3 ms·

Ehhh. There's only about 360k welders in the U.S. and 3.6 million software engineers. That's an order of magnitude in difference in impact. Additionally, a sof

Ehhh. There's only about 360k welders in the U.S. and 3.6 million software engineers. That's an order of magnitude in difference in impact. Additionally, a software engineer probably makes more than a roofer, welder, and kindergarten teacher combined. Part of the reason for studying software engineering is because it's part of a larger trend of women not being as prevalent in high-paying careers. That's also why the number of women CEOs and other leadership positions gets so much attention. So, while I understand your point (there are any number of careers that have huge gender gaps that no one is looking at), software engineering is specifically scrutinized due to the number of current jobs, the average salary, and the expected growth of the profession over time. No other field has the kind of potential impact on the employee that software engineering does.

Tarrosion 10y ago
3.6 million software engineers? That seems really high - do you have a source? WolframAlpha reports that in May 2016 there were 144.6 million workers in the USA and 87.2 male workers. That'd mean that 2.5% of all workers are software engineers. If you figure that 75% of software engineers are male (some quick searching suggests this is a conservative number), then >3% of all employed males are software engineers. My instinct is that's high, but if you have a source I'll happily become informed.
- jotux 10y ago
  BLS says 1.1M: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/s... But if you add a bunch of similar fields that probably have software engineers you could probably get close to 3M: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000 http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000
grb423 10y ago
Is this software engineering privilege? Are we shooting for universal equality?

Tarrosion 10y ago

3.6 million software engineers? That seems really high - do you have a source? WolframAlpha reports that in May 2016 there were 144.6 million workers in the USA and 87.2 male workers. That'd mean that 2.5% of all workers are software engineers. If you figure that 75% of software engineers are male (some quick searching suggests this is a conservative number), then >3% of all employed males are software engineers. My instinct is that's high, but if you have a source I'll happily become informed.

jotux 10y ago
BLS says 1.1M: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/s... But if you add a bunch of similar fields that probably have software engineers you could probably get close to 3M: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000 http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#15-0000

grb423 10y ago

Is this software engineering privilege? Are we shooting for universal equality?