![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A Request to Women Working in Tech
A friend recently said something about which, as Shanna's father, I feel conflicted.
She said that as a woman working in technology, she wouldn't recommend that other women enter the field. She's a system administrator. So, while she's not a computer programmer like myself, she's in a very similar field with mostly similar interpersonal dynamics. That is to say, what she says almost certainly applies to my field if it applies to hers. And as an actual woman working in technology, her experience is going to be significantly more accurate than my from-the-outside impressions.
I'm not going to repeat her reasons here. Rather, I'd be very curious whether other women working in technical fields, especially system administration and/or programming, felt the same way. Anybody care to comment? When you comment, please let me know what you do/did in technology. For some of you, I'll know offhand. For many of you, I'll have forgotten. For anybody who comments, there may be other readers who don't know/remember.
Anonymous comments are turned on here. Technically I *do* log IPs and I don't see a quick way to turn it off just for this post, but you have my word that I won't attempt to match up anybody anonymous here with any specific person. If you're really worried for some reason, there are many fine technical measures to make that tracking ineffective at finding you.
She said that as a woman working in technology, she wouldn't recommend that other women enter the field. She's a system administrator. So, while she's not a computer programmer like myself, she's in a very similar field with mostly similar interpersonal dynamics. That is to say, what she says almost certainly applies to my field if it applies to hers. And as an actual woman working in technology, her experience is going to be significantly more accurate than my from-the-outside impressions.
I'm not going to repeat her reasons here. Rather, I'd be very curious whether other women working in technical fields, especially system administration and/or programming, felt the same way. Anybody care to comment? When you comment, please let me know what you do/did in technology. For some of you, I'll know offhand. For many of you, I'll have forgotten. For anybody who comments, there may be other readers who don't know/remember.
Anonymous comments are turned on here. Technically I *do* log IPs and I don't see a quick way to turn it off just for this post, but you have my word that I won't attempt to match up anybody anonymous here with any specific person. If you're really worried for some reason, there are many fine technical measures to make that tracking ineffective at finding you.
no subject
I wouldn't necessarily recommend software development to American students (regardless of gender) as a long-term career option today. It could be a good short-term option for getting a foot in the door in a specific industry, and it might be fun for a few years, but a lot of software development is getting offshored/commoditized and it may be hard to find great software development jobs in the US in 10-15 years. For people who are really passionate about creating software, I'd encourage them to look for a growth industry (clean energy, healthcare, etc.) and develop some strong domain knowledge to go with their tech skills.
Having said that, I would never tell a woman to choose a career based on sexism avoidance. If you care about having a job that you find interesting and rewarding, and your interests lie in tech, you should go for it. The opportunities are there. You may have to work harder to get taken seriously, but you can do it. I worked on teams of 30 people where I was sometimes the only woman (and when there were multiple women, guys named Steve still outnumbered the women), and I was able to make it into a leadership role and get recognized as a top performer. I did feel like I had to be much better than my male peers to get recognized, but I used that as motivation.
It's not the right environment for everyone, and there's a risk of burnout (having female peers and mentors can really help with that). Having a competitive streak really helps, as does working in an environment where the culture emphasizes respect for technical skills. If you go in prepared to prove yourself, you can make it work. I really thrive on that challenge, but not everyone does. It goes against some pretty basic female socialization, and you'll hear some men say that you're arrogant or not nice, but it won't stick if the culture rewards you for knowing your stuff.
I'm probably making it sound kind of brutal, but in general I think that women should approach corporate America as if they're going to war. I haven't found it to be terribly different now that I'm over on the marketing side of things, except that now my skills are less important than results and relationships. But in most corporate environments, men and women have both been socialized to discriminate against you, often subconsciously, and you have to fight for recognition and compensation. It's tough, but if you pick a field that really interests you then you'll get to work on some fun stuff.