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• xteo 11y ago
  When i was a much younger lad in my schooling days, programming was not a popular hobby. It was not one you broadcast to your peers, and certainly not one that you took pride in. What you created, was yours. And if you were lucky enough to have surrounded yourself with friends that understood your obsession, you could share with them what you were learning. One thing i observed, is that ignoring the social conventions of what you are "supposed" to enjoy, is much easier for prepubescent and pubescent males than it is for females of the same age bracket. Females stress far more over 'fitting in', and the approval of others. Unfortunately, this means that in those critical formative years, females are missing out on the growth and development needed to make great programmers. Great programming requires long established brain development in the required disciplines, a deeply laid foundation of logic, and this is best established very early on. Much of the bias in information technology, is not because of discrimination or sexism, but because females aren't in an environment that cultivates the necessary skills. This is not necessarily something that requires intervention from educators, or politicians. It's something that teenagers need to value, and to appreciate. When i was a young lad, anti-intellectualism was a religion, and was heavily practiced in the social fabric i was required to navigate. I'm unsure if that trend has been corrected, but i am sure that we're seeing the side effect of that in the professional landscape with the amount of qualified females with an interest in the STEM fields.