with writes and communicates in this fashion and I really bloody wish more of m…

Very controversial topic to wade into, but: I do think that our field suffers from poor explanation of technical topics. I heard this described at a place I used to work as a "macho culture" - where it was deliberate behaviour as display of aggression, rather than sheer incompetence. Arguably this does relate to traits that men exhibit more than women (on average).

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but if you said the same about a race or other marginalised group it would get called out on and you would probably agree. It’s not tit for tat, it’s sexism and it’s important we address it collectively.

I don't think people generally get called out for mentioning their positive impressions of people of a race or other marginalised group. I get that they can affect expectations but we shouldn't allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the conceivable negative effects of our well-intentioned comments.

[deleted]

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#70
post #31

Anyone know what Julia is using for those handwritten slides? I absolutely love everything Julia writes. She writes in a way that makes absolutely zero assumptions about your level of technical competence. You could be a junior, mid, senior and still get something from most of her articles. Anecdotally; Almost every female engineer I work with writes and communicates in this fashion and I really bloody wish more of m…

Have you ever seen Guy Steele’s “growing a language” talk? If you like hand written slides, you’ll like that one. He did require an old fashioned OHP though, since it was all done on transparencies with crayons! Unfortunately that wasn’t very video friendly, so he had to use traditional ones for the recording, you only get the OHP treatment by seeing the talk in person.
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