4 ms·

Except this kind of behavior is endemic to the industry. Just about every woman I know in the industry has a story similar to this. All over Twitter, women are

by st3v3r 10y ago

Except this kind of behavior is endemic to the industry. Just about every woman I know in the industry has a story similar to this. All over Twitter, women are sharing their similar stories. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It means you haven't paid attention.

mcherm 10y ago
Mild sexism is endemic to a portion of our industry. But I honestly have not previously encountered allegations on the level of "my boss propositioned me on my first day and HR said they wouldn't do anything". I would like to pay attention: we can't improve this problem unless we pay attention. If you would be willing to point me to a few examples of people making similar claims, I will commit to reading through them and trying to raise awareness of the issue within my own company.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  >I would like to pay attention: we can't improve this problem unless we pay attention. What's this "we" business? Who's "we"? I don't know about you, but I'm an engineer. I am neither a manager, nor an executive, nor an HR goon. I accept no responsibility for the actions of people in those positions. Especially those useless HR people. We engineers are nothing more than low-level lackeys, rank-and-file employees who have zero power except to quit.
  - st3v3r 10y ago
    And that attitude makes you part of the problem.
    - Arizhel 10y ago
      Ok, fine. Please tell me exactly what I can do to help, and make sure it doesn't get me fired. Your turn. Let me guess; you don't have an answer, just your snide, pithy response.
  - mcherm 10y ago
    > What's this "we" business? Who's "we"? > I don't know about you, but I'm an engineer. I am neither a manager, nor an executive, nor an HR goon. Guess what? I'm also an engineer. (My official title is "Architect".) I do not manage anyone. I am not an executive. I do not work with the nice, helpful folks in HR. But I DO take responsibility for the overall behavior of my organization. I do not bear that responsibility alone, but along with the rest of the people I work with. "If it's broken, fix it!" is fundamentally an engineer's credo. "It's not my job" is a pretty poor excuse. > We engineers are nothing more than low-level lackeys, rank-and-file employees who have zero power except to quit. Wow. Maybe you need to find a new job. That's not how engineers are treated where I work. Sure, we don't get everything we ever ask for -- but our concerns are taken seriously. And one of our concerns is to create a working environment that is at least minimally acceptable. I may be male, but if I discovered that my company was harboring behavior like Susan Fowler describes, I would take it to HR. If the actions continued, I would report it to the CEO or the board. If that failed I would quit. And I'll never have to do any of those things because plenty of other people I work with would behave the same way and that kind of abuse would never be tolerated.

by st3v3r 10y ago

mcherm 10y ago

Mild sexism is endemic to a portion of our industry. But I honestly have not previously encountered allegations on the level of "my boss propositioned me on my first day and HR said they wouldn't do anything". I would like to pay attention: we can't improve this problem unless we pay attention. If you would be willing to point me to a few examples of people making similar claims, I will commit to reading through them and trying to raise awareness of the issue within my own company.

Arizhel 10y ago
>I would like to pay attention: we can't improve this problem unless we pay attention. What's this "we" business? Who's "we"? I don't know about you, but I'm an engineer. I am neither a manager, nor an executive, nor an HR goon. I accept no responsibility for the actions of people in those positions. Especially those useless HR people. We engineers are nothing more than low-level lackeys, rank-and-file employees who have zero power except to quit.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  And that attitude makes you part of the problem.
  - Arizhel 10y ago
    Ok, fine. Please tell me exactly what I can do to help, and make sure it doesn't get me fired. Your turn. Let me guess; you don't have an answer, just your snide, pithy response.
- mcherm 10y ago
  > What's this "we" business? Who's "we"? > I don't know about you, but I'm an engineer. I am neither a manager, nor an executive, nor an HR goon. Guess what? I'm also an engineer. (My official title is "Architect".) I do not manage anyone. I am not an executive. I do not work with the nice, helpful folks in HR. But I DO take responsibility for the overall behavior of my organization. I do not bear that responsibility alone, but along with the rest of the people I work with. "If it's broken, fix it!" is fundamentally an engineer's credo. "It's not my job" is a pretty poor excuse. > We engineers are nothing more than low-level lackeys, rank-and-file employees who have zero power except to quit. Wow. Maybe you need to find a new job. That's not how engineers are treated where I work. Sure, we don't get everything we ever ask for -- but our concerns are taken seriously. And one of our concerns is to create a working environment that is at least minimally acceptable. I may be male, but if I discovered that my company was harboring behavior like Susan Fowler describes, I would take it to HR. If the actions continued, I would report it to the CEO or the board. If that failed I would quit. And I'll never have to do any of those things because plenty of other people I work with would behave the same way and that kind of abuse would never be tolerated.