Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Friday May 11 2018, @11:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the controversial-topics dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Over the last several months, I’ve witnessed many controversial discussions among my friends, in my San Francisco community, and on online forums about James Demore’s memorandum. People of both genders are wrestling with the fact that fewer women go into computer science and trying to find explanations that balance their experience, empathy, and ethical aspirations. I’ve heard lots of good-intentioned people consider discouraging theories of biological superiority because they can’t find any other compelling explanation (like this post on HackerNews, for example). As a woman who studied computer science, worked at some of the top tech firms, and has founded a software startup, I’d like to share my take on why fewer women go into CS and my opinion on how to address the issue.

[...] I graduated from Stanford with a BS in Mathematical & Computational Sciences in 2015, interned at Apple as a software engineer, and worked as an Associate Product Manager at Google 2015-2017. In October, I founded a video editing website called Kapwing and am working on the startup full-time. Although I’m only 25, I’ve already seen many of my female friends choose majors/careers outside of STEM and have been inside of many predominately-male classes, organizations, and teams.

This article is one person’s humble perspective, and I do not speak for every woman in tech. But hopefully having the view of someone who has “been there” can help people trying to understand why there are fewer women in tech.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @12:24AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @12:24AM (#678635)

    While probably all the smart males were thinking: "I don't want to get involved in a potential harassment allegation now or 40 years from now when she misinterprets or reinterprets some consensual activity as a #metoo moment."

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +4  
       Troll=2, Insightful=5, Touché=1, Total=8
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday May 12 2018, @02:24AM (5 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday May 12 2018, @02:24AM (#678670) Journal

    This.
    She says herself:

    young men are less likely to approach women and invite them to join a study group or happy hour, poker night, or whatever else they do with their male peers/coworkers. They don’t just sit next to women without a desk neighbor, ask them unsolicited questions, or offer to help. They’re less likely to joke with them, complement them, or even chat with them casually. The exclusion is unintentional, not malicious, but made worse by the fact that women are more socially aware than men at this age.

    Perfect definition of guys avoiding a hornet's nest for one casual remark, or poor choice of words.
    That she fails to realize this is telling.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @01:41PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @01:41PM (#678813)

      Let me regal you of the tail I was accused of sexual harassment.

      The lady in question was critiquing my code. She obviously had not read the code or the design documents or asked how it worked.
      I then butted in and told them exactly how it worked and what she needed to change in her documents.
      "fuck you you are always butting in when it does not concern you"
      "It IS my code I wrote it and designed it and fuck you too"
      2 hours later I am getting sexual harassment training.

      Every other engineer (including the women came by and thanked me for telling her off).

      Lesson learned. Stay out of the mess of other people making mistakes. Let them fail all by themselves even if it makes everyone elses job harder. She also made her own job harder in that case. NO one and I mean NO one would help her after that. They did not want to accidentally trigger her. It was tough for her to do her job at that point because she needed everyone else to correct all of her mistakes.

      So fuck yeah I stay away from them. That same interaction with a guy would have not involved HR.

      I see guys making the 'mistake' over and over where I now work. Woman comes by asking for help. They trip over themselves trying to help her. A couple of days ago I 'rescued' one from a help gaggle. "here is exactly what you need and why (blah blah blah tech details here)". "Oh that makes sense now, thank you". Everyone then could go back to work from the distraction that was created. She did not mean to and neither did they. But it happens, because they are rare. I helped because until that gaggle was fixed I was not going to be able to do anything with 5 dudes yelling over each other one cube over. I broke my rule because I wanted to get some work done.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @03:02PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @03:02PM (#678841)

        They need her for the diversity points, so damn sure the company wanted to cover their ass.
        Oh, and fuck you, you worthless white male expert. There's tons of you, but only a few women available.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 12 2018, @02:35PM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 12 2018, @02:35PM (#678829) Journal

      I would say, "perfect definition of sissies and wimps". As a young man, I had some apprehensions about approaching women. As I matured, I came to understand that women are people. I can say something to one woman, and she's offended - the next woman laughs long and loud at the same thing. A man who can act natural, pretend that he knows what he's doing, and talk to women can't go terribly wrong. Take your cues from the women's reactions.

      Incels are candy asses, along with bronies, metrosexuals, and a long list of other wimps. Guys who are afraid of women don't deserve to pass their genes on to the next generation, so nothing is lost with them.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @01:46AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @01:46AM (#679019)

        I like your optimism and positive attitude, but I have to warn you it's a minefield. There are women who will take deep offense at what seems like an innocent statement on your part and seek to have you fired as a result. And it's not that rare. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye4fAZTkvNg [youtube.com]

      • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday May 15 2018, @04:56AM

        by darkfeline (1030) on Tuesday May 15 2018, @04:56AM (#679953) Homepage

        If being a sissy and wimp means not spending $10k on legal fees and getting fired and blacklisted, then so be it. Penis points (e-peen) are not worth that much to me.

        You're quite fortunate to have grown up when you did, because in modern society that woman who you offended would have gotten the police to help you earn your username.

        --
        Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday May 12 2018, @07:55PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday May 12 2018, @07:55PM (#678922) Journal

    And a smart move that is, too. On this subject men are guilty until proven innocent. Don't interact at all. If you can't avoid an interaction, always practice MCT (Minimum Correct Thing). Give the absolute minimum correct information to respond. If you can get away with saying you don't know, say you don't know.

    Keep your work life and social life entirely separate. Never socialize with female colleagues, even at work functions. Never drink at work functions, or dance, or do anything else that might compromise your self-control or lead to situations that can be misinterpreted, because they will be. But don't be hostile, either. It's a fine line to walk, but keep things polite, and terse.

    This might sound overly cautious. You might work with women that seem OK, that seem like you can let your guard down with. But that is fraught. If your relationship with them should ever sour for any reason, be it personal or professional rivalry, they will weaponize everything against you. And they will win with HR and courts of law every single time. Your life and career will be destroyed, and there will be nothing you can do to ever get out from under that cloud in this age of social media.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.