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I entered the software industry during a recession and far before the dot-com boom. I didn't think it was going to be much of a career. Geeks were much more ost

I entered the software industry during a recession and far before the dot-com boom. I didn't think it was going to be much of a career. Geeks were much more ostracized. But I didn't care--I have to do what I'm doing. > There’s a really strong image of what a computer scientist is[....] It makes it hard for people who don’t fit that image to think of it as an option for them. If anyone with a computer can be dissuaded by such trivia, programming is not their calling, and they should go find it rather than waste their time doing mediocre work.

earl 17y ago
Ding! We have a winner! If you are so blind as to think that looking around and seeing nobody like you for values of you in minority groups in a position doesn't discourage qualified people, well, then you're not only ignorant of the last 30-40 years of social science research, but also live a life so self-unexamined as to not be aware of your own privilege. Thank you for the demonstration. Queue the downmodding... now.
- natrius 17y ago
  Your viewpoint is valid, and a more constructive presentation of it would have been valuable.
- prodigal_erik 17y ago
  Qualified people don't dip their toes in to see how welcome they feel, or how the money is, or anything else that happens offscreen. They live and breathe this stuff. Before PCs were available, some used to commit petty crimes just to score some computer time. And nobody regarded this compulsion as any kind of privilege until the pay improved.
chipsy 17y ago
Part of the problem is that people are more likely to embark on careers based on the cultural imagery than on academic interest - if you have no prior knowledge of the academics behind any given subject, intrinsic attraction will not magically present itself, so decisions to seriously study any subject have to use other factors(pay, lifestyle, etc.) and the stereotyping plays into that. Hence, it is the interest of society to: * Properly introduce computer science(and other modern subjects) into school curricula, so that intrinsic factors can become apparent * Have our artistic works give positive, progressive depictions of real people doing real work; this will push students towards more intrinsic factors. * Continue developing accessible introductory material; the study process most programmers used to learn(bang your head against the wall for hours until you get it) is overly unsteady and hesitant, with most of the important conceptual imagery locked deep within dry, reference-heavy descriptions of algorithms and data structures. This hurts our talent pool. Accessible computer science - not "dumbed down", but better-taught - would automatically push the demographics towards gender balance.

earl 17y ago

Ding! We have a winner! If you are so blind as to think that looking around and seeing nobody like you for values of you in minority groups in a position doesn't discourage qualified people, well, then you're not only ignorant of the last 30-40 years of social science research, but also live a life so self-unexamined as to not be aware of your own privilege. Thank you for the demonstration. Queue the downmodding... now.

natrius 17y ago
Your viewpoint is valid, and a more constructive presentation of it would have been valuable.
prodigal_erik 17y ago
Qualified people don't dip their toes in to see how welcome they feel, or how the money is, or anything else that happens offscreen. They live and breathe this stuff. Before PCs were available, some used to commit petty crimes just to score some computer time. And nobody regarded this compulsion as any kind of privilege until the pay improved.

chipsy 17y ago

Part of the problem is that people are more likely to embark on careers based on the cultural imagery than on academic interest - if you have no prior knowledge of the academics behind any given subject, intrinsic attraction will not magically present itself, so decisions to seriously study any subject have to use other factors(pay, lifestyle, etc.) and the stereotyping plays into that. Hence, it is the interest of society to: * Properly introduce computer science(and other modern subjects) into school curricula, so that intrinsic factors can become apparent * Have our artistic works give positive, progressive depictions of real people doing real work; this will push students towards more intrinsic factors. * Continue developing accessible introductory material; the study process most programmers used to learn(bang your head against the wall for hours until you get it) is overly unsteady and hesitant, with most of the important conceptual imagery locked deep within dry, reference-heavy descriptions of algorithms and data structures. This hurts our talent pool. Accessible computer science - not "dumbed down", but better-taught - would automatically push the demographics towards gender balance.